Ⅰ. 阅读理解
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels (元音) being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British communicated with people frequently from around the world. This means that lots of new words and expressions entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed and the dialect of London became the standard. In 1604, the first English dictionary came out.
Early Modern English and Late Modern English are mostly different in the number of words. Late Modern English has a lot more words, mainly because of two reasons: firstly, the Industrial Revolution led to the need for new words; secondly, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries.
From around 1600, the English colonization (殖民地化) of North America led to the creation of American English. Some English pronunciations and words froze when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that the British call “American English” are in fact from British expressions. They were kept in the colonies but were lost for a time in Britain. Spanish also had an influence on American English. For example, words like “canyon” “ranch” “stampede” and “vigilante” are from Spanish. They entered English by the people of Spain who settled in the American West. French words and West African words also influenced American English.
Today, American English has a greater influence because of the USA’s movies, television, popular music, trade and technology.
【语篇概述】本文是说明文。文章主要介绍了现代英语的发展历程。
1. The main difference between Early and Late Modern English lies in ______.
A. vocabulary B. pronunciation
C. spelling D. grammar
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段可知早期的现代英语和晚期的现代英语的主要区别是词汇。
2. From the passage, we can learn the word “canyon” is from ______.
A. American dialect B. African dialect
C. Spanish D. French
【解析】选C。细节理解题。根据第三段中“For example, words like ’canyon’ ’ranch’ ’stampede’ and ’vigilante’ are from Spanish. ”一句可知选C。
3. What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
A. English colonies in North America.
B. The development of American English.
C. Other languages’ influence on American English.
D. The difference between American English and British English.
【解析】选B。段落大意题。根据第三段的首句和尾句可知该段的主要内容是美国英语的主要发展过程。
4. The underlined word “froze” can best be replaced by ______.
A. unchanged B. disappeared
C. improved D. ignored
【解析】选A。词义猜测题。根据第三段可知美国英语比现代英国英语在某些方面更像莎士比亚时期的英语。这说明英语没有发生变化。
