Question

If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language,you will get answers like “Shakespeare”,“Samuel Johnson”and“Webster”,but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn't even speak English—William the Conqueror.

Before 1066,in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups.In the west?central region lived the Welsh,who spoke a Celtic language,and in the north lived the Scots,whose language,though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic.In the rest of the country lived the Saxons,actually a mixture of Anglos,Saxons,and other Germanic and Nordic peoples,who spoke what we now call Anglo?Saxon(or Old English),a Germanic language.If this state of affairs had lasted,English today would be close to German.

But this state of affairs did not last.In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England.For about a century,French became the official language of England while Old English became the language of peasants. As a result,English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German.In some cases,modern English even shows a distinction (區別) between upper class  French and lower?class Anglo?Saxon in its words. We even have different words for some foods,meat in particular,depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked,which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming,while the upper?class Normans were doing most of the eating.

When Americans visit Europe for the first time,they usually find Germany more“foreign” than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English than French does. Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man's ambition.

1.The two major languages spoken in what is now called Great Britain before 1066 were_________.

A.Welsh and Scottish         B.Nordic and Germanic

C.Celtic and Old English      D.Anglo Saxon and Germanic 

2.Which of the following groups of words are,by inference,rooted in French?

A.president,lawyer,beef      B.president,bread,water

C.bread,field,sheep          D.folk,field,cow 

3.Why does France appear less foreign than Germany to Americans on their first visit to Europe?

A.Most advertisements in France appear in English.

B.They know little of the history of the English language.

C.Many French words are similar to English ones.

D.They know French better than German. 

4.What is the subject discussed in the text?

A. The history of Great Britain.

B. The similarity between English and French.

C. The rule of England by William the Conqueror.

D. The French influences on the English language. 

Answer 1

1----4    CACD      

解析:

1.這是一道細節題。從第二段可知，在1066年前，在英國主要說兩種語言——Celtic和

Old English。答案為C。

2.這是一道細節題。從第三段可知，當時在英國，凡是政治、法律和供Normans上層階級吃的食物的名稱都來源于法國。答案為A。

3.這是一道細節推斷題。從第四段可知法語單詞和英語單詞比較相似，所以法國人和美國人就會有某種相似感。答案為C。

4.這是一道主旨題。縱觀全文第一段總論說出任何人同William the Conqueror在語言上對

英語的影響，都無法匹敵；二、三段則說明法國殖民統治后，從語言上對英語的影響；最后

一段進一步說明法語和閱讀理解感。通篇短文主要講了法語對英語的影響。答案為D。