Question

 If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English lan?guage ,you will get answers like ^ilShakespeare" "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 people belonging to two major language groups. In the west-central region were the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, thought 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 Sax?ons 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(qū)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 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.
(   ) 5. 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

(   ) 6. Which of the following groups of words are,by inference, rooted in French?

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

C. Beard,field,sheep. D. Folk,field, cow.

(   ) 7. 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.

(   ) 8. What may be the best title of the passage, according to what you have read?

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

5 -8 CACD

B篇文章介紹了英語的發(fā)展變化之 1066年諾曼征服之后，隨著英國政權(quán)被法國人接管，英語因此吸收了許多法語詞匯。所以，法語對英語產(chǎn)生了影響。

5. C細(xì)節(jié)理解題從第二段的描述可以知道， 1066年以前，英國人主要使用兩種語言一Celtic和Old English。

6. A邏輯推理題從文章第三段的描述可以知道，當(dāng)時在英國，由于統(tǒng)治者來自法國，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語。

7. C邏輯推理題從第四段第一句話"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."可知，法語單詞與英語單詞比較相似。

8. D主旨大意題通讀全文可知，短文主要討論了法語對英語的影響。