The History of English
The history of the English language began over 1500 years ago in the north of Europe. Around the fifth century A.D., tribes (部落) of people ____1_____as the Angels, Saxons and Jutes traveled west from Germany and Denmark _____2_____ the North Sea. They settled in Britain, and by the late seventh century, they started _____3_____ an early form of English.
In the late eighth century, the Vikings attacked England. Fighting ____4____ for almost two hundred years, during this time, many Latin, Danish, and Norse words entered the English language. Latin gave English words like kitchen and cup. From Danish and Norse, English borrowed words___5___ skin and leg. Many words of similar meanings from the Norse language became integrated into English, for example, wrath (English), anger (Norse); sick (English), ill (Norse).
In 1066, the Normans conquered England. French became the language of the wealthy and powerful, and English was spoken mostly by ____6___ people. In the late fourteenth century, English became the first language again. By this time, many words used in English ___7_____ from French or Latin, and a lot of the early words no longer ___8____.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, people became_____9____ in the classics. At this time, words from Latin and Greek were included in the English language. A lot of words, or parts of words, from those languages are used in modern English.
Today, English has loaned words from many of the world’s languages. You can ____10_____ find that a word used in English may first come from your native language.
A. poorer E. came I like
B. existed F. popular J. known
C. easily G. interested K. speaking
D. probably H. across L. continued
1、____.
J
