a-brief-history-of-english(編輯修改稿)
2025-07-25 10:58 本頁(yè)面
【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 英語(yǔ)的主體是英語(yǔ)本土詞，而這些詞只占現(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)詞匯的百分之十四。Sometime between the years 1000 and 1200 various important changes took place in the structure of English, and Old English became Middle English. The political event which facilitated these changes was the Norman Conquest. In 1066, led by Duke William, the Normans crossed the Channel and made themselves masters of England. For the next several hundred years, England was ruled by kings whose first language was French.大約在公元1000年和1200年之間，英語(yǔ)的結(jié)構(gòu)發(fā)生了重大變化。這些變化是由一個(gè)歷史上稱為諾曼底征服的政治事件造成的。1066年，威廉公爵帶領(lǐng)諾曼人渡過(guò)英吉利海峽，占領(lǐng)了英格蘭。在此后的幾個(gè)世紀(jì)中，英格蘭一直處于法蘭西國(guó)王的統(tǒng)治下。Great numbers of Normans came to England, but they came as rulers and landlords. French became the language of the court, the language of the nobility, the language of polite society, the language of literature. But it did not replace English as the language of the people. There must always have been hundreds of towns and villages in which French was never heard except when visitors of high station passed through.大量的諾曼人以統(tǒng)治者和地主的身份進(jìn)入了英格蘭。法語(yǔ)成為了宮廷語(yǔ)言，貴族語(yǔ)言，政治語(yǔ)言和文學(xué)語(yǔ)言，但是并沒(méi)有取代英語(yǔ)成為普通民眾日常使用的語(yǔ)言。在許多鄉(xiāng)村小鎮(zhèn)，除了上流社會(huì)的客人經(jīng)過(guò)，法語(yǔ)聞所未聞。But English, though it survived as the national language, was profoundly changed after the Norman Conquest. It is in vocabulary that the effects of the Conquest are 1nost obvious. French ceased, after a hundred years or so, to be the native language of very many people in England, but it continued and continues still – to be a zealously cultivated second language, the mirror of elegance and civilization. When one spoke English, one introduced not only French ideas and French things but also their French names. This was not only easy but socially useful. To pepper one’s conversation with French expressions was to show that one was wellbred, elegant, au courant. The last sentence shows that the process is not yet dead. By using au courant instead of, say, abreast of things, the writer indicates that he is no dull clod who knows only English but an elegant person aware of how things are done in le haut monde.雖然英語(yǔ)作為民族語(yǔ)言被保留了下來(lái)，諾曼底征服仍然對(duì)其產(chǎn)生了深遠(yuǎn)的影響，這種影響在詞匯領(lǐng)域最為明顯。雖然一百多年之后，法語(yǔ)不再是許多英格蘭居民的母語(yǔ)，但是仍然有許多人熱衷于學(xué)習(xí)法語(yǔ)，視之為高雅和修養(yǎng)的標(biāo)志。英國(guó)人對(duì)法語(yǔ)的這種熱情甚至延續(xù)至今。說(shuō)英語(yǔ)時(shí)，人們表達(dá)的不僅法蘭西民族的思想和事物，還有其對(duì)應(yīng)的語(yǔ)言。這種表達(dá)不但容易而且具有社會(huì)功能。與人交談時(shí)如果能用上一些法語(yǔ)詞匯能體現(xiàn)自己是一個(gè)有教養(yǎng)的、優(yōu)雅的、與時(shí)俱進(jìn)的人。最后這句話恰恰說(shuō)明了這一趨勢(shì)仍在延續(xù)。作者用法語(yǔ)詞au courant取代英語(yǔ)詞abreast of things，表明了自己不是一個(gè)只懂英語(yǔ)的書(shū)呆子，而是一位對(duì)上流社會(huì)的習(xí)慣有充分了解的高雅人士。Thus French words came into English, all sorts of the1n. There were words to do with government: parliament, majesty, treaty, alliance, tax, government。 church words: parson, sermon, baptism, incense, crucifix, religion。 words for foods: veal, beef, mutton,
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