首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Why is English so difficult? It is often thought that the number of words in the English language is a major reason, but this is
Why is English so difficult? It is often thought that the number of words in the English language is a major reason, but this is
admin
2013-06-10
68
问题
Why is English so difficult? It is often thought that the number of words in the English language is a major reason, but this is not the real answer. Certainly, there are over half million words in the Oxford English Dictionary, but only about 10,000 are in general everyday use. A much stronger reason is the rich variety of sources from which English comes—sources that are due to the different people who have conquered or settled in parts of the British Isles over the past 1,300 years-and knowing more about the way English has evolved over this period makes its difficulties easier to understand.
What do we mean by an "English" word? Many words are English in the sense that they can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxons—Germanic tribes which settled in England from around the fifth century A.D. They gave us many common words like book, house, cat and dog. Earlier still were the Celtic people whose speech survives in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, in Welsh, and in the local languages of two extremities of the British Isles, Manx and Cornish. There is practically no Celtic influence in English. This is because the Celts were forced back in to the fringes of the British Isles by the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and there was little cultural interaction.
The next important influence on the main vocabulary of English came in the ninth and tenth centuries when much of the east side of England was in the hands of Danish invaders, and England as a whole had a Danish king Cnut (Canute) for a time. The Danes had much more contact with the Anglo-Saxons than did the Celts, and their short period of occupation has left its mark in the number of Scandinavian words taken into our language. Many of these are still in use, such as take and law, names of parts of the body such as leg and skull. Many more Scandinavian words are preserved in some dialects of the east side of England, in place-names and in street-names.
The last time that England was successfully invaded was in 1052 when William of Normandy defeated the English king Harold at the Battle of Hastings. The arrival of the Normans brought a further decisive influence on the language—French. French, together with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian is known as a Romance language, and has its roots in Latin. For several centuries, French was the language of the aristocracy in England and a large number of French words came into the language. Many of these words are to do with government, like justice, council and tax, and many are abstract terms like liberty, charity and conflict.
Most of the words taken into the language over the years were adopted either because there was a basic need for them and they were useful or because they were preferable m some way to the words already in use. Often the old word disappeared altogether. In many cases, however, the new word and the old continued in use side by side on a roughly equal footing. This had produced pairs of words which are both in use today, like shut and close or buy and purchase, in which the second word of each pair is French in origin.
In the first years after the Norman Conquest many new words were used only by the ruling class and professionals associated with them, such as scribes and clerks. The language of the common people remained largely unaffected. It was the spread of literacy and the development of printing that brought the French words into more general use. Often these were technical words, or words with an official ring, such as commence and purchase. The result was a mixture of types of words. For many meanings we now have a choice of formal and informal words, the formal ones often being used only in very specific situations.
选项
A、English comes from a great variety of sources.
B、There are over half a million words in English vocabulary.
C、The number of the words in the English language is the main reason.
D、Many English words can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxons tribes.
答案
A
解析
本题是细节题。文章第1段讲述了英语难学的原因。本段第4句话阐述了英语难学的重要原因,就是:the rich variety of sources from which English comes。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/44d4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
OneofgoalssetbytheEuropeanUnion’sLisbonsummitistoBesidesapplyingforbreathingspacefromcreditors,managersinA
Youaregoingtoreadatextaboutthetopicofnuclearfusion,followedbyalistofexplanations(orexamples).Choosethebest
TheauthorseemstobelievethattheSupremeCourt’sdecision______.HartcitedacaseinanAustraliancourttoindicatethat
Intheauthor’seyes,parentspushingtheirkidstoanelitedegreeare______.Wecaninferfromthesecondparagraphthat___
Accordingtotheauthor,thedeeperproblemsofaviationindustry______.AccordingtoFredrickReid,theaviationindustry___
GregFocker,playedbyBenStiller,representsagenerationofAmericankids(1)_____inthe1980sonthephilosophythatanyac
Whichofthefollowingistrueaccordingtothefirstparagraph?Theauthor’sattitudetowardsDr.JustandDr.Minshew’swork
escapefrom(Para.1)canbesubstitutedforFromthethirdparagraph,besidesshelter,theseawaterisusedas
Inmostpeople’smind,growthisassociatedwithprosperity.WejudgehowwelltheeconomyisdoingbythesizeoftheGrossNat
Toavoidthevariousfoolishopinionstowhichmanisliable,nosuperhumangeniusisrequired.Afewsimpleroleswillkeepyou
随机试题
下列关于麝香的说法中,不正确的是
A.腮腺B.下颌下腺C.舌下腺D.唇腺E.腭腺大唾液腺,混合腺,以黏液性腺泡为主的是
下列对于皮质醇增多症的特征性表现描述正确的是
某市存在大面积地面沉降,其地下水位下降平均速率为1m/年,现地下水位在地面下5m处,主要地层结构及参数见表11.5.1。按分层总和法计算。试问:今后15年内地面总沉降量(mm)最接近下列()项。
图4—1一11所示构架由AC、BD、CE三杆组成,A、B、D、C处为铰接,E处光滑接触。已知:Fp=2kN,θ=5°,杆及轮重均不计,则E处约束力的方向与x轴正向所成的夹角为()。[2013年真题]
请选择最适合的一项填入问号处,使右边图形的变化规律与左边图形一致。()
“弟子不必不如师,师不必贤于弟子,闻道有先后,术业有专攻,如是而已。”这种观点给当今教育的启示是()。
有以下程序#include#includevoidfun(double*p1,double*p2,double*s){s=(double*)calloc(1,sizeof(double));*s=*p1+
Morethan2,000yearsago,thephilosopherSocrateswanderedaroundAthensaskingquestions,anapproachtofind【M1】______truth
Although"liedetectors"arewidelyusedbygovernments,policedepartmentsandbusinesses,theresultsarenotalwaysaccurate.
最新回复
(
0
)