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 l066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England. For about a century, French became the official language of Eng-land 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 (区别) 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 l066 were       

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

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

4. What is the subject discussed in the text?

单词拼写 (共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)

根据首字母或汉语意思，在句中填入适当的词。

1. English is made up of the grammar and vocabulary brought to Britain by people from different countries and c____________.

2. The last few years have seen many d____________ in and out of China, from earthquake to drought, even to nuclear radiation (核辐射).  

3. Old English c____________ of Celtic, and the languages of the Angles and the Saxons, which once conquered Britain, and the Vikings.

4. … Now the flame has been lit. The 2008 Olympic Games have ____________(正式地) started.

5. The Normans, who d____________ England and take control of the country in 1066, made the most contributions to Middle English.

6. The twins are so alike that we have much difficulty in d______________ one from the other.

7. They have kept a close a_____________ with a college in the US in order to obtain the latest result of the experiment.

8. The child asked his Grandma, “How much is twelve m____________ by five?” She answered quickly, “Sixty”.

9. The book is too difficult! I’m afraid I won’t be able to read it. Do you have a copy that has been ____________ (简化)？

10. They took him to court for questioning the existence of the Greek gods and for _____________ (腐化、堕落) the young people of Athens.

课文填空(共10空, 满分5分)

1.和其他危险相比较而言, 人类遭受鲨鱼攻击的几率其实是很小的.

The chance of being attacked by a shark are very small ______  _______ other danger.

2.1066年, 诺曼人征服了英国并控制了整个国家.

In 1066, the Normans conquered England and ______  _______  of the country.

3.汉语与很多西方语言不同之处在于汉语使用的基本单位汉字本身就有意义,可以独立成词.

The Chinese language _______  _______ many Western languages in that it uses characters which have meanings and can stand alone as words.

4.中国用丝绸交换酒、香料、羊毛和其他物品.

_______  ________ for silk, China received wine, spices, wool and other goods.

5.据报道吸烟和肺癌有关.

It’s _______  ________ smoking is related to lung cancer.

If you ask people to name 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 (区别) 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.

单词拼写

注意：每空只填1个单词

1.We should try to ______ (使结合) work with pleasure.

2.He __________（分析）the food and found that it contained poison.

3.A British club arranged for high school students to go to places where there are lost           __________ (文明).

4.The Normans, a French-speaking people who defeated England made               __________ (贡献) to the development of the new type of English.

5.Socrates’ way of _______(接近) the truth is now called the Socratic Method.

6.The children _________(恐慌) when they realized they were lost.

7.I don’t know his password, so I can’t have a________ to his computer.

8.His lie was so touching that many of his friends f__________ for it.

9.These words have similar meanings. I really have difficulty d_____one from another.

10.U________, his computer crashed the moment it was most needed.