Question

【题目】阅读短文, 根据短文内容回答问题。

A History of English...in Five Words

In 1582, Richard Mulcaster, headmaster of a British school, wrote that the English would not go beyond their island. However, it didn't stay that way. Today, English is spoken all over the world.

English is a colorful and diverse (多样的) language that long has picked up words from many other languages. Here are five words that show the English language’s interesting history. English

English began in the language spoken by the early Germanic people in the fifth century AD. It is from them that the word “English” comes. First it is the Latin word Angli which means the people of Angul, where the Germanic people were from.

Beef

Although roast beef is seen as a traditional English dish, the word “beef” was introduced from the French boeuf during the Middle Ages. It was one of a group of words, including pork and mutton, that were taken from the speech of the French who moved in Britain following the Norman Conquest (诺曼底登陆) of 1066. However, the farmers who kept these living things continued to call them by their old English names: cow, pig and sheep. This difference passes on till today.

Dictionary

Dictionary is a borrowing from Latin dictornarius liber, “book of words”; It first appeared in English in the 6th century, along with a huge number of other words from Latin and Greek. The first English dictionary was written by Robert Cawdrey in 1604. Cawdrey focused only on the difficult words whose meanings would have caused problems for those not educated in Latin and Greek.

Tea

Tea was brought into Britain early in the 17th century, becoming very popular by the 1650s. By the 18th century it had become a symbol（标志） of fashionable society and a best-selling of the coffee house culture.

The word tea rises from the Chinese word cha. A love of tea is so ingrained (根深蒂固的) in British life that the expression “cup of tea” has come to stand for anything viewed positively. The saying “It’s not my cup of tea.” means: I don’t like it.

Emoji

Emoji began developing in Japan in the 1990s for use by teenagers: the word “emoji” comes from the Japanese e “picture” + moji “letter”. Its successful acceptance in English has been helped by its similarity to words with the e-prefix (前缀) like e-mail. The Unicode Consortium’s (统一码 联盟的) official lists emojis and their meanings, but users keep finding creative new ways to employ them. Emojis are just another example of the development and diversity of English.

【1】What language is the word “beef ” from?

【2】Who wrote the first English dictionary?

【3】What does “it’s not my cup of tea” mean?

【4】Why is the word “emoji ” successfully accepted in English?

【5】What makes English a colorful and diverse language?

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】French.

【2】Robert Cawdrey.

【3】I don’t like it.

【4】Because of its similarity to English words with the e-predix.

【5】Picking up words from many other languages. /Acceptance words from many other

languages.

【解析】英语是一种丰富多彩的语言，在它长久的发展过程中，它不断地从其他语言中吸收新的词汇。这篇短文给我们介绍了能够展示英语有趣历史的五个词。

【1】根据短文第三段中Although roast beef is seen as a traditional English dish, the word “beef” was introduced from the French boeuf during the Middle Ages.可知，beef这个单词来自于法语boeuf。

【2】根据短文第四段中The first English dictionary was written by Robert Cawdrey in 1604.可知，第一本英语字典是在1604年由Robert Cawdrey写的。

【3】根据短文Tea这一部分中The saying “It’s not my cup of tea.” means: I don’t like it.可知，It’s not my cup of tea的意思是我不喜欢。

【4】根据短文Emoji这一部分中Its successful acceptance in English has been helped by its similarity to words with the e-prefix (前缀) like e-mail.表情符号在英语中被接受，因为它与e前缀很相近。

【5】根据短文开头English is a colorful and diverse (多样的) language that long has picked up words from many other languages.可知，英语是一种丰富多彩的语言，在它长久的发展过程中，它从其他的语言中引进了很多的词汇。