译林版牛津高中英语(必修3):Unit 2 Language-Reading(1)

English and its history

英语发展简史

All through history, people from many different countries and cultures have lived together in Britain.

在整个历史进程中，来自很多国家并具有不同文化的人们曾共同生活在不列颠。

The English language is made up of the grammar and vocabulary these people brought to Britain.

英语语言是由这些进入不列颠的人群所说语言中的语法和词汇构成的。

That is why English has so many difficult rules that confuse people.

这就是英语为何有那么多复杂规则而让人困惑的原因。

Old English

古英语

Old English is very different from the English we speak nowadays.

古英语和我们如今所讲的英语有很大的不同。

In fact, we would not be able to understand it if we heard it today.

实际上，如果我们现在去听古英语，我们也会不知其所云。

Before the middle of the 5th century, people in Britain all spoke¹ a language called Celtic.

公元5世纪中叶之前，不列颠所有的人都说一种叫做凯尔特语的语言。

Then two Germanic groups from the European mainland--the Angles³ and the Saxons--occupied Britain.

然后，来自欧洲大陆的两个日耳曼民资——盎格鲁人和撒克逊人--占领了不列颠。

Old English consisted of a mixture of their languages.(Both the English language and the English people are named after the Angles; the word Angle² was spelt Engle in Old English.)

古英语是他们语言的混合。（英语语言和英国人都是以盎格鲁人命名的；单词//“Angle”在古英语中的拼写为“Engle”。）

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 angle   

n.角，角度，立场，观点

参考例句：

• The high jumper took off at a bad angle.跳高运动员的起跳角度不好。
• The old house leans to the right at a dangerous angle.那所老宅向右斜得很危险。

3 angles   

n.角( angle的名词复数 )；[比喻]（考虑、问题的）角度；观点；轮廓鲜明的突出体

参考例句：

• She angles her reports to suit the people she is speaking to. 她带着一定的倾向性作报告以迎合她的听众。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Angles of less than 90 degrees are called acute angles. 小于90度的角叫锐角。 来自《简明英汉词典》