十分钟了解英语历史 英语和帝国

 The History of English in Ten Minutes. Chapter six. English and Empire or the sun never set on the English language.

十分钟了解英语历史。第六章，英语和帝国或英语的太阳永不落。

With English making its name as the language of science, the Bible and Shakespeare, Britain decided¹ to take it on tour. 

随着英语被大量用于科学，圣经，和莎士比亚作品，英国决定让它发扬光大。

Asking only for land, wealth, natural resources, total obedience² to the crown and a few local words in return. 

寻找土地，财富，自然资源，完全忠于国王，带回了一些外来词。

They went to the Caribbean looking for gold and a chance to really unwind – discovering the ‘barbeque’, the ‘canoe’ and a pretty good recipe for rum punch. They also brought back the word ‘cannibal’ to make their trip sound more exciting. 

他们去加勒比寻找黄金，有机会真正自由的发掘出一些词汇，例如烧烤，木舟和很多朗姆潘趣酒的菜谱。他们还带回食人者这类词汇让旅行更加刺激。

In India there was something for everyone. ‘Yoga’ – to help you stay in shape, while pretending to be spiritual. If that didn’t work there was the ‘cummerbund’ to hide a paunch and - if you couldn’t even make it up the stairs without turning ‘crimson’ – they had the ‘bungalow’.

在印度英国人发明了一些词汇跟每个人的生活都有点儿关系。瑜伽让人保持身材，也试图使人精神，如果那个没有效，还有腹带来隐藏大肚子。如果你上台阶会红脸，他们有平房。

Meanwhile in Africa they picked up words like ‘voodoo’ and ‘zombie’ – kicking off the teen horror film – and even more terrifying, they brought home the world’s two most annoying musical instruments – the ‘bongo’ and the ‘banjo’. 

同时在非洲，他们使用伏都教和僵尸，击败青年人的恐怖电影，更加恐怖的是他们带回世界上最吵闹的乐器，小鼓，班卓琴。

From Australia, English took the words ‘nugget’, ‘boomerang’ and ‘walkabout’ - and in fact the whole concept of chain pubs. 

英国人从澳洲带来词汇，金属，回力棒，随身听，实际上还有连锁酒吧的概念。

Between toppling Napoleon (1815) and the first World War (1914), the British Empire gobbled up around 10 millions square miles, 400 million people and nearly a hundred thousand gin and tonics³, leaving new varieties of English to develop all over the globe.

在拿破仑失败的那年即1815年和一战之间即1914年，英国吞没了大约1千万平方英里的土地，4亿人口，近10万的杜松烧酒和补品，使得英语在全球拓展。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 obedience   

n.服从，顺从

参考例句：

• Society has a right to expect obedience of the law.社会有权要求人人遵守法律。
• Soldiers act in obedience to the orders of their superior officers.士兵们遵照上级军官的命令行动。

3 tonics   

n.滋补品( tonic的名词复数 )；主音；奎宁水；浊音

参考例句：

• I think you have a prejudice against tonics. 我认你对补药有偏见。 来自互联网
• Two gin and tonics, please. 请来两杯杜松子酒加奎宁水。 来自互联网