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

Middle English

中古英语

Middle English is the name given to the English used from around the 12th to the 15th century.

中古英语这个名词是指大约12世纪至15世纪期间所使用的英语。

Many things played a part in the development of this new type of English.

很多因素使得英语发展成这种新的类型。

The most important contribution was from the Normans, a French-speaking people who defeated England and took control of the country in 1066.

最大的贡献来自于讲法语的诺曼人，他们于1066年击败英格兰并控制了这个国家。

However, the Norman Conquest¹ did not affect English as much as the Angles² and the Saxons' vitory about 600 years earlier, which led to Old English replacing Celtic.

然而，诺曼征服队英语的影响并不及约600年前盎格鲁人和撒克逊人的胜利对英语的影响，那场胜利导致古英语代替了凯尔特语。

Even though the Normans spoke³ French for the entire 250 years they ruled England, French did not replace English as the first language.

可是，尽管诺曼人说法语，在其统治英国的250年间，法语却没有取代英语而成为英国的第一语言。

On the other hand, the English language did borrow many words from French.

另一方面，英语语言确实从法语中借了不少的词汇。

This resulted in even more words with similar meanings, such as answer (from Old English) and reply (from Old French).

这种影响让英语产生了更多意思相近的词对，如answer（源自古英语）和reply（源自古法语）。

1 conquest   

n.征服；克服；掠取物；征服的土地或人们

参考例句：

• They succeeded in the conquest of that city.他们夺取了那城市。
• One of the great achievements of the modern science and technology is the conquest of space.现代科学技术的一项伟大成就是对空间的征服。

2 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》

3 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。