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

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 Conquest did not affect English as much as the Angles 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 spoke 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）。