Н.Э. Шарабарина, Л.В. Кулик - English for Junior Students of the Humanities - Unit 2 (1110503), страница 7
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Вероятно, среднеанглийский языкбыстро упрощался из-за тесных контактов с французским. Слов, заимствованных изфранцузского, стало так много, что иногда английский рассматривают даже каксмешанный романо-германский язык, однако это некоторое преувеличение. В XV в.в Англии появилось книгопечатание и сложилась орфографическая норма.
Ужетогда орфография ориентировалась на язык более раннего времени исуществовал разрыв между написанием и произношением. Этот разрыв увеличилсяв XVI в., когда в английском языке произошли значительные изменения, преждевсего в фонетике. Грамматика упростилась ещё больше, а орфография не изменилась. К концу XVI в. сложился новоанглийский язык, на котором уже писал УильямШекспир. С тех пор фонетика и грамматика английского языка существенно неменялись, хотя, конечно, изменилась лексика. Современные англичане почти всёпонимают, смотря пьесы Шекспира или читая его произведения в оригинале.Vocabulary BoxFrom ancient time, Celtic died out, written variety, court and administration, ordinarypeople, the Centenary War, words of French origin, case endings disappeared,conjugation, close contacts, gap between spelling and pronunciation, phonetics, grammarand vocabulary.EXERCISE 3 Sum up both texts and prepare a 5-minute speech on the subject"The history of the English language "28EXERCISE 4.
Read the text. Write out the necessary key-words. Write a shortsummary of the text (2-3 sentences)LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE1.2.3.The growth of literacy in England was closely connected with the twelfth-centuryRenaissance, a cultural movement which had first started in Italy. Its influence movednorthwards along the trade routes, reaching England at the end of the century.
Thisrevolution in ideas and learning brought a new desire to test religious faith againstreason. Schools of learning were established in many towns and cities. Some were"grammar" schools independent of the Church, while others were attached to a cathedral.All of these schools taught Latin, because most books were written in this language.Although it may seem strange for education to be based on a dead language, Latin wasimportant because it was the educated language of almost all Europe, and was thereforeuseful in the spread of ideas and learning. In spite of the dangers, the Church took a leadin the new intellectual movement.In England two schools of higher learning were established, the first at Oxford and thesecond at Cambridge, at the end of the twelfth century.
By the 1220s these twouniversities were the intellectual leaders of the country.Few could go to the universities. Most English people spoke neither Latin, thelanguage of the Church and of education, nor French, the language of law and of theNorman rulers. It was a long time before English became the language of the wholenation.(from An Illustrated History of Britain by David McDowall)EXERCISE 5Read the text and make up apian in the form of statements. Writeout key-words for these statements.
Write a global summary of thetext on the basis of these statements and key words.LANGUAGE AND CULTURE1. With the spread of literacy, cultural life in Britain naturally developed also. In thecities, plays were performed at important religious festivals. They were called "mysteryplays" because of the mysterious nature of events in the Bible, and they were a popularform of culture. In the larger cities some guilds made themselves responsible forparticular plays, which became traditional yearly events.2.The language itself was changing. French had been used less and less by the Normanrulers during the thirteenth century.
In the fourteenth century Edward III had actuallyforbidden the speaking of French in his army. It was a way of making the whole armyaware of its Englishness.3.After the Norman Conquest English (the old Anglo-Saxon language) continued to bespoken by ordinary people but was no longer written.
By the end of the fourteenthcentury, however, English was once again a written language, because it was being usedinstead of French by the ruling, literate class. But Middle English, the language of thefourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was very different from Anglo-Saxon. This was partlybecause it had not been written for three hundred years, and partly because it hadborrowed so much from Norman French.4.
Two writers, above all others, helped in the rebirth of English literature. One wasWilliam Langland, a mid-fourteenth century priest, whose poem Piers Plowman gives apowerful description of the times in which he lived. The other, Geoffrey Chaucer, has29become much more famous. He lived at about the same time as Langland. His mostfamous work was The Canterbury Tales, written at the end of the fourteenth century.5. By the end of the Middle Ages, English as well as Latin was being used in legalwriting, and also in elementary schools. Education developed enormously during thefifteenth century, and many schools were founded by powerful men. One of these wasWilliam of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England, whofounded both Winchester School, in 1382, and New College, Oxford.
Like Henry Vl'slater foundations at Eton and Cambridge they have remained famous for their highquality. Many other schools were also opened at this time, because there was a growingneed for educated people who could administer the government, the Church, the law andtrade. Clerks started grammar schools where students could learn the skills of readingand writing. These schools offered their pupils a future in the Church or the civil service,or at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The universities themselves continued togrow as colleges and halls where the students could both live and be taught were built.6. The Middle Ages ended with a major technical development: William Caxton's firstEnglish printing press, set up in 1476.
Caxton had learnt the skill of printing inGermany. At first the printed popular books, such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales andMalory's Morte d' Arthur. This long poem described the adventures of the legendaryKing Arthur, including Arthur's last battle, his death, and the death of other knights ofthe Round Table..7.
Caxton's printing press was as dramatic for his age as radio, television and thetechnological revolution are for our own. Books suddenly became cheaper and moreplentiful, as the quicker printing process replaced slow and expensive copywriting byhand. Printing began to standardize spelling and grammar, though this process was along one. More important, just as radio brought information and ideas to the illiteratepeople of the twentieth century, Caxton's press provided books for the newly educatedpeople of the fifteenth century, and encouraged literacy. Caxton avoided printing anydangerous literature. But the children and grandchildren of these literate people were touse printing as a powerful weapon to change the world in which they lived.(from An Illustrated History of Britain by David McDowall)EXERCISE 6 Read the text.
Summarize the information about different time sets andbehavior patterns in regard to punctuality.HOW LATE IS LATE?1.Time talks. It speaks more plainly than words. The message it conveys comesthrough loud and clear. Because it is manipulated less consciously, it is subject toless distortion than the spoken language. It can shout the truth where words lie.2.Informally, for important daytime business appointments in the eastern UnitedStates between equals, there are eight time sets in regard to punctuality and lengthof appointments: on time, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty-five minutes, and onehour early or late. Keeping in mind that situations vary, there is a slightly differentbehavior pattern for each point, and each point on the scale has a different meaning.As for the length of appointments, an hour with an important person is different fromthirty minutes with that same person.
Ponder the significance of the remark, 'Wespent over an hour closeted with the President." Everyone knows the business musthave been important. Or consider, "He could only spare ten minutes, so we didn't getmuch accomplished." Time then becomes a message as (eloquently) direct as itwords were used. As for punctuality, no right-minded American would think ofkeeping a business associate waiting for an hour; it would be too insulting.
No matter30what is said in apology, there is little that can remove the impact of an hour's heelcooling in an outer office.3. Even the five-minute period has its significant subdivisions. When equals meet,one will generally be aware of being two minutes early or late but will say nothing,since the time in this case is not significant. At three minutes a person will still notapologise or feel that it is necessary to say anything (three is the first significantnumber in the one-to-five series); at five minutes there is usually a short apology;and at four minutes before or after the hour the person will mutter something/although he will seldom complete the muttered sentence) The importance of makingdetailed observations on these aspects of informal culture is driven home if onepictures an actual situation.
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