Question

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels (元音) being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact (接觸) with many people from around the world. This meant that lots of new vocabulary entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary came out.
Early Modern English and Late Modern English are mostly different in the number of words. Late Modern English has many more words, mainly because of the following two reasons: First, the Industrial Revolution (工業(yè)革命) led to the need for new words. Second, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries.
From around 1600, the English colonization (殖民地化) of North America led to American English. Some English pronunciations and words “froze” when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that are called “American English” are in fact from British expressions. They were kept in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain. Spanish also had an influence (影響) on American English. For example, words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante are from Spanish. They entered English by the people of Spain who settled in the American West. French words and West African words also influenced American English.
Today, American English has a greater influence, because of the USA’s movies, television, popular music, trade and technology.
【小題1】The main difference between Early and Late Modern English lies in _____.

A．vocabulary	B．pronunciation
C．spelling	D．grammar

【小題2】 What helped to increase the vocabulary of Late Modern English?
a. the invention of printing
b. the Industrial Revolution
c. the colonization
d. the contact with other countries

A．a(chǎn), b, c

B．a(chǎn), c, d

C．a(chǎn), b, d

D．b, c, d

【小題3】From the passage, we can learn the word “canyon” is from _____.

A．American dialect	B．African dialect
C．Spanish	D．French

【小題4】The third paragraph mainly talks about _____.

A．English colonies in North America

B．the development of American English

C．other languages influence on American English

D．the difference between American English and British English

【小題5】 The underlined word “froze” can best be replaced by _____.

A．remained unchanged	B．disappeared
C．improved	D．kept active

Answer 1

【小題1】A
【小題2】D
【小題3】C
【小題4】B
【小題5】A

解析試題分析：本文著重講述了在幾個(gè)不同的國家的英語上存在著很大的差異，并分析了具體的原因。
【小題1】細(xì)節(jié)題：從第二段的句子：Early Modern English and Late Modern English are mostly different in the number of words.可知早期的英語和現(xiàn)代英語的不同主要是詞匯上的，選A
【小題2】細(xì)節(jié)題：從第二段的句子：First, the Industrial Revolution (工業(yè)革命) led to the need for new words. Second, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries. 可知現(xiàn)代英語詞匯量的增加主要是因?yàn)楣�業(yè)化革命，和其他國家的接觸，根據(jù)第三段的句子：From around 1600, the English colonization (殖民地化) of North America led to American English.可知還有一個(gè)原因是殖民化，選D
【小題3】細(xì)節(jié)題：從第三段的句子：Spanish also had an influence (影響) on American English. For example, words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante are from Spanish. 可知crayon這個(gè)單詞是來自西班牙語，選C
【小題4】段落大意題：從第三段的句子：From around 1600, the English colonization (殖民地化) of North America led to American English.可知這段講的是美式英語的發(fā)展，選B
【小題5】猜詞題：從第三段的句子：In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. 一些美式英語有點(diǎn)象莎士比亞時(shí)期的英語，說明當(dāng)英語來到這些殖民地的時(shí)候就不再變化了，故該詞指的是保持原樣。選A
考點(diǎn)：考查文化類短文閱讀