Ⅰ. Pre-reading

1. Do you know the two men in the picture? Who are they? ①

②Can they understand each other well?

①The man on the left is British

Prime Minister, David Cameron ,

the other on the right is U. S. President

Barack Obama . (Answers may be in Chinese. )

②Yes, they can. Though they come from different countries,

they have no trouble in communicating with each other. After

all, they are all English speakers. (Answers may vary. )

2. How many kinds of English are there in the world? Try to

speak out.

American English, British English, Indian English,

Australian English, Canadian English, Singapore English,

African English, Malaysian English.

Ⅱ. Skim the whole text quickly and answer the following ques

tion.

The title is“The road to modern English”. What does the wor

d “road” mean?

It refers to the development of the English language .

Ⅲ. Read the text and try to tell if these sentences are

TRUE(T) or FALSE(F).

1. At the end of the 16th century, nearly all the English

speakers lived in America. (F)

2. Even if Native English speakers don’t speak the same kind

of English, they can understand each other. (T)

3. The English language changes and develops when different

cultures meet and communicate with each other. (T)

4. The American Dictionary of the English Language written by

Noah Webster gave American English spelling a separate

identity. (T)

5. From 1765 to 1947 English was the language for

government and education in South Africa. (F)

Ⅳ. Read the text again and fill in the form below.

Ⅴ. Choose the best answer according to the passage.

1. From about AD 450 to 1150, English sounded more like ＿＿ .

A. French 　　 B. Chinese 　　 C. German 　　 D. Russian

答案： C

2. Which country has the fastest growing number of English s

peakers in the world?

A. Australia. 　　 B. China. 　　 C. India. 　　 D. Britain.

答案： B

3. Why do more people speak English?

A. Because it is an international language.

B. Because it has the largest number of speakers.

C. Because it is easy to learn.

D. Because it always stays the same.

答案： A

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. The future of English.

B. The origin （起源） of English.

C. English is spoken in many countries.

D. The development of English in the world.

答案： D

Ⅰ. Choose the one answer that best completes the sentence.

1. Do you know that there is ＿＿＿ one kind of English in the

world?

A. less than 　　 B. only 　　 C. hardly 　　 D. more than

【解析】选 D 。 more than one kind of. . . “ 不止有一种……”。句意为：你知道世界上不止有一种英语吗？ less than

少于； only 仅仅； hardly 几乎不。

2. ＿＿＿ that, English began to be spoken in many other cou

ntries.

A. Because 　　 B. Because of 　　　 C. As 　　 D. Since

【解析】选 B 。 because of 是复合介词， 后面接名词、代词和动名词。其他三项后面接句子。

3. I’d like to ＿＿＿ to your apartment.

A. come up 　　 B. come on 　　 C. come out 　　 D. come al

ong

【解析】选 A 。 come up 走近，上来； come on 加油，快点； come out 出版 ； come along 一起，跟着。句意为：我愿意到你住的公寓里去。

4. English is also spoken in Singapore and Malaysia and count

ries in Africa ＿＿＿ South Africa.

A. that is 　　 B. for example 　　 C. such as 　　 D. now tha

t

【解析】选 C 。 such as 用来“罗列”同类人或物中的几个例子，可置于被列举的事物与前面的名词之间，但其后边不能用逗号； for example 强调“举例”说明，而且一般只举同类人或物中的一个作为插入语，且用逗号隔开，可置于句首、句中或句末； that is 即，就是说，换言之； now that 既然，由于。句意为：英语还在新加坡和马来西亚以及像南非这样的非洲国家使用。

Ⅱ. Translate the following sentences.

1. In some important ways they are very different from one an

other.

在一些重要的方面它们彼此不同。2. It was based more on German than the English we speak at

present.

比起现在我们所说的英语，它更大程度上是基于德语的。

3. So by the 1600’s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wid

er vocabulary than ever before.

所以到十七世纪时，莎士比亚所用的词汇量比以往任何时期都大。4. The latter gave a separate identity to American English spel

ling.

后者赋予了美国英语拼写的自我特色。

Ⅲ. Find out the sentences similar in meaning to the ones

below in the passage.

1. Later in the century that followed, English people travelled

abroad by sea and ruled other parts of the world by force. As

a result of that, people in many other countries began to speak

English.

Later in the next century, people from England made voyages

to conquer other parts of the world and because of that,

English began to be spoken in many other countries.

2. Although people who speak English as their mother

language speak the different kinds of English, they have no

trouble in communicating with each other.

Native English speakers can understand each other even if

they don’t speak the same kind of English.

3. In the beginning, the English people living from AD 450 to

1150 spoke different English from the English we speak now.

At first the English spoken in England between about AD 450

and 1150 was very different from the English spoken today.

4. Take India for example. India was once controlled by

Britain for almost two centuries. So the number of people who

speak English fluently is very large.

For example, India has a very large number of fluent English

speakers because Britain ruled India from 1765 to 1947.

Ⅳ. Fill in the blanks with the proper words or phrases in the t

ext.

　　 English has changed and 1 . developed when cultures me

et and 2 . communicate with each other. From AD 450 to 1150,

new settlers to England enriched the English language and en

larged its 3 . vocabulary . In 1620, British people began to mo

ve to other countries, and 4 . gradually , English was spoken i

n many other countries. By the 19th century

American English spelling got a separate 5 . identity when

Noah Webster wrote his dictionary. 6 . At present , more

people speak English as their first, 7 . second or a foreign

language than ever before. People in South Asia 8 . such as

India, Singapore speak 9 . fluent English. China may have

the 10 . largest number of English learners.