Do you ever wonder why the English have one word for some animals and a different one for their meat? Why do they use pig and pork, cow and beef, and sheep and mutton? To find it out, we have to go back to 1066, when the Norman French invaded England and put a French king on the English throne (王位), which not only changed the government but also changed the language. French became the language of the upper classes of society. And it remained that way for 300 years. Only these high society people could afford to eat meat. As a result, French words like porc (pork) and beouf (beef) came into the English language. However, poor English farmers raised the animals. So the English language retained the words pig and cow from the Native Anglo-Saxon.
The Norman French added about 10,000 French words to the English language. Seventy-five percent of them are still in use today.
In French grammar, nouns have either a male or female gender (性别), so adjectives (形容词) take different forms for each. English has only one adjective that does this, and it came from French. The word “blond” describes someone with light-colored hair. “Blond” is used for men, and “blonde” describes women. And they are also nouns.
Some French words that entered the English language have taken on pletely different meanings. The French phrase “a la mode” means “in style”. In English, the phrase means “with the ice cream”. Someone must have decided something eaten with ice cream was in style!
Now, as you learn English, you’re on your way to learning French!
【小题1】French was once popular among the upper classes of the UK because .A．too many French moved to BritainB．French brought animals with themC．the king and his officials spoke FrenchD．the king allowed French to be spoken【小题2】Which word can replace the word “retained” in Paragraph 1?A．ChoseB．KeptC．IntroducedD．Give up【小题3】Why does an English speaker find French easy to learn?A．Because English and French share similar pronunciations.B．Because English grammar and French grammar are similar.C．Because a large number of English words have French origins.D．Because English has great influences on the French language.【小题4】French grammar is very different from English grammar because . A．no words have the same pronunciationB．all words have the same pronunciationC．English nouns have a male or female genderD．French nouns have different adjective forms【小题5】What conclusion can we draw from the text?A．Language is closely related to history and culture.B．French and English words have nothing in mon.C．Language is controlled by the upper classes of society.D．English bines French and the Native Anglo-Saxon.C
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(答案→)C
解析：文章介绍英语受法语的影响很大，因为历史的原因，上等阶层的人说法语很多，现在还有很多法语在英语中使用，文章也介绍了法语和英语的不同之处。
【小题1】细节题：从文章第一段的句子：when the Norman French invaded England and put a French king on the English throne (王位), which not only changed the government but also changed the language. French became the language of the upper classes of society.可知法语曾经在英国的上层很受欢迎，是因为国王和官员都说法语。选C
【小题2】猜词题：从第一段的句子：However, poor English farmers raised the animals. So the English language retained the words pig and cow from the Native Anglo-Saxon.贫穷的农民饲养动物，所以英语保持了安格鲁撒克逊的猪和牛这样的单词。可知“retained”的意思是“保持”，选B
【小题3】细节题：从文章第二段的句子：The Norman French added about 10,000 French words to the English language. Seventy-five percent of them are still in use today.可知说英语的人发现法语很容易学，是因为很多英语单词来源于法语，选C
【小题4】细节题：从文章第三段的句子：In French grammar, nouns have either a male or female gender (性别), so adjectives (形容词) take different forms for each.可知法语的语法和英语不同，因为法语的名词有不同的形容词形式。选D
【小题5】归纳题：从文章的内容:法语和英语的演变受当时历史和文化的影响很大，可以归纳出语言和历史文化密切相关，选A