高中英语河北版下Unit Eight（在线收听）

[00:-1.00]The story of English is the story of conquest and invasion.
[00:-2.00]The Romans,and then the Normans,
[00:-3.00]landing on the shores of England,brought their languages with them.
[00:-4.00]In a strange irony,the rich and complex nature of English
[00:-5.00]can be traced directly to the influence of the invaders.
[00:-6.00]Keeping is harder than winning.-Romanian Proverb
[00:-7.00]SECTION 1 NEW WORDS AND IDEAS
[00:-8.00]The Names of the Months
[00:-9.00]The names of the months all come from Latin.
[00:10.00]January,March,May,and June were named for Roman gods.
[00:11.00]January was named after the god Janus,a strange god with two faces.
[00:12.00]He could look forward and back at the same time.
[00:13.00]He was the god of endings and beginnings.
[00:14.00]January is the first month of the year.
[00:15.00]It is a month in which one looks forward to the new year.
[00:16.00]One also looks back to the old year.
[00:17.00]February comes from a Roman celebration.
[00:18.00]The name of this celebration was Februa.
[00:19.00]It was a celebration of cleaning.
[00:20.00]Toward the end of February,after the long winter months,
[00:21.00]women began to think of spring-cleaning.
[00:22.00]Probably this was the origin of the name of the month.
[00:23.00]February has only twenty-eight days.
[00:24.00]Every fourth year it has an extra day or twentynine days.
[00:25.00]In every year there are exactly 365 days and six hours.
[00:26.00]At the end of four years these six extra hours of each year
[00:27.00]add up to twenty-four hours or one full day.
[00:28.00]This fourth year,in which February has twentynine days,we call"Leap Year".
[00:29.00]The third month,March,is named after the Roman god of was,
[00:30.00]Mars.Mars was a strong god.
[00:31.00]The Roman people always connected him with thunder and lightning.
[00:32.00]Pictures of Mars always show him with lightning above his head.
[00:33.00]It is natural that the name of March comes from this god Mars.
[00:34.00]March is a month of storms.
[00:35.00]The wind blows strongly.
[00:36.00]It rains very hard.
[00:37.00]There is often thunder and lightning.
[00:38.00]The origin of the word April is not known exactly.
[00:39.00]Probably the word comes from the Latin word aperiri.
[00:40.00]This Latin word means"to open".
[00:41.00]In Spanish today there are the words abrir and abierto.
[00:42.00]In the month of April the skies open.
[00:43.00]It rains often.
[00:44.00]The trees and the flowers also begin to open.
[00:45.00]The trees turn green.
[00:46.00]Grass and flowers appear.
[00:47.00]The month of May is named after the goddess Maia.
[00:48.00]Maia was young and pretty.
[00:49.00]She was the goddess of the fields.
[00:50.00]She was the mother of the god Mercury.
[00:51.00]The month of June was named after the goddess Juno.
[00:52.00]She was the wife of Jupiter.
[00:53.00]Juno was a beautiful woman.
[00:54.00]The seventh month of the year,July,
[00:55.00]is named after Julius Caesar,a famous Roman general.
[00:56.00]He became emperor of Rome.
[00:57.00]Before the time of Caesar,another calendar was used.
[00:58.00]The year began in March instead of in January.
[00:59.00]The present month of July was then the fifth month instead of the seventh month.
[-1:00.00]Caesar changed this.
[-1:-1.00]He made a new calendar.
[-1:-2.00]This is the calendar we use today.
[-1:-3.00]Caesar himself was born in July.
[-1:-4.00]He gave the name of July to this month,the seventh month of the new calendar.
[-1:-5.00]After Julius Caesar,came his son Augustus.
[-1:-6.00]At first the name of Augustus was Octavius.
[-1:-7.00]Later he became emperor.
[-1:-8.00]The people wished to please him.
[-1:-9.00]They gave him the title of Augustus,meaning"noble"
[-1:10.00]They also called the eighth month August after him.
[-1:11.00]Have you read anyting of the Augustan period of Roman history?
[-1:12.00]It is called the"Golden Age".
[-1:13.00]It was a period of peace.
[-1:14.00]It was a period of great literature and art.
[-1:15.00]The great Latin poets, [-1:16.00]Horace and Virgil,lived at this time.
[-1:17.00]The months of September,October,November and December need little explanation.
[-1:18.00]In our calendar today,they are the ninth,tenth,eleventh and twelfth months.
[-1:19.00]But in the old calendar before Julius Caesar,they were the seventh,
[-1:20.00]eighth,ninth,and tenth months.
[-1:21.00]The names for the months September,October,November,
[-1:22.00]and December therefore came from the Latin words for seventh,
[-1:23.00]eighth,ninth and tenth.
[-1:24.00]In Spanish today,for example,the word for seventh is septimo.
[-1:25.00]The word for eight is octavo,etc.
[-1:26.00]POEM  Calendar[-1:27.00]A calendar is a useful tool .For organizing days at school.
[-1:28.00]You'll get a schedule,so don't be late
[-1:29.00]Use your calendar to keep things straight.
[-1:30.00]Mark your classes,exam days too
[-1:31.00]A well-used calendar can help you through.It comes in many kinds and shapes
[-1:32.00]To hang on walls and keep things straight.Latin is the language used
[-1:33.00]But don't let this make you confused.
[-1:34.00]Twelve months there are in one full year
[-1:35.00]Your calendar will keep things clear.
[-1:36.00]SECTION 2 MEANING THROUGH PRACTICE
[-1:37.00]C.Build your listening skills
[-1:38.00]Recently,a survey was done to see how people feel
[-1:39.00]about the growing role of English in China.
[-1:40.00]They were asked the question,"Is English changing the Chinese identity?"
[-1:41.00]Listen to the three different responses,and answer the questions.
[-1:42.00]SECTION 4 READING FOR KNOWLEDGE
[-1:43.00]We All Make Different Sounds
[-1:44.00]When a dog barks,we all hear the same sound.
[-1:45.00]But a French boy says that his dog is saying"gnaf-gnaf!"
[-1:46.00]A German girl says her dog is saying"wau-wau!"
[-1:47.00]And Japanese children say their dogs are saying"wung-wung!"
[-1:48.00]What does your dog say?
[-1:49.00]If all these children hear the same sound,
[-1:50.00]why do they say the sound in different ways?
[-1:51.00]It's because they speak different languages.
[-1:52.00]All languages are made up of words.
[-1:53.00]And words are sounds that stand for things.
[-1:54.00]But every language has different sounds.
[-1:55.00]Suppose you want to tell your best friend that you have a dog.
[-1:56.00]How would you say the word"dog"?
[-1:57.00]If you speak Spanish,you'd say"pay roh".
[-1:58.00]If you speak German,you'd say"shean".
[-1:59.00]But if you and your friend don't speak the same language,
[-2:00.00]he or she won't know what you are saying.
[-2:-1.00]Sometimes,even people who speak the same language don't say words the same way.
[-2:-2.00]In the United States,people in Bosteon speak with a New England accent.
[-2:-3.00]They say"dahg".People in Atlanta speak with a Southern accent.
[-2:-4.00]They say"dawg".Both are saying the word"dog",but in a different way.
[-2:-5.00]This is true in other countries,too.
[-2:-6.00]People from different parts of England
[-2:-7.00]often find it hard to understand one another.
[-2:-8.00]This sometimes happens at the Speaker's Corner,in Hyde Park,London.
[-2:-9.00]Here,anyone can make a speech about anything.
[-2:10.00]But if the speaker comes from Yorkshire,
[-2:11.00]in northern England,he may have a Yorkshire accent.
[-2:12.00]If so,many Londoners may not understand him.
[-2:13.00]There's no point in talking if people don't understand what you say.
[-2:14.00]English Rules
[-2:15.00]Know
[-2:16.00]Take a look at this word Aloud it sounds like
[-2:17.00]no Now take a look at this one Bread
[-2:18.00]is made from dough Examine closely weed and seed
[-2:19.00]And ask me if they're spelled like bead
[-2:20.00]Or dear or bear,fear or pear English makes me pull my hair!!!
[-2:21.00]It's more than likly,you must have heard
[-2:22.00]That phonics helps you break a word If that is so,then let me see
[-2:23.00]How do you pronounce simplicity
[-2:24.00]But that's okay,woek hard and try
[-2:25.00]To learn this language,without a sigh
[-2:26.00]Rules are rules they're just like tools
[-2:27.00]They help you read,they're like crown jewels. [-2:28.00]READING FOR HISTORY
[-2:29.00]The Story of English:Norman Influence
[-2:30.00]The Norman invasion of England in A.D.1066
[-2:31.00]had great influences on the English language.
[-2:32.00]The invasion was led by William the Conqueror.
[-2:33.00]With his victory,William brought in great numbers of French.
[-2:34.00]These French occupied the country after driving out their English owners.
[-2:35.00]The English were reduced to workers,servants,and even slaves.
[-2:36.00]England became a three-language country,
[-2:37.00]with the upper classes speaking French
[-2:38.00]church officials speaking Latin,and the lower classes speaking English.
[-2:39.00]For the next several generations very little English was written.
[-2:40.00]French and Latin were the languages of religion,law,science,literature,and fashion.
[-2:41.00]Still,there were far more English speakers than Normans.
[-2:42.00]Why didn't French disappear?
[-2:43.00]Because for many years the Normans in England kept close ties
[-2:44.00]with their country folk in France.
[-2:45.00]Some nobles owned land in both countries,
[-2:46.00]and the kings of England also ruled a large part of France.
[-2:47.00]These countacts kept French alive and active in England[-2:48.00]Then why didn't the opposite happen,
[-2:49.00]and why didn't English gradually disappear? The first reason is intermarriage.
[-2:50.00]Almost from the beginning Norman soldiers
[-2:51.00]and even wealthy people found English wives.
[-2:52.00]Within a few generations the two peoples mixed and became noe people.
[-2:53.00]The second reason is that King John
[-2:54.00]managed to lose his French lands in about A.D.1200,
[-2:55.00]thus breaking England's tie with France.
[-2:56.00]Thus,the English language held its own and began to rise.
[-2:57.00]By A.D.1300,English was again what people spoke on a daily basis,
[-2:58.00]with a small minority who spoke only French.
[-2:59.00]But it was a far different English than was spoken when the Normans first arrivd.
[-3:00.00]The first big change was in vocabulary.
[-3:-1.00]From A.D.1100 to 1500,English absorbed more than ten thousand French words,
[-3:-2.00]seventy-five percent of which are still used today-words relating to government,
[-3:-3.00]law,religion,fashion,the arts,and day-to-day living.
[-3:-4.00]Latin,through the church and through scholars,
[-3:-5.00]contributed thousands more new words to English.
[-3:-6.00]The French language dominated in the upper class,
[-3:-7.00]causing some interesting distinctions to appear in the language.
[-3:-8.00]English farmers worked the fields,
[-3:-9.00]so the English words for the animals survived:
[-3:10.00]swin(swine),sceap(sheep),cous(cows),and calfru(calves).
[-3:11.00]But it was the French nobles who ate the animals,
[-3:12.00]so it is French words for the cooked meats that survive:
[-3:13.00]porc(pork),moton(mutton),boef(beef),and veel(veal).
[-3:14.00]The lower classes ate(an English word);the upper classes dined(a French word).
[-3:15.00]Though many English words disappeared during this time,most survived.
[-3:16.00]Because of the side-by-side use of English,French and Latin,
[-3:17.00]English became a language rich in synonyms.
[-3:18.00]English speakers can rise,mount or ascend;they can ask,question,and interrogate.
[-3:19.00]One result of this richness is that when English speakers study French,
[-3:20.00]they find a great many words that are the same or similar to English words,
[-3:21.00]though they may be pronounced differently.
[-3:22.00]All of these changes happened gradually.
[-3:23.00]By the mnid-12 century,however,when English started to be written again,
[-3:24.00]enough differences had appeared that it could be called Middle English
[-3:25.00]to distinguish it from Old English.
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