Reading , speaking and writing
Answer the following questions.
1. English is a world language, isn’t it?
2. It’s necessary for you to know English? Why?
3. Is English popular in Russia?
Read and learn the following words by heart.
Topical Vocabulary
| a foreign language | иностранный язык |
| to agree | соглашаться, грам. согласоваться |
| an article | 1) статья, 2) грам. артикль |
| to belong | принадлежать |
| to change | менять, изменять |
| communication | общение, связь |
| complete | законченный, совершенный |
| scientific | научный |
| purpose | цель |
| restricted | ограниченный, узкий |
| to conjugate | грам. спрягать |
| considerable | значительный |
| content | содержание |
| to aim (at sth, to do sth) | быть нацеленным (на что-то) |
| an ability | способность |
| to pay attention (to sth) | обращать внимание (на ч.-л.) |
| to succeed (in sth) | преуспевать; иметь успех |
| to contribute | способствовать, вносить вклад |
| to depend on | зависеть от |
| a dialect | диалект, говор |
| responsiveness | ответственность |
| enormous | громадный |
| to do one’s best | делать все возможное |
| to catch up with smb | нагонять/догонять кого-либо |
| to seem | казаться |
| by no means | ни в коем случае / никоим образом |
| ending | окончание |
| noun | имя существительное |
| verb | глагол |
| adjective | имя прилагательное |
| spelling | орфография, правописание |
| pronunciation | произношение |
| exception | исключение |
| rule | правило |
| preposition | предлог |
| terrible | ужасный |
| the tense system | система грамматических времен |
| relative | родственный |
| to borrow | заимствовать |
| borrowing | лингв. заимствование |
| influence | влияние |
| to in'crease | возрастать, усиливаться |
| 'increase | рост, увеличение |
| introduction | введение, нововведение |
| importance | важность |
| widespread | широко распространенный |
| tongue | язык |
| neutral | нейтральный |
| development | развитие |
| approximately | приблизительно |
| sphere | сфера, область |
| single | единый, один единственный |
| precise | точный |
| common feature | характерная черта |
| origin | происхождение |
| to be characteristic of | быть характерным для |
| uniform | одинаковый, однородный, унифицированный |
| variety | вид, разновидность; многообразие, разнообразие |
| to include | включать |
| intercourse | общение |
| to differ from | отличаться от |
| as well | также, тоже |
| difficulty | сложность, трудность |
| disagreement | несоответствие |
| to investigate | изучать, исследовать |
| to simplify | упростить |
| connected with | связанный с |
| literacy | грамотность |
| loan-word | лингв. заимствованное слово |
| native | родной |
| native speaker | носитель языка |
| root | грам. корень |
| study | исследование |
| to undergo | подвергаться |
| vocabulary | словарный состав языка, словарь |
| valid | действующий, имеющий силу, действительный |
| to preserve | сохранять |
| revival | возрождение |
| to restore | восстанавливать |
|
|
|
Read and translate the following text. Write down new words and learn these words by heart. Make a short summary of the text.
|
|
|
The English Language
Where did English come from? The obvious answer is England. However, in the past two thousand years very many people came to England and changed the language. Perhaps most of the language comes from the Anglo-Saxons who came to England in the fifth to the seventh centuries. But there are also Roman words from the time when England was a part of the Roman Empire: the ending –‘chester’ in the name of an English town such as Colchester comes from the Latin word ‘castra’ and shows that there was a Roman town there. The Vikings brought many words with them, such as ‘they’ and ‘their’; the Normans governed England for many years and brought French words with them. Then the English brought many words from different countries – ‘kangaroo’ from Australia, ‘pyjamas’ from India, and ‘anorak’ from Canada.
English is one of the West Germanic languages. German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish are relative to English.
British colonial expansion in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries took the English language all over the world. Except Britain it became the official (or the second official) language of the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and other countries. Economic, political and cultural influence of these countries in the world contributed to further spread of English in the 20th century.
But what is English now? Now English is one of the major languages in the world. It is no longer spoken just in England and there are many different kinds of English in different parts of the world.
The English we study is known as Standard English. It is the official language used in Great Britain. It is taught at schools and universities.
As a result of geographical separation English spoken outside the British Isles has developed certain differences in vocabulary and pronunciation but less in grammar. Differences in geographical features, in the flora and fauna and in the way of life call for new words which find their way in the general English vocabulary. Contacts with other languages have also left their mark on English outside Great Britain. Contacts with various native languages, as for example, with the languages of the Australian aborigines, Red Indian language in America and the Maori in New Zealand have introduced new elements into the English vocabulary.
|
|
|
Standard English
 |  |
American English Family British English Family
United States Canada West Indies Britain Australasia Africa
There are two main families of Standard English, the American and the British. American English is spoken in the USA and in Canada. British English is spoken in the West Indies, Britain, Australasia and Africa. However, many other parts of the world also use English. In India English is an official language still and there is a special kind of Indian English. In several African countries, such as Nigeria and Ghana, English is spoken in schools and colleges.
Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it. About 350 million people use English as their mother tongue. English is also used as a second language for cultural and professional purposes.
English is undoubtedly the main international language of communication in science, modern literature and music, business and mass entertainment. It is the language of automation and computer technology. It is the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sport.
English is one of those languages which seem easy in the beginning. It has very few endings, many nouns and verbs have the same form (for example, "to take a SWIM" à "to SWIM in the river"). But English is by no means an easy language to learn. There is the problem of spelling and pronunciation, there are a large number of exceptions to any rule, the language itself is very idiomatic and prepositions are terrible. The tense system is also very complicated.
English presents a great difficulty for a learner because of disagreement between pronunciation and spelling. There are many suggestions to simplify English by changing the spelling system. But people think that there are too many problems connected with the change of the rules of language use.
|
|
|
English is not a single language, it varies according to forms of communication (spoken – written language), speech situations (formal – informal), functional styles (language of science – literary), geographical areas (British English – American English).
Formal language is the type of language we use publicly for some serious purpose, for example, in official reports and business letters. Informal language is the language of private conversation, of popular newspapers, of personal letters. In English there are many differences of vocabulary between formal and informal language. Much of the vocabulary of formal English is of French, Latin and Greek origin. Many phrasal verbs are characteristic of informal style (e.g. to discover à to find out, to educate à to bring up etc.)
The language of science belongs mostly to formal written communication; it is usually objective, precise and unemotional. Some of the common features of the language of science are passive constructions, sentences beginning with introductory "it" (e.g. It is important to remember).
Дата добавления: 2018-11-24; просмотров: 405; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!