2015年《英语测试报》配套光盘（文字）素材：the history of the english language.docVIP

The history of the English language 　　The history of the English language is divided into three periods: The period from 450 to 1150 is known as the Old English. It is described as the period of full inflections（词尾变化）, since during most of this period the case endings of the noun, the adjective and the conjunction（结合）of the verbs were not weakened. Old English was a highly inflected language. It had a complete system（体系）of declensions（变格）with four cases and conjunctions. So Old English grammar differs from Modern English grammar in these aspects（方面）.　　The period from 1150 is known as the Middle English period. It is known as the period of reducing inflections. This period was marked by important changes in the English language. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these changes. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. In the Middle English period grammatical gender（性）of nouns disappeared, completely replaced by the natural gender. 　　The modern English period extends from 1500 to the present day. The Early modern English period extends from 1500 to 1700. The chief effect of this time was great humanistic（人文主义的）movement of the Renaissance. The influence of Latin and Greek on English was great. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion（扩张）for the English. Vocabulary in the history of the English language.　　The development of the English language in America can be separated into three periods: The first period extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the end of colonial（殖民地的）times. In this period the population in America numbered about four million people, 90 percent of whom came from Britain. The second period covers the expansion of the original（最初的）thirteen colonies. This time may be said to close with the Civil War, about 1860. This period was marked