A History of English…in Five Words

    In 1582, Richard Mulcaster, headmaster of a British school, wrote that the English would not go beyond their island. However, it didn't stay that way. Today, English is spoken all over the world.

    English is a colorful and diverse (多样的) language that long has picked up words from many other languages. Here are five words that show the English language's interesting history.

English

    English began in the language spoken by the early Germanic people in the fifth century AD. It is from them that the word “English” comes. First it is the Latin word Angli which means the people of Angul, where the Germanic people were from.

Beef

    Although roast beef is seen as a traditional English dish, the word “beef” was introduced from the French boeuf during the Middle Ages. It was one of a group of words, including pork and mutton, that were taken from the speech of the French who moved in Britain following the Norman Conquest (诺曼底登陆) of 1066. However, the farmers who kept these living things continued to call them by their old English names: cow, pig and sheep. This difference passes on till today.

Dictionary

    Dictionary is a borrowing from Latin dictornarius liber, “book of words”. It first appeared in English in the 6th century, along with a huge number of other words from Latin and Greek. The first English dictionary was written by Robert Cawdrey in 1604. Cawdrey focused only on the difficult words whose meanings would have caused problems for those not educated in Latin and Greek.

Tea

    Tea was brought into Britain early in the 17th century, becoming very popular by the 1650s. By the 18th century it had become a symbol（标志） of fashionable society and a best-selling of the coffee house culture.

    The word tea rises from the Chinese word cha. A love of tea is so ingrained (根深蒂固的) in British life that the expression “cup of tea” has come to stand for anything viewed positively. The saying “It's not my cup of tea.” means: I don't like it.

Emoji

    Emoji began developing in Japan in the 1990s for use by teenagers: the word “emoji” comes from the Japanese e “picture” + moji “letter”. Its successful acceptance in English has been helped by its similarity to words with the e-prefix (前缀) like e-mail. The Unicode Consortium's (统一码 联盟的) official lists emojis and their meanings, but users keep finding creative new ways to employ them. Emojis are just another example of the development and diversity of English.

    Kevin loves to read mystery books. He likes to try to solve the mystery himself before he gets to the end. He also likes solving problems. Kevin can usually solve any mystery or problem.

    One day Kevin's mom was trying to find her glasses. Without her glasses, she could not drive. This was a problem because she was going to drive Kevin to his friend's house. It was also a mystery. Kevin really wanted to solve it.

    "Where do you last remember seeing your glasses?" he asked his mom.

    "I had them on while I was watching the news this morning," she said.

    "Where were you watching the news?" asked Kevin.

    His mom thought for a minute, and then she answered that she was in the living room.

She remembered sitting in her favorite chair and taking off her glasses when the news ended. She thought she put her glasses on the table, but they weren't there.

    Kevin had his mom describe everything she remembered doing during the day. She mentioned watching the news, making breakfast, working in her home office and then gardening. It was after gardening that she started looking for her glasses.

    After hearing about his mom's day, Kevin began to take action. He looked under her favorite chair, in the kitchen, in her office and around the garden. He didn't find her glasses.

    Kevin doesn't give up easily, so he looked in each place again and he looked even harder. It was on his second go around of the kitchen that he thought to open the cabinets (储藏柜). He found his mom's glasses in the drawer (抽屉).

    "Thank you, Kevin," said his mom. "I wouldn't be able to see anything without you."

    When Norman left high school, he went to a college to learn cooking for two years. He enjoyed cooking and was good at creating (创造) his own dishes. Then he got a job in the kitchen of a big hotel as an apprentice (学徒) for four years.

    ①Norman soon found that cooking in a hotel was nothing like cooking for his family at home. He needed to work in a hot kitchen for a long time every day. A lot of people couldn't stand it, but Norman enjoyed it. He always made new and unusual cakes on Friday. More and more people visited the hotel on Friday just ②________ his cakes. The hotel owner soon found out why.

    When Norman decided to leave the hotel, ③the hotel owner offered(提供) him more money and the position (职位) of the head cook. Norman took the position and saved most of the money he made. Finally, he bought his own hotel last year. Then he found he needed a lot more skills than just cooking skills. So he went to an evening school to learn business every Tuesday and Friday.

    Norman enjoys having his own hotel. But he also enjoys working in the kitchen and ④thinking up new creations when the hotel is not too busy.

Tips for Studying English

    Different people have different study habits. The following tips have worked on a great number of people.

    Some of them may work on you; some of them won't.

Try them all and start your own habit.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Find a quiet place with enough room to study. Once you've found it, study there every time. It could be a desk in your bedroom, or the kitchen table. Lying down on your bed and studying is not a good habit.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Find the time you can concentrate（专心）best. Spend that time on study every day. However，you should be sure it is not so late at night.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Put your books，dictionaries and stationery in the same place. Make sure you can find everything you need right away when you go to study.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Keep all your mind on you studies. When you study，turn off the TV and turn down music. Any other thoughts should also be set aside.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    You should at least take a break every hour while studying. It can be five or ten minutes，but don't rest too long. Make sure you can concentrate at any time.