English is a language {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(bring) to Britain in the 5th century by Anglo­Saxon settlers from various parts of Northwest Germany. It is convenient to divide English into three periods roughly─Old English, Middle English, and Modern English.

    The {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(early) form of English is called Old English or Anglo­Saxon. Old English developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(origin) spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland, and Southern Sweden by Germanic tribes known {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Later, Old English was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the northwest. The most famous work from the Old English period is the epic poem Beowulf, written by {#blank#}5{#/blank#} unknown poet. Old English is very different from Modern English and difficult for the 21st­century English speakers to understand.

    For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the nobility spoke only a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(vary) of French called Anglo­Norman. English continued to be the language of the common people. The Norman influence {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(strong) the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in {#blank#}8{#/blank#} is now referred to as Middle English. And one of the best­known works from the Middle English period is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

    From the late 15th century, the language changed into Early Modern English, often dated from the Great Vowel Shift. English is continuously absorbing foreign words, especially Latin and Greek, causing English to have the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. By the late 18th century, the British Empire had sped the spread of English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art and formal education all contributed to English {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (become) the first truly global language. As there are many words from different languages, the risk of mispronunciation is high. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of the English Language, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} introduced a standard set of spelling conventions and usage norms.

    One day, Nick invited his friends to supper. He was cooking some delicious food in the kitchen. Suddenly, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (find) that he had run out of salt. So Nick called to his son, "Go to the village and buy some salt, but pay a fair price for it: neither too much {#blank#}2{#/blank#} too little."

    His son looked surprised. "I can understand why I shouldn't pay too much, Father, but if I can pay less, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} not save a bit of money?"

    "That would be a very {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (reason) thing to do in a big city, but it could destroy a small village like ours," Nick said.

    Nick's guests, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} had heard their conversation, asked why they should not buy sale more cheaply if they could. Nick replied, "The only reason a man would sell sale {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a lower price would be because he was desperate for money. And anyone who took advantage of that situation would be showing a lack of respect {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the sweat and struggle of the man who worked very hard to produce it."

    "But such a small thing couldn't {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (possible) destroy a village."

    "In the beginning, there was only {#blank#}9{#/blank#} very small amount of unfairness in the world, but everyone added a little, always {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (think) that it was only small and not very important, and look where we have ended up today. "