When one looks back upon the fifteen hundred years that are the life span of the English language, he should be able to notice a number of significant truths. The history of our language has always been a history of constant change—at times a slow, almost imperceptible change, at other times a violent collision between two languages. Our language has always been a living growing organism, it has never been static. Another significant truth that emerges from such a study is that language at all times has been the possession not of one class or group but of many. 『At one extreme it has been the property of the common, ignorant folk, who have used it in the daily business of their living, much as they have used their animals or the kitchen pots and pans.』① At the other extreme it has been the treasure of those who have respected it as an instrument and a sign of civilization, and who have struggled by writing it down to give it some permanence, order, dignity, and if possible, a little beauty.

　　As we consider our changing language, we should note here two developments that are of special and immediate importance to us. One is that since the time of the Anglo-Saxons there has been an almost complete reversal of the different devices for showing the relationship of words in a sentence. Anglo-Saxon (old English) was a language of many inflections. Modern English has few inflections. We must now depend largely on word order and function words to convey the meanings that the older language did by means of changes in the forms of words. Function words, you should understand, are words such as prepositions, conjunctions, and a few others that are used primarily to show relationships among other words. A few inflections, however, have survived. And when some word inflections come into conflict with word order, there may be trouble for the users of the language, as we shall see later when we turn our attention to such maters as WHO or WHOM and ME or I. The second fact we must consider is that as language itself changes, our attitudes toward language forms change also. 『The eighteenth century, for example, produced from various sources a tendency to fix the language into patterns not always set in and grew, until at the present time there is a strong tendency to restudy and re-evaluate language practices in terms of the ways in which people speak and write.』②

　　四級閱讀試題訓練題目：

　　1.In contrast to the earlier linguists, modern linguists tend to .

　　A. attempt to continue the standardization of the language

　　B. evaluate language practices in terms of current speech rather than standards or proper patterns

　　C. be more concerned about the improvement of the language than its analysis or history

　　D. be more aware of the rules of the language usage

　　2.Choose the appropriate meaning for the word “inflection” used in line 4 of paragraph 2.

　　A. Changes in the forms of words.

　　B. Changes in sentence structures.

　　C. Changes in spelling rules.

　　D. Words that have similar meanings.

　　3.Which of the following statements is not mentioned in the passage? A. It is generally believed that the year 1500 can be set as the beginning of the modern English language.

　　B. Some other languages had great influence on the English language at some stages of its development.

　　C. The English language has been and still in a state of relatively constant change.

　　D. Many classes or groups have contributed to the development of the English language.

　　4. The author of these paragraphs is probably a(an) .

　　A. historian B. philosopher 　C. anthropologist D. linguist

　　5.Which of the following can be best used as the title of the passage? A. The history of the English language.

　　B. Our changing attitude towards the English language.

　　C. Our changing language.

　　D. Some characteristics of modern English.

　　四級閱讀試題訓練答案：

　　1.B細節題。根據題干回原文中定位，閱讀文章時注意首末段及各段開頭的句子，這往往都是考點所在。這篇文章講的主要是英語語言演變的一些特點，指出了古英語與現代英語的不同，以及語言學家態度的轉變。本題問的正是現代語言學家與早期語言學家不同的傾向。根據文章末尾The eighteenth century, for example, produced from various sources a tendency to fix the language into patterns not always set in and grew, until at the present time there is a strong tendency to restudy and re-evaluate language practices in terms of the ways in which people speak and write. 現代語言學家傾向于根據人們說和寫的方式評價語言實踐，而不是像早期的語言學家根據一定的模式評價語言。選項B符合文章的意思。

　　2.A詞匯題。要根據上下文的信息判斷單詞的意思。文章在第二段中間再次提到inflection時說，A few inflections, however, have survived. 后面文章又舉了WHO/WHOM和ME/I為例說明inflection，這是一篇關于語言學的文章，從例子可以看出inflection的意思應該是“單詞的變形”，選項A正確。

　　3.A細節題。根據文章的內容，選項A“普遍認為1500年是現代英語的起點”在文章中沒有提及，故為正確答案。文章第二句說The history of our language has always been a history of constant change - at times a slow, almost imperceptible change, at other times a violent collision between two languages. 我們語言的歷史是一個不斷變化的歷史——在一些時間里緩慢得幾乎難以察覺，在另一些時間里則是兩種語言的激烈碰撞。由此可以推斷一些其他的語言對英語的發展有重大影響，選項B符合文章的意思。

　　4.D詞匯題。此題考查考生的推測能力和詞匯量，文章講述的是英國語言演進的具體細節，最適當的答案應該是D。作者很可能是一位語言學家。A答案(歷史學家)和C答案(人類學家)也可以有點迷惑性。B答案(哲學家)是最不符合的。

　　5.C主旨題。本文從各個方面談及英語作為一種語言的發展變化，但并不是講述英語的歷史。所以選項A不對，選項C作為文章的題目最為貼切。選項B只是文章闡述的一個方面，不夠全面。文章是在談到英語的不斷變化的時候談到了現代英語的一些特點，所以選項D也失之于片面。