2009年12月英語四六級閱讀理解主旨題名師精解

　　6 If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like “Shakespeare,” “Samuel Johnson,” and “Webster”, but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn’t even speak English ----William the Conqueror.

　　Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups. In the west-central region lived the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic. In the rest of the country lived the Saxons, actually a mixture of Anglos, Saxons, and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon (or Old English), a Germanic language. If this state of affairs had lasted, English today would be close to German.

　　But this state of affairs did not last. In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England. For about a century, French became the official language of England while Old English became the language of peasants. As a result, English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German. In some cases, modern English even shows a distinction () between upper-class French and lower-class Anglo-Saxon in its words. We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the field or at ready to be cooked, which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating.

　　When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more “foreign” than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man’s ambition.

　　What is the subject discussed in the text?

　　a. The history of Great Britain.

　　b. The similarity between English and French.

　　c. The rule of England by William the conqueror

　　d. The French influences on the English language.

　　7 Britain’s oldest man made his first visit to London yesterday at the age of 110. Mr. John Evans had never found the time or the money to make the trip from his home near Swansea. But, when British Rail offered him an all-expenses-paid birthday trip to the capital, he just could not refuse.

　　Until yesterday he had never been far from home, except for one trip to Aberdeen. Mr.Evens, who spent 60 years working as a miner in South Wales, almost made the journey to London once before, at the turn of the century. “There was a trip to the White city but it was ten shillings (1shilling =1/20 pound) return from Swansea-too much I thought. All my money went to the family then,” he said.

　　During the nest two days Mr. Evens will be taken on a whistle-stop tour of London to see the sights. Top of his list is a visit to the Houses of Parliament.

　　The only arrangement he does not care for is the wheelchair provided to move him about if he gets tired. “ I don’t like the chair business-people will so think I am getting old,” he said.

　　Hi secret for a long and healthy life has been well publicized—no alcohol, no cigarette and no anger. Before setting off from Swansea with his 76-year-old son, Amwel, he quipped, “I’m glad to see they’ve given me a return ticket.”

　　What might be the best title for this passage?

　　a. 100-year-old Tourist

　　b. Secret for Long and healthy life

　　c. Free Return Ticket

　　d. Sightseeing in London