A History of English.doc

The English language we speak today went through three stages called Old English, Middle English and Modern English. But ages before even Old English came into being, many other languages had to arise and develop. The oldest of these, as far as we know, was the Indo-European family of languages, which were beginning to be spoken clear back during the Stone Age. During the Stone Age, some Indo-European people lived on the islands of Britain.我们现在所讲的英语曾经经历了三个阶段：古英语、中世纪英语和现代英语但是，早在古英语出现之前，许多其他语言已经产生，并得到发展。

据我们所知，其中最古老的语言是印欧语系远在石器时代人们就开始使用印欧语了在这个时期，一些印欧人就居住生活在英伦三岛上了　The earliest known of these British Indo-Europeans split into two groups called the Scots and the Celts. There was another group, who were not Indo-European, called Picts. Together these three peoples are known as Britons. The Britons were a fierce, Stone Age people constantly making war on each other. They dressed in animal skins, lived in caves or rude wooden huts. These people had their own languages. 英国最早的印欧人分为两族：苏格兰人和凯尔特人此外，还有一族叫做皮克特人，但他们不属于印欧语族。

以上三个民族便是今日所说的不列颠人石器时代的不列颠人骁勇好斗，连年互相发动战争他们用兽皮遮体，住在洞穴或原始的小木屋里他们有自己的语言　At the same time that the Stone Age Britons were living their warlike life, the Greeks, far to the east of them, were building a great civilization in Europe. Many of our ideas of art, literature, science, philosophy and government today come from the genius of these ancient people. As the Greek civilization reached a high point, another great civilization was being built in Italy by the Romans, whose language was Latin. When the Romans conquered Greece and made it part of their empire, they found a culture much older and far superior to their own. So they borrowed it.石器时代的不列颠人以作战为生，与此同时，远在东部的希腊人却在创建欧洲伟大的文明。

当今艺术、文学、科学、哲学和政治学的许多思想都源于古代希腊人民的智慧当希腊文明达到了颠峰的时候，讲拉丁语的罗马人正在意大利创建着另一个伟大的文明罗马人征服了希腊，并将它划归罗马帝国的版图这时，他们发现了一个更为悠久的文化，一个比罗马文化希腊文化更为辉煌灿烂的文化于是，罗马人将它借鉴了过来 　After conquering all of Europe, Rome invaded Britain and made it part of the empire, in 43 A.D. Romans brought their advanced culture to the Britons. Not only did they bring their art, literature, law and the Latin language, they established schools, built buildings and roads and provided an army to protect themselves against invaders. 在征服整个欧洲之后，罗马人开始对不列颠发动侵略战争，公元 43 年，使之成为罗马帝国的一部分。

罗马人给不列颠人带来了自己先进的文化，他们不仅带来了艺术、文学、法律和拉丁语，还创建学校，造房修路， 供养一支军队保卫自己免遭外来侵略　Meanwhile, the Germanic peoples of northern Europe, known as “Norsemen” or “Northmen,” were developing another, separate European culture. Some groups of Norsemen came to be known as Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Goths. They were warriors, but also sailors and traders. In very early times the Angles and Saxons began to trade with the Celts in England. This was probably the first time the Britons came into contact with other peoples.与此同时，位于北欧的日耳曼族人，又称“古代斯堪的纳维亚人”或“北方人”，正在 发展自己独特的欧洲文化。

他们中的一些族落成为后来人们熟知的盎格鲁人、撒克逊人、朱特人和哥特人他们是战士，但也是水手和商人很早以前，盎格鲁人和撒克逊人就开始同英格兰的凯尔特人做生意了这或许是不列颠人第一次同外族人进行交往　During the four hundred years Britain was part of the Roman Empire, Rome was getting weaker and weaker, and the Norsemen were getting stronger and stronger. Finally they thundered through the Roman defenses along the northern boundaries of the empire. In addition to the attack from the north, Rome was invaded from the east by Mongols, from the south by the Moslems. Being attacked on all sides, Rome had to call back her armies to protect what was left of the empire. By AD 409, Rome had lost all control of Britain. 在不列颠作为罗马帝国一部分的四百年间，罗马日渐势微，而古代斯堪的纳维亚人则日益强大。

最后，他们终于以势如破竹之威，冲破罗马帝国北部 边界的防线除了来自北方的入侵，蒙古人又从东部发起进攻，穆斯林人也从南部入侵罗马四面受敌，只得调遣军队来保卫帝国仅存的 部分到了公元 409 年，罗马完全丧失了对不列颠的统治权　As soon as the Roman armies pulled out of Britain, the Picts and Scots began to destroy the Celts. The Celts turned for help to the Angles and Saxons across the sea in Sweden and Denmark. The latter were quick to respond, because they loved war. They saved the Celts; they also destroyed practically all the culture which had been brought by the Romans: literature, sculpture, schools and roads. The Germanic languages of the Angles and Saxons combined to become Anglo-Saxon. Since the Angles and Saxons had become the power in England, the Anglo-Saxon language became the very early beginning of English. 罗马军队刚刚撤离不列颠，皮克特人和苏格兰人便着手消灭凯尔特人。

凯尔特人只得向隔 着大海居住在挪威和丹麦的盎格鲁人和撒克逊人求助后者热衷于战争，迅速做出反应他们解救了凯尔特人，实际上也摧毁了罗马人带来的文化：包括文学、雕塑、学校和道路盎格鲁人和撒克逊人的日尔曼语混合在一起就成了盎格鲁•撒克逊语自从盎格鲁人和撒克逊人成为英格兰的统治者，盎格鲁•撒克逊语便成为最早的英语　While the Anglo-Saxons were establishing their power in England and making their language the main language of that country, the Roman Empire was sinking deeper and deeper into trouble. By AD 476 the western empire had ceased to exist. And since the Germanic peoples had no interest in preserving Roman culture, it just died. The Church was all that was left of Roman civilization. But Latin survived as the language of churchmen and the wealthy, educated classes, and was to have a profound effect on the development of the languages of southern Europe and England. 盎格鲁• 撒克逊人在英格兰建立了他们的政权，他们的语言也随之成为这个国家的主要语言。