小談英語發展史（下）

童鞋們，還記得英語是怎么來的嗎？今天和小編一起看看英語是怎么發展到今天的樣子的吧。

In 1611 “the powers that be” turned the world upside down with a “labour of love”– a new translation of the Bible. A team of scribes with the “Wisdom of Solomon” went the extra mile to make King James’ translation “all things to all man”. This new Bible went from strength to strength, getting to the root of the matter in a language even the salt of the earth could understand. The King James Bible became a whole glossary of metaphor and morality that still shapes the way English is spoken today.

1611年，當權者們的公益事業高的驚天動地，即《圣經》的新譯本。一群帶著所羅門智慧的抄寫員不遠萬里而來想讓詹姆斯一世的《圣經》譯本人盡皆知。這本引力頗強的新圣經影響力越來越大，逐漸成為一門語言的最底層，甚至是婦孺也能明白。欽定版《圣經》成為了一整套隱喻說法和道德倫理，至今仍然影響英語的行文規范。

With English making the name as the language of science, the Bible and Shakespeare, Britain decided to take it on tour. They went to the Caribbean looking for gold, discovering the “barbecue” , the “canoe” and a pretty good recipe for run punch. In India, there was something for everyone, “Yoga”, to help you stay in shape. Meanwhile, in Africa, they picked up words like “voodoo” and “zombie”. From Australia, English took the words “nugget”, “boomerang” and “walkabout”.

當英語跟科學，圣經和莎士比亞聯系到一起之后，英國決定帶著它周游世界。他們去加勒比找黃金，發現了“燒烤”、“獨木舟”以及制作朗姆酒的好配方。在印度，這些詞匯和大眾的生活都有關系，“瑜伽”讓人保持身材。同時在非洲，他們學了“伏都教”和“僵尸”。英國人從澳大利亞帶來了“金屬塊”，“回飛鏢”和“隨身聽”。

In the 1500 years since the Romans left Britain, English has shown a unique ability to absorb, evolve, invade and if we’re honest, steal. After foreign settlers got it started, it grew into a fully fledged language all of its own before leaving home and travelling the world. First via the high seas, then via the high-speed broadband connection, pilfering words from over 350 languages and establishing itself as a global institution. Right now, around 1.5 billion people speaking English. Of these, about a quarter are native speakers, a quarter speak it as their second language, and half are able to ask for directions to a place. There’s Hinglish, which is Hindi English; Chinglish, which is Chinese English and Singlish, which is Singaporean English.

在羅馬人離開英國后的1500年里，英語展現出其非凡的吸收，進化，侵略和竊取其他語言的能力。在有人開始向國外定居的時候，在離開英國奔向世界之前，英語就已展翅高飛。首先是通過大海，然后是高速寬帶，英語從超過三百五十種語言里竊取詞匯并使自己成為全球通用語言。現在越有十五億人說英語，這些人中四分之一以英語為母語，四分之一以英語為第二語言，一半能用英語問問路。印式英語（印度英語），中式英語，新式英語。

（參考《十分鐘英語史》 完）