小谈英语发展史（下）

童鞋们，还记得英语是怎么来的吗？今天和小编一起看看英语是怎么发展到今天的样子的吧。

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，当权者们的公益事业高的惊天动地，即《圣经》的新译本。一群带着所罗门智慧的抄写员不远万里而来想让詹姆斯一世的《圣经》译本人尽皆知。这本引力颇强的新圣经影响力越来越大，逐渐成为一门语言的最底层，甚至是妇孺也能明白。钦定版《圣经》成为了一整套隐喻说法和道德伦理，至今仍然影响英语的行文规范。

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”.

当英语跟科学，圣经和莎士比亚联系到一起之后，英国决定带着它周游世界。他们去加勒比找黄金，发现了“烧烤”、“独木舟”以及制作朗姆酒的好配方。在印度，这些词汇和大众的生活都有关系，“瑜伽”让人保持身材。同时在非洲，他们学了“伏都教”和“僵尸”。英国人从澳大利亚带来了“金属块”，“回飞镖”和“随身听”。

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.

在罗马人离开英国后的1500年里，英语展现出其非凡的吸收，进化，侵略和窃取其他语言的能力。在有人开始向国外定居的时候，在离开英国奔向世界之前，英语就已展翅高飞。首先是通过大海，然后是高速宽带，英语从超过三百五十种语言里窃取词汇并使自己成为全球通用语言。现在越有十五亿人说英语，这些人中四分之一以英语为母语，四分之一以英语为第二语言，一半能用英语问问路。印式英语（印度英语），中式英语，新式英语。

（参考《十分钟英语史》 完）