William Shakespeare and English 莎士比亚与英语

罗跃梅

1 There is no doubt that William Shakespeare had a great influence not only on theater and films and other poets and novelists， but also on the English language. There are thousands of words that Shakespeare invented and we still use today.

2 The writings of Shakespeare actually influenced the English language， as his works contributed to standardizing English language rules and grammar in the 17th and 18th centuries. The words and phrases that he wrote were included in the language， especially in A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson. The introduction of new words as well as phrases had greatly enriched the English language， which made it more expressive and colorful. Some believe that Shakespeare was the first to use about 1，700 words created by borrowing from other languages， changing verbs into adjectives or nouns and vice versa， adding suffixes and prefixes and connecting other words as well as creating new ones.

3 There are some common words the world's excellent playwright created. “Gloomy” was formerly a verb that Shakespeare turned into an adjective. He used this in Titus Andronicus. In Merchant of Venice， he introduced the word “laughable”. “Majestic” was from the word “majesty” that was first used in the 1300s， while “majestical” was first used around the 1570s. Shakespeare used the word “majestic” in The Tempest.

4 In the 1400s， the word “alone” was shortened to “lone”. From this word， he created the word “lonely” which he used in the early 17th century tragedy （悲劇文学）， Coriolanus. He introduced the term “radiance” in King Lear， which came from “radiantem”， a Latin word for beaming. “Hurry” was a word that is found in Henry Ⅵ Part Ⅰ while “generous”， which came from the Latin word “generosus” or “of noble birth” was first used in Hamlet.

5 Because of the impact of Shakespeare's language on the way we speak today， studying the works of Shakespeare is an indispensable part of cultural education. Exploring the thousands of ways we still use Shakespeare's language and themes is not only worthwhile and fascinating， but also fun.

Reading  Check

Choose the best answers according to the text.

Gist 1. What contribution to English language does paragraph 2 mainly talk about？

A. Making grammatical rules.

B. Enlarging English vocabulary.

C. Changing English pronunciation.

D. Standardizing the English language.

Detail 2. What can we know from paragraph 3？

A. The Tempest was created in the 1300s.

B. “Gloomy” was first used as an adjective.

C. “Majestical” came earlier than “majesty”.

D. Shakespeare invented “laughable” in Merchant of Venice.

Detail 3. Which words came from Latin according to the text？

A. Alone and hurry.

B. Radiance and generous.

C. Gloomy and laughable.

D. Beaming and majestical.

Vocabulary 4. Which word has the closest meaning to the underlined word “indispensable”？

A. Chief. B. Essential.

C. Independent. D. Complicated.

Language  Study

Discover useful structures in the text

1. There be no doubt that... 毫無疑问……

There is no doubt that William Shakespeare had a great influence not only on theater and films and other poets and novelists， but also on the English language. 毫无疑问，威廉·莎士比亚不仅对戏剧、电影以及其他诗人和小说家有巨大的影响，而且对英语也有很大的影响。

2. not only...but also...意为“不但……而且……”，当not only放到句首时，not only引导的句子要用倒装语序。

Exploring the thousands of ways we still use Shakespeare's language and themes is not only worthwhile and fascinating， but also fun. 探索数以千计的我们依然使用的莎士比亚式语言和主题的方式不仅有价值和吸引人，而且很有趣。