古英语文章

AflamewaslitduringtheentireeventoftheOlympicsduringtheancientOlympicGameknownastheOlympicFlame.AnewflameislitusingaparabolicmirrortofocustheraysoftheSunattheancientOlympicStadiuminOlympia,Ellis,Greece.TheFlameisthentransportedtothehostcitywherethelastrunnerlightsthelargeOlympicCauldronbyitandthisburnsthroughouttheGames.TheFlameisextinguishedduringtheclosingceremony.TheOlympicFlamewasfirstlitduringtheopeningceremonyoftheIXOlympicGamesatAmsterdam,Netherlandsin1928.ThefirstOlympicTorchRelayoccurredatthe1936BerlinOlympicGames.圣火起源于古希腊神话传说。相传古希腊神普罗米修斯为解救饥寒交迫的人类，瞒着宙斯偷取火种带到人间。古希腊在每届奥运会举行以前，人们都要在赫拉神庙前点燃圣火。现代奥运会创立后，当圣火被点燃的那一刹那，本届奥运会圣火的传递活动即宣告圆满结束。随着奥运会的结束，本届奥运会圣火也将被熄灭。第一次火炬接力活动是从1936年柏林奥运会开始的

古英语的语法特征：

Albert C. Baugh & Thomas Cable 在《英语史》(A History of the English Language, Fifth Edition, 2002)中，从名词、形容词、定冠词、代词和动词的曲折方面，描述了古英语的语法特征。

1. 名词。古英语名词有数（单数和复数）和格的变化。

古英语的格系统比拉丁语和其它印欧语简单，只有四个格（four cases）：主格（nominative）、生格（genitive）、与格（dative）、宾格（accusative）。

（辛按：这与现代德语完全一样。但是，李赋宁《英语史》中说古英语还有一个工具格instrumental case，因此有五个格，见商务版1991年，第41页。Bruce Mitchell & Fred C. Robinson在A Guide to Old English 中也说，名词和形容词有工具格。看来，Baugh & Cable书中是简化的说法，为的是列出名词、代词、形容词和动词的词形变化表时能够整齐划一。）

每一种格都有不同的词尾形式。以下是古英语stān (stone), giefu (gift), hunta (hunter)三个字的格变化形式：

古英语名词也有语法上的性（Grammatical Gender），但与自然的性别（natural sex）关系不大。例如那些表示中性（neuter）的词未必就是中性。另外，Stān (stone)是阳性，mōna (moon) 也是阳性，但sunne (sun) 却是阴性，这与德语相同。法语则相反，pierre (石头) 和lune (月亮) 是阴性，但soleil (太阳) 却是阳性。古英语有些名词的性不合逻辑。如：mægden (girl), wīf (wife), bearn (child, son), cild (child)这些词本有性别之分，古英语中却是中性，而wīfmann (woman) 却是阳性，因为这个字后面的成分mann (man)是阳性。

2. 形容词。日耳曼语有一个共同特征，就是形容词有强变化和弱变化两种格变形式。强式格变（strong declension）修饰名词时不带定冠词或其它小词（比如指示词或物主代词），如gōd mann (good man)；弱式格变（weak declension）修饰名词时带有定冠词等，如sē gōda mann (the good man)。（辛按：这一条现代德语也保留下来了。）

古英语形容词强弱两种格变形式如下：

3. 定冠词。古英语的定冠词也有格变形式。这一条现代德语也保留了。古英语冠词格变形式如下：

4. 人称代词。人称代词由于使用频繁，而且需要作出区分，因此在日耳曼语言中都保留了相当完整的曲折形式。古英语人称代词除了有性、人称、格、单复数变化之外，第一人称和第二人称还有双数，表示“我俩”，“你俩”。见下图：

5. 动词。日耳曼语的动词变化比印欧语时代简单得多。与希腊语和拉丁语加以对比，就可知道日耳曼语的动词曲折变化有很多已经丢失了。

古英语动词有过去时、现在时两个时态，有直陈式、虚拟式和命令式三种语气，有单数复数和三种人称。被动态没有曲折变化，这与希腊语和拉丁语不同。

日耳曼语动词的共同特征是区分强弱两套动词，强变化动词（strong verbs）靠动词词根的元音变化来区分时态，弱变化动词（weak verbs）则靠在词尾加-ed来构成。在近现代英语中，强变化动词大大缩减，从原来的300个减少到60个，而弱变化动词大大增加，因此古英语中的强弱两套动词，分别对应于近现代英语的不规则动词和规则动词。

a. 强变化动词。古英语强变化动词过去时单复数的元音有别，确切地说，第一人称和第三人称单数是同一个元音，第二人称单数和所有其它人称的复数是另一个元音。因此，古英语强变化动词有四种形式：不定式、过去单数（第一人称和第三人称）、过去复数和过去分词。

古英语强变化动词根据变化分成七大类，具体变化可以表示如下：

注：文章转自网络，非原创

埃及金字塔The Pyramids of Egypt were built on the west bank of the Nile River at Giza during the 4th Dynasty (about 2575 to about 2467 bc). The oldest of the seven wonders, the pyramids are the only one remaining nearly intact today. Their white stone facing was later removed for use as building material in Cairo. The largest of the pyramids is that of King Khufu, which is sometimes known as the Great Pyramid. It covers an area of over 4.8 hectares (12 acres). According to the Greek historian Herodotus, ten years were required to prepare the site and 100,000 laborers worked thereafter for 20 years to complete the pyramid, which contains the king’s tomb. Some lists include only the Great Pyramid, rather than all the pyramids (see Pyramids). 巴比伦空中花园The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perhaps built by King Nebuchadnezzar II about 600 bc, were a mountainlike series of planted terraces. Ancient historians report that Babylon at that time was dazzling in the splendor of its palace and temple buildings, fortification walls, and paved processional ways. The Hanging Gardens consisted of several tiers of platform terraces built upon arches and extending to a great height. Accounts of their height range from about 24 m (80 ft) to a less reliable estimate of more than 90 m (300 ft). Trees and colorful plants and flowers grew on the terraces, irrigated with water brought up from the Euphrates River. Archaeologists have discovered remains of walls along the Euphrates that may have belonged to the Hanging Gardens. 宙斯神像The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was carved in the mid-5th century bc by the Greek sculptor Phidias. The colossal statue was the central feature of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Greek sanctuary where the Olympic Games were held. It was considered to be Phidias’s masterpiece. The seated figure of Zeus, king of the Greek gods, was 12 m (40 ft) in height and made of ivory and gold. An earthquake probably leveled the temple in the 6th century ad, and the statue was later taken to Constantinople, where a fire destroyed it. 阿耳忒弥斯神庙The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Asia Minor, built after 356 bc, combined great size with elaborate ornamentation. Artemis, known as Diana to the Romans, was goddess of the hunt. An imposing temple in her honor was built in Ephesus in what is now Turkey in the 6th century bc and rebuilt after it burned in 356 bc. Archaeologists estimate that the temple measured 104 m (342 ft) in length and 50 m (164 ft) in width. Its 127 stone columns stood more than 18 m (60 ft) tall. The temple was destroyed by the Goths in ad 262. 摩索拉斯陵墓The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was a monumental marble tomb in Asia Minor built for King Mausolus of Caria, who died in 353 bc. Queen Artemisia built the tomb in memory of Mausolus, her brother and husband, at Halicarnassus in what is now southwestern Turkey. It was decorated by the leading sculptor of the age. An earthquake probably toppled the structure, and its materials were later used as building material. Only fragments remain of this tomb from which the word mausoleum derives. 罗得斯岛巨像The Colossus of Rhodes, a huge bronze statue of the Greek sun god Helios, was erected about 280 bc to guard the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes , a Greek island off the coast of Asia Minor. The statue stood about 32 m (105 ft) tall and according to legend, it straddled the harbor. An earthquake destroyed it in 224 bc. 亚历山大灯塔The Pharos of Alexandria was an ancient lighthouse located on an island in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. The lighthouse, built about 280 bc during the reign of Ptolemy II, stood more than 134 m (440 ft) tall—about as high as a 40-story building. A fire was kept burning at its top to welcome sailors. Storms and an earthquake had damaged the lighthouse by 955 ad; an earthquake completely destroyed it during the 14th century. 万里长城英文介绍 In the north of China, there lies a 6,700-kilometer-long (4,161-mile-long) ancient wall. Now well-known as the Great Wall of China, it starts at the Jiayuguan Pass of Gansu Province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan Pass of Hebei Province in the east. As one of the Eight Wonders in the world, the Great Wall of China has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its culture. Lots of beautiful legends and stories about the Great Wall took place following along the construction, and since that time these stories have spread around the country. Those that happened during construction are abundant, such as Meng Jiangnu's story and the legend of the Jiayuguan Pass. Meng Jiangnu's story is the most famous and widely spread of all the legends about the Great Wall. The story happened during the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC). It tells of how Meng Jiangnu's bitter weeping made a section of the Great Wall collapse. Meng Jiangnu's husband Fan Qiliang was caught by federal officials and sent to build the Great Wall. Meng Jiangnu heard nothing from him after his departure, so she set out to look for him. Unfortunately, by the time she reached the great wall, she discovered that her husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she cried her heart out. Her howl caused the collapse of a part of the Great Wall. This story indicates that the Great Wall is the production of tens of thousands of Chinese commoners. Another legend about the Jiayuguan Pass tells of a workman named Yi Kaizhan in the Ming Dynasty (1368BC-1644BC) who was proficient in arithmetic. He calculated that it would need 99,999 bricks to build the Jiayuguan Pass. The supervisor did not believe him and said if they miscalculated by even one brick, then all the workmen would be punished to do hard work for three years. After the completion of the project, one brick was left behind the Xiwong city gate. The supervisor was happy at the sight of the brick and ready to punish them. However Yi Kaizhan said with deliberation that the brick was put there by a supernatural being to fix the wall. A tiny move would cause the collapse of the wall. Therefore the brick was kept there and never moved. It can still be found there today on the tower of the Jiayuguan Pass. In addition to the above-mentioned stories about the construction of the Great Wall, there are also plenty of stories about current scenic spots. A famous one is the legend of the Beacon Tower. This story happened during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). King You had a queen named Bao Si, who was very pretty. King You liked her very much, however Bao Si never smiled. An official gave a suggestion that setting the beacon tower on fire would frighten the King's subjects, and might make the queen smile. King You liked the idea. The subjects were fooled and Bao Si smiled at the sight of the chaos. Later enemies invaded Western Zhou, King You set the beacon tower on fire to ask for help. No subjects came to help because they had been fooled once before. Thus, King Zhou was killed by the enemy and Western Zhou came to an end. Beautiful stories and legends about the Great Wall help to keep alive Chinese history and culture. In each dynasty after the building of the Great Wall, many more stories were created and spread.

古英语（Old English或Anglo-Saxon）是指从450年到1150年间的英语。语法和德语比较相近，形态变化很复杂。语言史学家一般把英语的历史分为三个时期：古英语、中古英语、现代英语。古英语的名词有数和格的分别；数分为单数、复数；格分为主格、宾格、所有格、与格，一个名词加起来共有8种变化形式。

古英语和现代英语无论在读音、拼写、词汇和语法上都很相异。古英语语法和德语较相近，形态变化很复杂。

公元410年，罗马人结束了对英国的占领，随后，来自德国北部平原的三个日耳曼部落：盎格鲁人、撒克逊人和朱尔特人开始到不列颠定居，英语就是盎格鲁-撒克逊的人的语言。