期中测试（B卷）-2019-2020学年高二英语同步单元双基双测AB卷（人教版）（必修5）

专题12期中测试B卷 一、阅读理解。 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。 A Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels (元音) being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British communicated with many people from around the world. This meant that lots of new vocabulary entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary came out. Early Modern English and Late Modern English are mostly different in the number of words. Late Modern English has many more words, mainly because of the following two reasons: First, the Industrial Revolution led to the need for new words. Second, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries. From around 1600, the English colonization (殖民地化) of North America led to American English. Some English pronunciations and words froze when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that are called “American English” are in fact from British expressions. They were kept in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain. Spanish also had an influence on American English. For example, words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante are from Spanish. They entered English by the people of Spain who settled in the American West. French words and West African words also influenced American English. Today, American English has a greater influence, because of the USA’s movies, television, popular music, trade and technology. 1. The main difference between Early and Late Modern English lies in ________. A. vocabulary B. pronunciation C. spelling D. grammar 2. Where is the word “canyon” from? A. American dialect.