1、Unit 2 English around the world 单元概述 本单元主要围绕 English around the world 这一主题介绍了英语的使用情况、发展情况及各地不同的方言。第二单元 English around the world 的设计可分为五部分。第一部分 warming up；第二部分 learn something about the road to modern English；第三部分 learn something about words and expressions；第四部分 the structure which expresses commands
2、 and requests；第五部分 using language。第一部分通过比较英美两种英语中存在的差异及猜测同义异形单词的所属类别，使学生对 world English这一概念有所感知，为其余部分的学习提供认知基础。第二部分以一篇阅读文章（The road to modern English）的方式呈现，介绍了英语的分布、使用、发展等情况，使学生对 world English 的由来更为了解，并通过讨论等方式让学生对英语的重要性有更深的体会，激发学生对英语的求知欲。第三部分是语言学习板块。通过单词的讲解及运用，更好地掌握一些重要的词汇。这一部分还包括英美两种英语中不同搭配的练习以及听力练
3、习，让学生更好地认知 world English 这一概念。第四部分为语言学习板块，主要是掌握命令、请求的句式以及此种句式直接引语及间接引语的转换。第五部分是语言运用部分，包含了听、说、读、写 4 个板块。课时安排本单元教学可分为 7 个课时。第一课时为 reading；第二课时为 language points；第三课时为grammar；第四课时为 listening；第五课时为 extensive reading；第六课时为 writing and speaking；第七课时为 consolidation and evaluation。The history of the English
4、language is divided into three periods: The period from 450 to 1150 is known as the Old English. It is described as the period of full inflections（词尾变化）, since during most of this period the case endings of the noun, the adjective and the conjunction（结合）of the verbs were not weakened. Old English wa
5、s a highly inflected language. It had a complete system（体系）of declensions（变格）with four cases and conjunctions. So Old English grammar differs from Modern English grammar in these aspects（方面）.The period from 1150 is known as the Middle English period. It is known as the period of reducing inflections
6、. This period was marked by important changes in the English language. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these changes. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Lat
7、in appeared in the English vocabulary. In the Middle English period grammatical gender（性）of nouns disappeared, completely replaced by the natural gender. The modern English period extends from 1500 to the present day. The Early modern English period extends from 1500 to 1700. The chief effect of thi
8、s time was great humanistic（人文主义的）movement of the Renaissance. The influence of Latin and Greek on English was great. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion（扩张）for the English. Vocabulary in the history of the English language.The development of the English language i
9、n America can be separated into three periods: The first period extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the end of colonial（殖民地的）times. In this period the population in America numbered about four million people, 90 percent of whom came from Britain. The second period covers the expansio
10、n of the original（最初的）thirteen colonies. This time may be said to close with the Civil War, about 1860. This period was marked by the arrival of the new immigrants（移民）from Ireland and Germany. The third period, since the Civil War, is marked by an important change in the source from which the Europe
11、an immigrants came. They came from northern and southern Europe in large numbers.As time went on, the English language gradually changed on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans adopted（接纳） many words from foreign languages and invented a large number of new words to meet their various needs.Ame
12、rican English began in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 17th century the English language was brought to North America by colonists from England. They used the language spoken in England, that is, Elizabethan English, the language used by Shakespeare, Milton and Banyan. At first the
13、language stayed the same as the language used in Britain, but slowly the language began to change. Sometimes, the English spoken in America changed but sometimes the language spoken in the place stayed the same, while the language in England changed.Following the American independence, famous persons like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Noah Webster began to consider that the country should have a language of its own. English in America has developed a character（特点）of its own, reflecting（反映）the life and the physical and social environment（环境）of the American people.
