1.Most people have heard of the Tower of Babel story in the Bible. According to this story,long ago all people spoke the same language. Later,however,they were punished by speaking a great number of different tongues. Today,there are literally thousands of different languages (defined as mutually unintelligible tongues) around the world,though many are related to one another. Indeed,the two largest language families,the Indo-European (the language family with the largest number of speakers) and Sino-Tibetan (containing the Chinese languages,Thai,Vietnamese,and Tibetan) include hundreds of languages with over half the world's population.
1、大多數(shù)的人都聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)圣經(jīng)中巴別塔的故事。故事稱(chēng)很久以前，人們說(shuō)的是同一種語(yǔ)言。但是，后來(lái)人們?cè)馐軕土P，而開(kāi)始說(shuō)各種不同的語(yǔ)言。今天，全世界真是有好幾千種不同的語(yǔ)言(此處指的是彼此無(wú)法相通的語(yǔ)言)，雖然其中語(yǔ)言彼此都有所關(guān)聯(lián)。的確，這兩個(gè)的語(yǔ)系，印歐語(yǔ)系(最多人使用的語(yǔ)系)和漢藏語(yǔ)系(包括華語(yǔ)、泰語(yǔ)、越語(yǔ)和西藏語(yǔ))，涵蓋了幾百種不同的語(yǔ)言，使用者也超過(guò)了全世界半數(shù)的人口。
2.Because there are so many languages within the above two super-categories of language families,linguists have further divided these linguistically rich and geographically diverse families into sub-groups,one of which,the Germanic language group,has the second-largest number of speakers (Chinese being first). Within this group of over 500,000,000 speakers is the world's foremost international language,English,foremost in terms of its geographic spread and number of second-language users. German,spoken by just over 100,000,000 people,is one of the world's ten-largest languages in terms of population. As English and German speakers constitute the majorities in several of the world's most economically,militarily,and technologically developed countries,it is important to be familiar with this particular language grouping.
2、就因?yàn)橛刑嗟恼Z(yǔ)言涵蓋于上述的兩個(gè)超級(jí)語(yǔ)系，語(yǔ)言學(xué)家就進(jìn)一步的把這兩種語(yǔ)言豐富、地理涵蓋范圍非常廣的語(yǔ)系再區(qū)分為幾種不同的次級(jí)語(yǔ)系，其中的1個(gè)就是日耳曼語(yǔ)系，使用這個(gè)語(yǔ)系的人數(shù)在所有語(yǔ)系中排名第二位(第一位為華語(yǔ))。在這個(gè)有5億多人口使用的語(yǔ)系中，包括了世界最重要的國(guó)際語(yǔ)言，那就是英語(yǔ)。英語(yǔ)之所以稱(chēng)得上是最重要的語(yǔ)言乃因使用的地區(qū)很廣，且把英語(yǔ)當(dāng)作第二種語(yǔ)言使用的人口亦很多。有1億多人操德語(yǔ)，故就人口而言，德語(yǔ)是世界十大語(yǔ)言之一。由于使用英語(yǔ)和德語(yǔ)的人口在幾個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)、軍事和科技先進(jìn)的國(guó)家中占絕大比例，因此熟悉日耳曼語(yǔ)系的來(lái)龍去脈是很重要的。
3.Linguists further divide the Germanic languages into three groups,two extant and one extinct. East Germanic languages are no longer spoken; Gothic is an example of this small and historic grouping. Afrikaans,Dutch,English,Flemish,and German are the more important languages within the West Germanic grouping. The Scandinavian languages of Danish,Icelandic,Norwegian,and Swedish comprise the North Germanic grouping. Though these languages cannot be easily understood among their different speakers,the similarities in vocabulary are striking.
3、語(yǔ)言學(xué)家又進(jìn)一步地把日耳曼語(yǔ)系分成3個(gè)支系，其中兩個(gè)支系至今仍然存在，另1個(gè)支系，也就是東日爾曼語(yǔ)，因無(wú)人使用而已不復(fù)存。歌德語(yǔ)就屬于這種使用者不多但歷史悠久的語(yǔ)系。南非荷蘭語(yǔ)、荷蘭語(yǔ)、英語(yǔ)、佛蘭芝語(yǔ)、及德語(yǔ)則屬西日耳曼語(yǔ)的幾個(gè)重要語(yǔ)言。丹麥語(yǔ)、冰島語(yǔ)、挪威語(yǔ)及瑞典語(yǔ)等北歐語(yǔ)系則屬北日耳曼語(yǔ)系。雖然這些不同語(yǔ)言使用者彼此不易溝通，不過(guò)詞匯的雷同處卻很明顯。
4.Take for example the two largest languages with this group,English and German. The word Haus in German is house in English,with nearly the same pronunciation. Some names of German family members are instantly recognizable to English listeners and readers: Mutter,Bruder,and Onkel for the English mother,brother,and uncle (all German nouns are capitalized in print). Other German
family members are easily learned: Vater,Schwester,and Tante for the English father,sister,and aunt. Thus,those who know English and want to study German find their first year of learning vocabulary to be relatively easy. The same is true,of course,for those who want to learn Dutch or Danish from an English or German background; these many similarities are due to the single common parent language of all the Germanic tongues,even though this "grandfather" language no longer exists.
4、就拿日耳曼語(yǔ)系中英語(yǔ)及德語(yǔ)兩大語(yǔ)言來(lái)說(shuō)吧，德文的Haus 就是英文的house,發(fā)音幾乎完全相同。一些德語(yǔ)家庭成員的稱(chēng)呼如：Mutter,Bruder 和Onkel,懂英語(yǔ)的人很快地就知道這些字指的就是mother,bother 和uncle(德文的名詞一律大寫(xiě))。其它有關(guān)家庭成員名稱(chēng)的德語(yǔ)說(shuō)法也很容易學(xué)：像Vater,Schwester 和Tante 在英文里指的就是father,sister 和aunt。因此懂英語(yǔ)而想學(xué)德語(yǔ)的人，會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)初學(xué)詞匯的第一年是很容易的一件事。當(dāng)然，具有英語(yǔ)和德語(yǔ)背景的人要學(xué)丹麥語(yǔ)和荷蘭語(yǔ)也同樣是件易事。這些相似處乃因所有日耳曼語(yǔ)系皆源自共同的母語(yǔ)，盡管這個(gè)“爺爺級(jí)”的語(yǔ)言已不復(fù)存。
5.Speakers and writers of the Germanic languages account for a great deal ofthe world's output in everything from economics to literature to military to scienceand technology. Hardly an aspect of modern life does not benefit from thecontributions made by those using these languages,as in the Internet,Hollywoodentertainment,Dutch (Phillips) and Scandinavian consumer goods design(Ericsson,maker of cellular phones,is a Swedish company,as are Volvo and Saab),and even the Nobel prizes (awarded by both Norwegian and Swedish institutes).More than one-third of the world's economic production originates in thesecountries,too.
5、全球舉凡經(jīng)濟(jì)、文學(xué)、軍事乃至科技等方面的產(chǎn)品，有很多都是使用日耳曼語(yǔ)系的人所生產(chǎn)的�，F(xiàn)代生活幾乎各方面無(wú)不受益于這些人的貢獻(xiàn)，譬如互聯(lián)網(wǎng)絡(luò)，好萊塢娛樂(lè)事業(yè)，荷蘭(菲利普公司)和北歐的消費(fèi)品設(shè)計(jì)(生產(chǎn)手機(jī)的愛(ài)利信公司就是瑞典的一家公司、富豪及紳寶汽車(chē)亦是瑞典的公司)，甚至諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)(由挪威及瑞典學(xué)術(shù)機(jī)構(gòu)頒發(fā))。全世界的經(jīng)濟(jì)生產(chǎn)量有超過(guò)三分之一也是源自這些國(guó)家。
6.For any speaker of a language outside the Germanic language grouppreparing to choose a useful second language for the future,English is probablythe best bet. German,too,is very useful in the fields of medicine,economics,military,and science and technology. Being able to communicate with others inthis far-reaching linguistic group will offer the user immeasurable benefits.
6、對(duì)于那些非使用日耳曼語(yǔ)系的人而言，為了前途而準(zhǔn)備要選修第二種語(yǔ)言時(shí)，英文很可能是的選擇。在醫(yī)學(xué)、經(jīng)濟(jì)、軍事和科技方面，德語(yǔ)也是一樣管用。日耳曼語(yǔ)系影響深遠(yuǎn)，若能使用這種語(yǔ)言與該語(yǔ)系的人溝通將會(huì)帶來(lái)莫大的好處。
