Istoria limbii engleze în 10 minute (Capitolele IV – VI)

Iată cea de a doua parte din seria ‘Istoria limbii engleze în zece minute’. La fel ca în prima parte, pentru a învăța cât mai multe din cele trei videoclipuri, procedează în felul următor:

1. Urmărește videoclipul. Nu te speria dacă nu înțelegi mare lucru.
2. Urmărește-l din nou. De data aceasta, ascultă-l în timp ce îi parcurgi transcrierea.
3. Ascultă traducerea și explicațiile de la sfârșitul capitolului.

Materialul The History of English in Ten Minutes este realizat de The Open University.


Chapter IV
The King James Bible (or ‘Let There Be Light Reading’)

In 1611, ‘the powers that be’ ‘turned the world upside down’ with a ‘labour of love’ – a new translation of the Bible. A team of scribes with the ‘wisdom of Solomon’ ‘went the extra mile’ to make King James’ translation ‘all things to all men’, whether from their ‘heart’s desire’, ‘to fight the good fight’ or just for the ‘filthy lucre’.

This sexy new Bible went ‘from strength to strength’, getting to ‘the root of the matter’ in a language even ‘the salt of the earth’ could understand.

‘The writing wasn’t on the wall’, it was in handy little books, with ‘fire and brimstone’ preachers reading it in every church. Its words and phrases ‘took root’ ‘to the ends of the earth’ – well, at least, the ends of Britain.

The King James Bible is the book that taught us that ‘a leopard can’t change its spots’, that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’, that ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ is harder to spot than you would imagine, and how annoying it is to have ‘a fly in your ointment’.

In fact, just as ‘Jonathan begat Merib-Baal and Merib-Baal begat Micah’, the King James Bible begat a whole glossary of metaphor and morality that still shapes the way English is spoken today. Amen.

Traducere și explicații


Chapter V
The English of Science (or ‘How to Speak with Gravity’)

Before the 17th century, scientists weren’t really recognised – possibly because lab-coats had yet to catch on.

But, suddenly, Britain was full of physicists – there was Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle – and even some people not called Robert, like Isaac Newton. The Royal Society was formed out of the Invisible College – after they put it down somewhere and couldn’t find it again.

At first, they worked in Latin. After sitting through Newton’s story about the ‘pomum’ falling to the ‘terra’ from the ‘arbor’ for the umpteenth time, the bright sparks realised they all spoke English and they could transform our understanding of the universe much quicker by talking in their own language.

But science was discovering things faster than they could name them. Words like ‘acid’, ‘gravity’, ‘electricity’ and ‘pendulum’ had to be invented just to stop their meetings turning into an endless game of charades.

Like teenage boys, the scientists suddenly became aware of the human body – coining new words like ‘cardiac’ and ‘tonsil’, ‘ovary’ and ‘sternum’. And the invention of ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’ made sex education classes a bit easier to follow. Though ‘clitoris’ was still a source of confusion.

Traducere și explicații


Chapter VI
English and Empire (or ‘The Sun Never Sets on the English Language’)

With English making its name as the language of science, the Bible and Shakespeare, Britain decided to take it on tour. Asking only for land, wealth, natural resources, total obedience to the crown and a few local words in return.

They went to the Caribbean looking for gold and a chance to really unwind – discovering the ‘barbeque’, the ‘canoe’ and a pretty good recipe for rum punch. They also brought back the word ‘cannibal’ to make their trip sound more exciting.

In India, there was something for everyone. ‘Yoga’ – to help you stay in shape, while pretending to be spiritual. If that didn’t work, there was the ‘cummerbund’ to hide the paunch. And, if you couldn’t even make it up the stairs without turning ‘crimson’, they had the ‘bungalow’.

Meanwhile, in Africa, they picked up words like ‘voodoo’ and ‘zombie’ – kicking off the teen horror film. From Australia, English took the words ‘nugget’, ‘boomerang’ and ‘walkabout’ – and, in fact, the whole concept of chain pubs.

All in all, between toppling Napoleon and the First World War, the British Empire gobbled up around 10 million square miles, 400 million people and nearly a hundred thousand gin and tonics, leaving new varieties of English to develop all over the globe.

Traducere și explicații

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