About 5000 years ago, people in an area north of the Black Sea in southeastern Europe spoke a language called Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to be the ancestor of most European languages. These include the languages that became ancient Greek, ancient German and the ancient Latin.
Latin disappeared as a spoken language. Yet it left behind three great languages that became modern Spanish, French and Italian. Ancient German became Dutch, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish and one of the languages that developed into English.
The English language is a result of the invasions of the island of Britain over many hundreds of years. The first invasions were by a people called Angles about 1500 years ago. The Angles were a German tribe （部落）who crossed the English Channel. Later two more groups crossed to Britain. They were the Saxons and the Jutes. These groups found a people called the Celts, who had lived in Britain for many thousands of years. The Celts and the invaders fought. After a while, most of the Celts were killed, or made slaves. Some escaped to live in the area that became Wales. Through the years, the Saxons, Angles and Jute mixed their different languages. The result is what is called Anglo-Saxon or Old English.
The next great invasion of Britain came from the far north beginning about 1100 years ago. Fierce people called Vikings invaded the coast areas of Britain. The Vikings came from Denmark, Norway and other northern countries. They were looking to capture trade goods and slaves and take away anything of value. In some areas, the Vikings became so powerful they built temporary bases. These temporary bases sometimes became permanent. Later, many Vikings stayed in Britain. Many English words used today come from these ancient Vikings. Words like “sky，” “leg，” “skill,” “egg，” “crawl,” “lift” and “take” are from the old languages of the far northern countries.
The next invasion of Britain took place more than 900 years ago, in 1066. History experts call this invasion the Norman Conquest.
1. What is the general idea of the passage?
2. Which of the following languages later developed into English?
3. Old English is the mixture of the languages spoken by the following tribes which include_____.
4. Which of the following can best describe Vikings who invaded Britain about 1100 years ago?
5. What follows the passage is most probably about .
