英語歷史時期：
一、古英語時期——公元449年至1100年
古英語時期共有四種主要方言：
(1)諾森伯里亞方言--洪伯河(the Humber)以北的方言。
(2)梅爾西亞方言--界乎洪伯河與泰晤士河之間的英國中部地區(qū)的方言。
(3)肯特(Kentish)方言--居住在英國東南部地區(qū)的朱特人的方言。
(4)西撤克遜方言--泰晤士河以南的方言。諾森伯里亞和梅爾西亞這兩種方言又合稱盎格里亞方言，即盎格魯人居住地區(qū)的方言。
二、中古英語時期——公元1100年至1500年
三、現(xiàn)代英語時期——公元1500年至今
現(xiàn)代英語時期又細(xì)分為：
(1)早期現(xiàn)代英語時期——公元1500年至1700年;
(2)后期現(xiàn)代英語時期——公元1700年至當(dāng)前。
英語寓言小故事
Making His Mark “刻舟求劍”
A man from the state of Chu was taking a boat across a river when he dropped his sword into the water carelessly. Immediately he made a mark on the side of the boat where the sword dropped, hoping to find it later. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to search for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. As we know, the boat had moved but the sword had not. Isn’t this a very foolish way to look for a sword?
楚國有個人坐船渡江時，他不小心把自己的一把寶劍掉落江中。他馬上掏出一把小刀，在寶劍落水的船舷上刻上一個記號。船靠岸后，那楚人立即從船上刻記號的地方跳下水去撈取掉落的寶劍。他怎么找得到寶劍呢?船繼續(xù)行駛，而寶劍卻不會再移動。像他這樣去找劍，真是太愚蠢可笑了。
To Pull up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow “拔苗助長”
Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who planted a plot of rice. After he planted the seedlings, every day he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day, but still, he thought they were growing too slowly. Eventually he got impatient with the young plants and suddenly he hit upon an idea that one by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. The next early morning, the young man couldn’t wait to check his “achievement”, but he was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying.
從前，有個農(nóng)夫，種了稻苗(seedlings)后，便希望能早早收成。每天他到稻田時，都發(fā)覺那些稻苗長得非常慢。他等得很不耐煩。想了又想，他終于想到一個“最佳方法”，他將稻苗全都拔高了幾分。第二天，一早起身，他迫不及待地去稻田看他的“成果”。 哪知，卻看到所有的稻苗都枯萎了。