Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with people from around the world. This means that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed and the dialect （方言）of London became the standard. In 1604, the first English dictionary was published.
The numbers of words in Early Modern English and Late Modern English differ. Late Modern English has a lot more words because of two main factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries.
From around 1600, the English colonization(殖民地化)of North America resulted in the creation of American English. Some English pronunciation and words froze when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that the British call “ Americanisms” are in fact original （原先的）British expressions that were preserved (保存) in the colonies but were lost in Britain. Spanish also had an influence on American English, with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English. French words and West African words also influenced American English.
Today, American English is the most influential(有影响力的). But there are many other kinds of English around the world, including Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English , Indian English and Caribbean English. They have differences.
小题1:What can we know from Paragraph 1?
A．The dialect of London became the standard in the year 1604.
B．Vowels were pronounced longer towards the end of Middle English
C．The first English dictionary was published in the early 17th century.
D．Many new words entered English because many people moved to Britain.小题2:From Paragraph 2, we know that the Industrial Revolution __________.
A．required spelling and grammar to be fixed
B．required a greater number of English words
C．caused many old English words to be useless
D．led to the English colonization of North America.小题3:The underlined word “froze” in Paragraph 3 shows that some English words in America___________.
A．became longer
B．greatly changed
C．a little changed
D．stayed as they were小题4:What will the paragraph following this passage most probably discuss?
A．The development of Modern English
B．How the English vocabulary became larger
C．Differences among the different kinds of English
D．Differences between Middle English and Modern English
