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The Scandinavian languages consist of Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese. Danish is closely related to other Scandinavian languages such as Swedish and Norwegian. In fact, they are so similar that a Dane, a Swede, and a Norwegian can all have a conversation while each person is speaking his or her own language. You might wonder why, if the three languages are mutually understandable, they aren’t considered a single language.

Well, language isn’t only about communication; it’s an important part of a nation’s cultural and political identity. For centuries, Denmark, Sweden and Norway have worked to maintain separate identities, and having distinct languages helps. Besides, communication between the three languages isn’t easy; speakers have to work hard to understand each other.

In medieval times, Sweden was under Denmark’s control, and Danish was the language of government. When Sweden became independent in 1523, its officials decided to establish its own writing conventions, changing the spelling of words to reflect Swedish pronunciation and changing the alphabet to make it look less Danish. Soon after these changes were complete, the Bible was translated into Swedish. The Bible made the new Swedish more official, and the differences between written Danish and Swedish were solidified.

Spoken Swedish sounds pretty similar to Danish. The problem is that the two languages have rather different vocabularies. For example, pocket is lomme in Danish, but ficka in Swedish. Also, some words that sound similar have different meanings. The word frokost means lunch in Danish, but Swedish frukost, which sounds almost the same, means breakfast. This kind of difference is pretty common and can cause a lot of misunderstandings.

Norway was under Danish control for 400 years, until 1814. During this time, all official documents were written in Danish, and written Norwegian entirely died out. As a result, contemporary Norwegian looks very similar to Danish. The two languages also have similar vocabularies, although Norwegian pronunciation can be very different.

The relationship between the languages can be seen in a vast number of cognates, words that are similar in different languages.

1.What did Sweden and Norway do to maintain their cultural and political identities?

A.To have their own languages.

B.To keep exchanges with Denmark.

C.To copy the Danish language.

D.To create a lot of new words.

2.What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A.How Sweden won its independence.

B.Why Sweden created a new language.

C.Why the Bible was important to Swedish.

D.How Sweden established its writing system.

3.Which of the following words means “breakfast” in Swedish?

A.ficka B.lomme C.frokost D.frukost

4.Which will a Norwegian find easier to learn according to the text?

A.Danish pronunciation. B.Swedish vocabulary.

C.Danish vocabulary. D.Swedish pronunciation.

高二英语阅读选择中等难度题

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