EXERCISE 12
English belongs,in a rather complicated way,to the Indo-European family __1_ includes most of the European languages and a few Asiatic ones. We don't know __2_ the orginal speakers of the parent Indo-European language lived.Guessed about their homeland __3_ all the way from northwestern Europe __4_ central Asia.According to all the early _5__ ,they were a tall,blond,and warlike people,with a good __6_ of energy and intelligence.In their native land they had developed _7__ writing nor cities,so there is not much __8_ about how they lived when they were at home.But when they __9_ home and went out in __10_ of new lands,the Indo-European seem to have been generally successful in _11__ the countries they came to.
When a wave of them _12__ a territory already crowded,they _13__ the original population._14__ they lost their distinctive appearance by intermarrying with the earlier inhabitants,and sometimes they also _15__ most of the features of their language.When a _16__ went to a more thinly-settled territory,they naturally _17__ their physical characteristics comparatively unchanged for a much longer time;and they were likely to preserve the _18__ features of their language also,though the two things did not always go together.
The Slavic and Celltic languages,__19_ Indian,Persian ,and some others,are of Indo-Euro-pean origin,but the three branchs with _20__ English is most concerned are the Greek,Latin,and Germanic,particularly the last.
1) A which B whose C that D whom