For any Englishman，there can never be any discussion as to who is the world‟s greatest dramatist(剧作家).Only one name can possibly suggest itself to him：that of William Shakespeare Every Englishman has some knowledge，however slight，of the work of our greatest writer.All of US use words，phrases and quotations from Shakespeare‟s writings that have become part of the common property of the English-speaking people.Most of the time we are probably unaware of the source of the words we used，rather like the old lady who was taken to see a performance of Hamlet and complained that it was full of well—known proverbs and quotations.

　　Shakespeare，more perhaps than any other writer，makes full use of the great resources of the English language.Most of US use about five thousand words in our normal use of English;Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand.

　　There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare used it.Such a study is well worth the effort(it is not，of course，recommended to beginners)even though some aspects of English usage，and the meaning of many words，have changed since Shakespeare‟s day.

当提及谁是世界上最伟大的剧作家，对于每个英国人来说，答案都毫无疑义。只有一个名字值得这个称号——莎士比亚。对于我们这个最伟大的剧作家，每个英国人都有些了解，即使很少。从莎翁的剧作中我们拿来使用的单词，习语和引用，已经变成了英语使用者的通用词库中的一部分。很多

　　时候我们可能不知道自己使用的词语的来源，就好像一个去看过哈姆雷特的老妪回来之后抱怨剧中充满了大家都知道的谚语和引用语。

　　莎翁与其它作者相比，更充分的利用了英语语言这一资源。大多数的人日常使用不过5000英语词汇而已，但是莎翁在他的作品中使用了2万5千左右的词汇。 对于一个外国人来说，研读莎翁对英语丰富多彩的使用方法是欣赏英语丰富性和多样性最好的手段。虽说从莎翁的年代至今，一些英语的用法，许多单词的意义发生了变化，但是对莎翁作品的研究是十分有意义的。(当然，对于初学英语的人不太推荐。)