ThenumberofspeakersofEnglishinShakespeare’stimeisestimated(估计)tohavebeenaboutfivemillion.Todayitisestimatedthatsome260millionpeoplespeakitasanativelanguagemainlyintheUnitedStatesCanadaGreatBritainIrelandSouthAfricaAustraliaandNewZealand.InadditiontothestandardvarietiesofEnglishfoundintheseareasthereareagreatmanyregionalandsocialvarietiesofthelanguageaswellasvariouslevelsofusagethatareemployedbothinitsspokenandwrittenforms.
Infactitisimpossibletoestimatethenumberofpeopleintheworldwhohaveacquiredanadequate(足够的)workingknowledgeofEnglishinadditiontotheirownlanguages.ThepurposeforEnglishlearningandthesituationsinwhichsuchlearningtakesplacearesovariedthatitisdifficulttoexplainandstillmoredifficulttojudgewhatformsanadequateworkingknowledgeforeachsituation.
ThemainreasonforthewidespreaddemandforEnglishisitspresent-dayimportanceasaworldlanguage.BesidesservingtheindefiniteneedsofitsnativespeakersEnglishisalanguageinwhichsomeofimportantworksinsciencetechnologyandotherfieldsarebeingproducedandnotalwaysbynativespeakers.Itiswidelyusedforsuchpurposesasmeteorologicalandairportcommunicationsinternationalconferencesandthespreadofinformationovertheradioandtelevisionnetworksofmanynations.ItisalanguageofwidercommunicationforanumberofdevelopingcountriesespeciallyformerBritishcolonies.ManyofthesecountrieshavemultilingualpopulationsandneedalanguageforinternalcommunicationinsuchmattersasgovernmentcommerceindustrylawandeducationaswellasforinternationalcommunicationandforentrancetothescientificandtechnologicaldevelopmentsintheWest.
1.Whatwouldbethebesttitleforthispassage?
A.TheDifficultiesofLearningEnglish | B.InternationalCommunications |
C.TheStandardVarietiesofEnglish | D.EnglishasaWorldLanguage |
A.Some260millionpeopleintheworldhaveanadequateworkingknowledgeofEnglish.
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