Now, English is used as the first language and official language in Singapore.（)

globe, English is acquired as the mother (36) ________, in others it’s used as a second language. Some nations use English as their (37) ________ language, performing the function of (38) ________; in others it’s used as an international language for business, (39) ________ and industry.

What factors and forces have led to the (40) ________ of English？ Why is English now considered to be so prestigious that, across the globe, individuals and societies feel (41) ________ if they do not have (42) ________ in this language？ How has English changed through 1,500 Years？ These are some of the questions that you (43) ________ when you study English.

You also examine the immense variability of English and (44) ________. You develop in-depth knowledge of the intricate structure of the language. Why do some non-native speakers of English claim that it’s a difficult language to learn, while (45) ________？ At the University of Sussex, you are introduced to the nature and grammar of English in all aspects. This involves the study of sound structures, the formation of words, the sequencing words and the construction of meaning, as well as examination of the theories explaining the aspects of English usage. (46) ________, which are raised by studying how speakers and writers employ English for a wide variety of purposes.

t 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.

1).English people _______.

A.have never discussed who is the world’s greatest dramatist

B.never discuss any issue concerning the world’s greatest dramatist

C.are sure who is the world’s greatest dramatist

D.do not care who is the world’s greatest poet and dramatist

2).Every Englishman knows _______.

A.more or less about Shakespeare

B.Shakespeare, but only slightly

C.all Shakespeare’s writings

D.only the name of the greatest English writer

3).Which of the following is true？

A.We use all the words, phrases and quotations from Shakespeare’s writings.

B.Shakespeare’s writings have become the property of those who are learning to speak English.

C.It is likely to be true that people often do not know the origins of the words they use

D.All the words people use are taken from the writings of Shakespeare.

4).What does the word “proverb” mean？

A.Familiar sayings.

B.Shakespeare’s plays.

C.Complaints.

D.Actors and actresses.

5).Why is it worthwhile to study the various ways in which Shakespeare used English？

A.English words have changed a lot since Shakespeare’s time.

B.By doing so one can be fully aware of the richness of the English language.

C.English words are now being used in the same way as in Shakespeare’s time.

D.Beginners may have difficulty learning some aspects of English usage.

W： Hi Leo， why do you say English would become the world language？

M： Well。 For one thing， it’s so commonly used， the only language that is used by more people is Chinese。

W： Why is English spoken by so many people？

M： It’s spoken in many countries of the world because of the British empire。 And now of course is the influence of America as well。

W： Many students find English a difficult language to learn。

M： Oh， all languages are difficult to learn。 But English does have two greatest advantages。

W： What are they？

M： Well， first of all， it has a very international vocabulary。 It has many German， Dutch， French， Spanish and Italian words in it。 So speakers of those languages will find many familiar words in English。 In fact， English has words for many other languages as well。

W： Why is that？

M： Well， partly because English speakers have travelled a lot， they bring back words with them。 So English really does have an international vocabulary。

W： And what is the other advantage of English？

M： It that English grammar is really quite easy。 For example， it doesn’t have dozens of different endings for its nouns， adjectives and verbs， not like Latin， Russian and German for example。

W： Why is that？

M： Well， it’s quite interesting actually， it’s because of the French。 When the French ruled England， French was the official language， and only the common people spoke English。 They tried to make their language as simple as possible。 So they made the grammar easier。

Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard。

Q9： What does the man say about Chinese？

Q10： What made English a widely used language？

Q11： What is said to be special about English vocabulary？

hat's where the language was first spoken. But England is often called by other names. This often confuses people and I wonder if you know what these names mean. So, now I would like to tell you about this matter of names. I believe that you have heard people use the names England, Britain of Great Britain. Let's see what each of these names means.

If you look at a map of Europe, you'll see a group of islands--one larger island off the northwest coats, one smaller and many tiny ones. These make up what is called the British Isles (不列填群岛). The largest island of the British Isles in Britain. It is also called Great Britain. The smaller island is Ireland (爱尔兰)。

Britain is divided into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England. But sometimes the word " England" is used instead of "Britain". Why so？

In anceient times, what is Britain now used to be three different countries. People in these different counntries spoke different languages. Over many years the three countries became one. England in the largest and richest of the three and it has the most people. So the English people take it for granted that their own name stands for the whole island.

There's another thing that confuses people; sometimes you may hear people say "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "That is the official name of the country. Northern Irelnd is only one sixth of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is an independent state, called the Republic of Ireland. So we have the names of "England", "Britain"," Great Britain", and "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Now do you know what each of them means？

English was first spoken in ______.

A．Britain

B．England

C．Great Britain

D．Ireland

Q: What does the man say about Chinese？

W: Hi, Leo. Why do you say English will become the world language？

M: Well, for one thing, it's so commonly used. The only language that is used by more people is Chinese.

W: Why is English spoken by so many people？

M: It's spoken in many countries of the world because of the British Empire. And now, of course, there's influence of America as well.

W: Many students find English a difficult language to learn.

M: Oh, all languages are difficult to learn. But English does have two great advantages.

W: What are they？

M: Well, first of all, it has a very international vocabulary. It has many German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian words in it. So speakers of those languages will find many familiar words in English. In fact, English has words from many other languages as well.

W: Why is that？

M: Well, partly because English speakers have travelled a lot. They bring back words with them, so English really does have an international vocabulary.

W: And what's the other advantage of English？

M: It's that English grammar is really quite easy. For example, it doesn't have dozens of different endings for its nouns, adjectives and verbs, not like Latin, Russian, and German for example.

W: Why is that？

M: Well, it's quite interesting actually. It's because of the French. When the French ruled England, French was the official language and only the common people spoke English. They try to make the language as simple as possible, so they made the grammar easier.

A.It is more difficult to learn than English.

B.It is used by more people than English.

C.It will be as commonly used as English.

D.It will eventually become a world language.

Q: What made English a widely used language？

W: Hi, Leo. Why do you say English will become the world language？

M: Well, for one thing, it's so commonly used. The only language that is used by more people is Chinese.

W: Why is English spoken by so many people？

M: It's spoken in many countries of the world because of the British Empire. And now, of course, there's influence of America as well.

W: Many students find English a difficult language to learn.

M: Oh, all languages are difficult to learn. But English does have two great advantages.

W: What are they？

M: Well, first of all, it has a very international vocabulary. It has many German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian words in it. So speakers of those languages will find many familiar words in English. In fact, English has words from many other languages as well.

W: Why is that？

M: Well, partly because English speakers have travelled a lot. They bring back words with them, so English really does have an international vocabulary.

W: And what's the other advantage of English？

M: It's that English grammar is really quite easy. For example, it doesn't have dozens of different endings for its nouns, adjectives and verbs, not like Latin, Russian, and German for example.

W: Why is that？

M: Well, it's quite interesting actually. It's because of the French. When the French ruled England, French was the official language and only the common people spoke English. They try to make the language as simple as possible, so they made the grammar easier.

A.It has words from many languages.

B.Its popularity with the common people.

C.The influence of the British Empire.

D.The effect of the Industrial Revolution.

of information and ideas is unimpeded by distance or national barriers. Much has been written (1) the technology and the benefits that this system of unregulated information exchange will bring. But (2) has been very little discussion about the languages—human, not computer languages (3) are being used on the Internet.

Central (4) the ideology of the emerging Internet community is the freedom of the individual users to express (5) as they like. Nevertheless, (6) recently, it has been very difficult to communicate through the Internet in any language (7) could not be expressed in the standard English alphabet as defined (8) the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).

English is already the premier (9) of science and technology worldwide. The peculiar restriction of (10) able to communicate with only the limited ASCII character set has worked to further encourage the (11) English, especially by those (12) native language is not normally expressed in some version of (13) Roman alphabet.

In fact, it seems to be typical that (14) accessing a network in a non-English speaking country (15) is often presented with a choice of the local language(s) or English. Many of the national networks that have now linked (16) to the Internet are used (17) scientific and technical communication, (18) a rapidly growing portion of the Internet's community are non-professional people.

Familiarity with English may be assumed (19) a linguist or a physicist, but growing (20) of users with no English language skills are joining the net in (21) of the dominance of English in message forums and mail lists. Messages (22) the Usenet newsgroups are overwhelmingly (23) in English, and the bulk of the moderated mailing lists (including (24) Linguist Discussion List, and international E-mail discussion list for linguists) are conducted in (25) .

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English has never been the only language in use over the British Isles , and it certainly is not now! Welsh is still used in Wales. Some Welsh people still speak it as their mother tongue , and it is widely taught in Welsh schools. Some people in Scotland and in Ireland still use a language that is related to Welsh. It is called Gaelic. These languages have a long history in these islands - longer than the history of English. In addition , people from

overseas have settled in England quite recently during this century. In some industrial cities , though not generally in Britain , you find groups of people who speak Polish , and other groups speaking the languages of the Indian subcontinent. A survey of North London schools in the early 1980' s found that nearly a third of the children spoke a language other than English at home.

The majority of the 55 million people living in England use English all the time. Standard English , that is , written English , is in use throughout Britain. Spoken English , however , sounds very different in different parts of the country. There is a story , a play. by the famous writer George Bernard Shaw , about a professor of English Language who can tell you someone' s address when he hears that person speak! That is exaggeration of course. Not even a Professor , who has studied the sounds of English all his life , can really do that. However ,it is true hat most people who have lived for a long time in Britain can tell a number of things about the people as soon as they speak! Usually we cannot tell the speaker' s address

, but we can guess the part of the country where the person comes from. We can tell how well educated he or she is too! If an international user of English , like anyone of you here , happens to meet speakers from , say , the North or the West of England , you may find them hard to understand. Unless you understand what is going on your confidence in your ability to use the language may be badly shaken.

36. Gaelic is related to Welsh. ()

37. Welsh is not taught in schools anymore. ()

38. One third of the 55 million people in England speak other languages besides English at home ()

39. Written English is in use throughout Britain but spoken English sounds different in different parts of the country. ()

40. Most people who have lived for a long time in Britain can tell how well educated a person is by the way he/ she speaks. ()