2. 外语
  3. Over the past 600 years, English has grown from a language of few speakers to become the dominant language of international comm

Over the past 600 years, English has grown from a language of few speakers to become the dominant language of international comm

admin2010-04-12  43
问题     Over the past 600 years, English has grown from a language of few speakers to become the dominant language of international communication. English as we know it today emerged around 1350, after having incorporated many elements of French that were introduced following the Norman invasion of 1066. Until the 1600s, English was, for the most part, spoken only in England and had not extended even as far as Wales, Scotland, or Ireland. However, during the course of the next two centuries, English began to spread around the globe as a result of exploration, trade (including slave trade), colonization and missionary work. Thus, small enclaves (聚居地) of English speakers became established and grew in various parts of the world. As these communities proliferated, English gradually became the primary language of international business, banking, and diplomacy.
    Then came the 20th century and its burst of technology. Suddenly people were talking across oceans, flying across continents, hearing broadcasts that reverberated around the planet. Language spread faster than ever. The world wars carried American and British soldiers around the world, pollinating English as they went. When World War Ⅱ ended, the English language was barreling (高速行驶) forward on the shoulders of American capitalism — McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, Rambo and MTV, munitions (军火) and computer technology.
    Currently, about 80 percent of the information stored on computer systems worldwide is in English. Two-thirds of the world’s science writing is in English, and English is the main language of technology, advertising, media, international airports, and air traffic controllers. Today there are more than 700 million English users in the world, and over half of these are non-native speakers, constituting the largest number of non-native users than any other language in the world.
According to this passage, approximately how many non-native users of English are there in the world today?
选项 A、A quarter billion.
B、Half a million.
C、350 million.
D、700 million.
答案C
解析
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