The number of speakers of English in Shakespeare’s time is estimated to have been about five million. Today it is estimated that

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问题     The number of speakers of English in Shakespeare’s time is estimated to have been about five million. Today it is estimated that some 260 million people speak it as a native language, mainly in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the standard varieties of English found in these areas, there are a great many regional and social varieties of the language, as well as various levels of usage that are employed both in its spoken and written forms.
    It is virtually impossible to estimate the number of people in the world who have acquired an adequate working knowledge of English in addition to their own languages. The purpose for which English is learned and the situations in which such learning takes place are so varied that it is difficult to define and still more difficult to assess what constitutes an adequate working knowledge for each situation.
    The main reason for the widespread demand for English is its present day importance as a world language. Besides serving the infinite needs of its native speakers, English is a language in which some of the important works in science, technology, and other fields are being produced, and not always by native speakers. It is widely used for such purposes as meteorological and airport communications, international conferences, and the dissemination of information over the radio and television networks of many nations.
    It is a language of wider communication for a number of developing countries, especially former British colonies. Many of these countries have multi-lingual populations and need a language for internal communication in such matters as government, commerce, industry, law and education as well as for international communication and for access to the scientific and technological developments in the West.  
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

选项 A、Some 260 million people in the world have an adequate working knowledge of English.
B、There are some 260 million native speakers of English in the world.
C、It is almost impossible to estimate the number of people with an adequate working knowledge of English.
D、People learn English for a variety of reasons.

答案A

解析 根据第一段中“some 260 million people speak it as a native language”可知B正确,根据第二段中It is virtually impossible to estimate the number of people in the world who have acquired an adequate working knowledge of English in addition to their own languages,可知C正确,对比A、D,发现A显然错误,故选A。
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