China is losing ground to other emerging markets including Brazil in the drive to learn English, according to a study ranking wo

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问题     China is losing ground to other emerging markets including Brazil in the drive to learn English, according to a study ranking worldwide proficiency in the international language of commerce.
    English proficiency is at a premium as the balance of power between China and English-speaking countries such as the UK and US shifts and Beijing seeks to carve out a more powerful leadership role on the world stage. On last month’s state visit to the UK, first lady Peng Liyuan impressed with her fluent English — although her husband, Xi Jinping, depended upon translators.
    Despite this, some regional governments in China have recently opted to cut the time spent teaching and testing English in Chinese public high schools, lowering the weighting of English in the national university entrance exam, the gaokao.
    The study, due for public release on Tuesday, shows China fell 10 places to 47th in a ranking of 70 countries compiled by EF Education First, which based its rankings on test data from more than 900, 000 adults sitting online tests.
    EF said most of the countries that moved ahead of China this year were from Latin America. "These Latin American countries have kicked off ambitious national initiatives focused on English-language training, including Brazil’s English Without Borders programme and Mexico’s Project 100, 000," EF said in a statement.
    "The Chinese government, on the other hand, has questioned how much emphasis should be placed on English training in the public education system.
    The education group said China had initially scaled the top ranks by devoting plenty of class time to English instruction, whereas continued improvement would require "more sophisticated approaches focused on communicative mastery rather than testing abilities" .
    But some would-be students are also querying the value of studying overseas, hitherto a popular choice. Employees bearing postgraduate degrees from overseas command similar salaries to their peers who stayed home, according to Jennifer Feng, chief human resources expert at 51 job, the leading Chinese employment agency.
    That may explain the slowdown in growth of the number of Chinese enrolled in US higher education. Last year the expansion in their numbers was the slowest in seven years, according to the Institute of International Education and the US state department. China remains the biggest country of origin for international students at US universities.
    The US Council of Graduate Schools said late last year that the number of Chinese first-time enrolments at postgraduate level had fallen for the first time in at least a decade.
Which developing country followed Brazil on the list?

选项 A、Russia
B、India
C、China
D、Thailand

答案C

解析 事实细节题。根据题干中的Brazil将本题出处定位于文章第一段。该段提到,根据各国国际商务语言水平排行榜,中国的英语学习落后于巴西。由此可知,在榜单上,中国在巴西之后,故答案为[C]项。[A]项不是发展中国家,故排除;[B]项和[D]项在文中未提及。
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