首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
The status of English as an international language appears unassailable. It is simultaneously preeminent in science, politics, b
The status of English as an international language appears unassailable. It is simultaneously preeminent in science, politics, b
admin
2015-09-30
31
问题
The status of English as an international language appears unassailable. It is simultaneously preeminent in science, politics, business and entertainment. And unlike any of its lingua franca predecessors, it has all this on a truly worldwide scale. There is no challenger comparable to it: Chinese has more native speakers, but every schoolchild in China now studies English. And India, set to overtake China in population by 2050. is avidly trading on its English expertise.
But English is not thereby immune to the principles of language survival. Above all, it is notable that beyond the 330 million or so native speakers, perhaps twice as many more use it as a second language. And this community of over 600 million second-language speakers, who make English preeminent as a world language, also make it vulnerable in the long term.
In 5,000 years of recorded language history, a few dozen languages have achieved the status of lingua franca, a language of wider communication among people whose mother tongues may be quite different. But this status does not come about by some utilitarian reckoning, or democratic selection. There is always a reason, be it conquest, trade, religious mission or social aspiration, which has selected a language to have this wider role, and that reason is hard to forget—and ultimately often hard to forgive.
This is seldom clear—at first to native speakers. They naturally see their mother tongue as a simple blessing for the wider world. But neither Latin nor French would have spread across Western Europe if their use had not once upon a time been imposed—by forces other than lucidity and charm.
There was status or wealth to be gained from knowing these languages, and in their heyday, no one believed they might one day go out of use. After all, they seemed not only useful, but also such exceptional languages.
But far from being disinterested aids to thought and communication, every lingua franca continues to bear the badge of its original spread; and this is often the cause of its ultimate undoing. This moral is as clear and well-established as the recorded history of the lingua franca phenomenon.
English will not decline as a first language: Indeed for the foreseeable future it will be among the five major mother tongues of the world. Spread out worldwide, it may even change and ultimately split into a family of languages. But it would go against the pattern of world history if alien peoples patronized English for very much longer than necessary.
In sum, the world in the next few generations is likely to see greater multilingualism and less English-backed bilingualism. We can learn the long view from language history, but it may be a hard lesson.
The author argues that the future of English is
选项
A、bleak
B、definite
C、uncertain
D、foreseeable
答案
A
解析
根据第六段中的“But far from being disinterested aids to thought and communication,everylingua franca…spread;and this is often the cause of its ultimate undoing”和第七段中的“But it wouldgo against the pattern of world history if alien peoples patronized English for very much longer thannecessary”,A应为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lHzZ777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
HereIwanttotrytogiveyouananswertothequestion;Whatpersonalqualitiesaredesirableinateacher?Probablynotw
Ithasbeennecessarytoreferrepeatedlytotheeffectsofthetwoworldwarsinpromotingallkindofinnovation.Itshouldbe
WhentheAmericaneconomywasrunningfulltilttwoyearsago,fewplaceswereasbreathlesslydelightedasSeattle.Itsportwa
(46)Thejobofraisingchildrenisatoughone.Childrendon’tcomewithaninstructionmanual.Andeachchildisdifferent.So
Accordingtothepassage,theAmericanhealth-caresystem______.Itisimpliedinthelastparagraphthatifahospitalusesit
Cultureisactivityofthought,andreceptivenesstobeautyandhumanefeeling.【C1】______ofinformationhavenothingtodowith
Cultureisactivityofthought,andreceptivenesstobeautyandhumanefeeling.【C1】______ofinformationhavenothingtodowith
Asagiantofthestockmarket,Appleisunusual.Formuchofthepast20years,threecompanieshavealternatedintheroleof
Globalenergydemandisexpectedtotriplebymid-century.Theearthisunlikelytorunoutoffossilfuelsbythen,givenitsv
Itusedtobesostraightforward(直接的).Ateamofresearchersworkingtogetherinthelaboratorywouldsubmittheresultsofthei
随机试题
Kupffer细胞被激活,促进肝功能障的机制是
检测抗核抗体最常用的技术是
唇裂修复术对患儿的白细胞计数的要求是
间接固位体安放的位置与()有关。
下列遗嘱无效的是()。
关于建设项目管理信息系统的论述正确的是()。
建筑高度为48m的16层住宅建筑,一梯3户,每户建筑面积为120m2,每单元设置一座防烟楼梯间,一部消防电梯和一部客梯。该建筑每个单元需设置的室内消火栓总数应不应少于()个。
某生产企业为增值税一般纳税人,2019年5月发生以下业务:(1)销售A产品取得收入为80万元(不含税),负责运送A产品而取得的运输收入(不含税)为8万元。(2)为了促销,以折扣方式销售B产品的销售额为200万元(不含税),折扣额20万元,向购买方另开发
求助者的精神症状主要有()。求助者行为症状主要表现为()。
Theresearchsuggeststhatpeopleincreasephysicalactivitytoamediumlevelandpayattentiontothechoicesoftheirfoodan
最新回复
(
0
)