156 Partn IWritinganEssal1
- Paragraphs5,6, 7,and8 mentionseveralreasonsfornotsendinga manned
spacecrafttoMars.Summarizethereasonshere. _ - Whatkindofconclusiondoesthisessayhave?
a. It summarizesargumentsagainsta mannedMarsmission.
b. It parapln"asesthethesisstatement.
Topic 2
ThefuturestatusofEnglishastheglobal languageis/isnotassured.
Reading 1
Thisarticle,froma Britishweeldynewsmagazine,discussesthereasonsthatEnglish
hasbecomethedominantlanguagearoundtheworld.
TheWorldLanguagel
1 Indiahasabouta billionpeopleanda dozenmajorlanguagesofitsown.
Onelanguage,andonlyone,isunderstood-byanelite-acrossthecountry:
thatoftheforeignerswhoruledit forlessthan 200 yearsandleft 52 yearsago.
After1947,EnglishhadtoshareitsofficialstatuswithnorthIndia'sHindiand
wasduetoloseitin1965.It didnothappen:SouthernIndiasaidno.
2 Today,India.Tomorrow,unofficially,theworld.[fhespreadofEnglish]is well
underway;atfirst,becausetheBritishnotonlybuilta globalempirebutsettled
America,andnowbecausetheworld(andnotablyAmerica)hasacquireditsfirst
trulyglobal-andinteractive-medium,theInternet.
3 DavidCrystal,a Britishexpert,estimatesthatsome 350 millionpeople
speakEnglishastheirfirstlanguage.Maybe250-350milliondoorcanuseit as
a secondlanguage;inex-colonialcountries,notably,orinEnglish-majorityones,
like 30 millionrecentimmigrantstotheUnitedStatesorCanada's6 million
francophoneQuebeckers.Andelsewhere?Thatisa heroicguess: 100 millionto
1 billionisMr.Crystal's,dependinghowyoudefine"can."Letusbebold:Inall,
20-25percentofEarth's6 billionpeoplecanuseEnglish;nottheEnglishof
England,letaloneofDr.Johnson,butEnglish.
'''TheWorldLanguage."TheEconomist.MillenniumIssue 31 Dec.1999:85.