Writing Academic English 4th Edition

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

156 Partn IWritinganEssal1



  1. Paragraphs5,6, 7,and8 mentionseveralreasonsfornotsendinga manned
    spacecrafttoMars.Summarizethereasonshere. _

  2. 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.
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