English nowadays is widely used in science, business, the media and popular culture. For example, 80% of e-mails on the internet are in English. But where will English be at the end of the 21^st century?

     One view is that English is going to become even more important as a global language, being most widely used in trade and media while some other languages will become less important or just disappear. Another view is that English is already breaking up into several separate languages. There are already dictionaries of the “New Englishes”, such as Australian English, full of words that a British English speaker would not recognize.

      Hopefully, neither of these things will happen. Although different varieties of English will continue to develop around the world, standard English will survive for international       communication. However, it is impossible for one language to totally control the world. Already, other languages are fighting back against the control of English on the net. Governments around the world are also starting to protect smaller languages and recognize the importance of keeping a variety of cultures and languages. English will probably stay in control for a long time, but it certainly won’t become the only language in the world.

According to the situation, how many people do you think speak English now?

A. 200 million     B. 300 million    C. 500 million    D. a billion

At present, what is the most important language in the world?

   A. Chinese        B. English       C. French        D. German

What is the best title of the passage?

 A. The Change of English           B. Different Varieties of English  

 C. The Future of English            D. The Cause of English Change   

Welcome to Adventureland!
Everyone loves Adventureland! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore, enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience. You will go away enriched, longing to come back. What are you going to do this time?
The Travel Pavilion
Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life.
Visit the Amazon jungle village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives, and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing…
The Future Tower
This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we’ll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator(模拟装置)for the Journey to Mars!
The Nature Park
This is not really one park but several.
In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers: see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales. And then there is still the Aviary to see…
The Pyramid
This is the center of Adventureland. Run out of film, need some postcards and stamps? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center. Come here for information and ideas too.
【小题1】The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors _______.

New picture

The National Gallery now has a fine still life by the 18th century Dutch painter Jan van Os．This large picture （89.1 cm x 71cm） of flowers and fruit is painted in light bright colours on wood．It is one of the first pictures of this type in the Gallery．The picture is signed and dated 1777 and 1778．It is not unusual for a picture to be dated two years: the artist waited for particular flowers to come out in their different seasons in order to paint them．This picture was given to the Gallery by Miss Violet Churchman in memory of her sister Ida Nancy. It is now on show in Room 25.

Special exhibition

The exhibition "Painting in Spain During the Late 18th Century" opened in the Sunley Room on 15 March．Recently the Gallery has bought works by three Spanish painters of this period—Paret, Melendez and Francisco Bayeu, who are the focus of the exhibition．These three artists are also joined by Francisco's brother Ramon, by Antonio Gonzalez and two Italians who worked in Spain during these years—Corrado Giaquinto and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo．The exhibition runs until 31 May.

Lecture news    Lectures will be given along with the special exhibition every Wednesday．On 8 April, Lizzie Barker will discuss the work of Melendez, while on 15 April, Sarah Symmons will lecture on Luis Patter．On 22 and 29 April, Juliet Wilson will talk about Francisco Bayeu．On 25 April, a Saturday, Erika Langmuir will explain how artists often "tell a story" through their pictures.

1.What does "still life" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

2.How many artists' paintings are on show at the special exhibition?

3.Which speaker will lecture on a general topic rather than on particular artists?

4.Where will this passage most probably be found?

Welcome to Adventure land!

Everyone loves Adventure land! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore, enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience.

The Travel Pavilion

    Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life.

    Visit the Amazon jungle (丛林) village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there, who will tell you about their lives and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing…

The Future Tower

    This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we'll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and you can even take a "journey" to Mars!

The Nature Park

    This is not really one park but several parks.

    In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals and see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales.

The Pyramid

    This is the center of Adventure land. Need some postcards, stamps or even toys? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center.

1.The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors _____.

A. realize the importance of travelling

B. become familiar with mountain countries

C. learn how to make things such as fishing nets

D. learn something about different places in the world

2.If you are interested in knowing about what people' s life will be, you may visit _____.

A. the Travel Pavilion

B. the Future Tower

C. the Safari Park

D. the Pyramid

3. If you want to get a toy lion to take home, where will you most likely go?

A. The Pyramid.

B. The Nature Park.

C. The Future Tower.

D. The Travel Pavilion.