There are now about 376 million people who speak English as their first language and about the same number who have learnt it in addition to their mother tongue. There are said to be one million people learning English now and about 80% of the information on the Internet is in English.

   Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Should we celebrate the fact that more and more of us can communicate, using a common language, across countries and cultures? Or should we worry about dangers of “non-culturalism”, a world in which we all speak the same language, eat the same food and listen to the same music?

   Does it matter if an increasing number of people speak the same language? Not necessarily, I have never agreed that if only we all understood each other better, there would be fewer wars. Ask the people of India, where many of them speak at least some English, and Pakistan, the same situation with India…

   If we all speak English, will we then all start eating McDonald’s burgers? Surely not. If English becomes more dominant(控制), will it kill other languages? I doubt it. When I travel in Africa or Asia, I am always surprised by how many people can speak not only their own language but often one or more other related languages, as well as English and perhaps more French or German as well.

   When we discussed this on Talking Point a couple of years ago, we received a wonderfully poetic e-mail from a listener in Ireland. “The English language is a beautiful language. Maybe it’s like a rose,” he said. “But who would ever want their garden just full of roses?”

   Well, I love roses and I think they make a beautiful addition to any garden. But the way I see it, just by planting a few roses, you don’t necessarily need to pull out everything else. If more and more people want to plant English roses, that’ll be fine by me.

41. By saying “Ask the people of India… and Pakistan…”(in Paragraph 3), the author is trying to show that______.

A. speaking the same language doesn’t necessarily bring peace

B. wars can destroy the relationship between two countries

C. English doesn’t kill other languages

D. English is widely used in the world

42. What does “rose” in the last paragraph stand for?

A. The world   B. A kind of flower   C. A language   D. The earth

43. This passage is mainly about _____.

A. why English has become a global language

B. how many people in the world speak English

C. how people in the world learn English as a foreign language

D. whether we need to worry about English being a world language

Wendy Gallegos writes “concer” on the board. One of her students raises her hand.
“Ms. Gallegos, you should have written ‘conocer’ instead,” she said, referring to the Spanish verb for “to know.”
Gallegos looks at the board, smiles and quickly erases her mistake.
“You see, I have taught you so well, you pick up on my mistakes,” she said with a laugh.
To Gallegos, the scene in her classroom is typical（特有的）of the children she teaches. Gallegos teaches high school Spanish. She became part of their lives and families for three years. She is willing to help her children succeed. After a couple of years, Gallegos’ class becomes like home. Gallegos’ Spanish class is taught mostly in English in sixth grade. By the time the students are eighth-graders, they are speaking fewer words of English and more of Spanish during the 50-minute classes.
“My goal is to get my kids to say something in Spanish every day,” she said, “I want them to be able to talk to me. That’s why I help them, I praise them, I recognize them when they do good work. And we have fun. The day I stop having fun is the day I am going to consider a different job.’’
If a student needs help, Gallegos offers the student a “lifesaver,” which is help from a classmate. The lifesaver gets a piece of candy as a reward. As the students said: “Gallegos’ class is anything but boring.” It is because of Gallegos’ efforts and determination that she is the teacher who they think is most deserving of one of Collier County’s Golden Apple Awards.
“I don’t teach a subject, I teach kids. This is what I was born to do,” Gallegos said.
【小题1】The scene（情景）in Gallegos’ class is mentioned at the beginning of the passage to ____.

Wendy Gallegos writes “concer” on the board. One of her students raises her hand.

“Ms. Gallegos, you should have written ‘conocer’ instead,” she said, referring to the Spanish verb for “to know.”

Gallegos looks at the board, smiles and quickly erases her mistake.

“You see, I have taught you so well, you pick up on my mistakes,” she said with a laugh.

To Gallegos, the scene in her classroom is typical（特有的）of the children she teaches. Gallegos teaches high school Spanish. She became part of their lives and families for three years. She is willing to help her children succeed. After a couple of years, Gallegos’ class becomes like home. Gallegos’ Spanish class is taught mostly in English in sixth grade. By the time the students are eighth-graders, they are speaking fewer words of English and more of Spanish during the 50-minute classes.

“My goal is to get my kids to say something in Spanish every day,” she said, “I want them to be able to talk to me. That’s why I help them, I praise them, I recognize them when they do good work. And we have fun. The day I stop having fun is the day I am going to consider a different job.’’

If a student needs help, Gallegos offers the student a “lifesaver,” which is help from a classmate. The lifesaver gets a piece of candy as a reward. As the students said: “Gallegos’ class is anything but boring.” It is because of Gallegos’ efforts and determination that she is the teacher who they think is most deserving of one of Collier County’s Golden Apple Awards.

“I don’t teach a subject, I teach kids. This is what I was born to do,” Gallegos said.

1.The scene（情景）in Gallegos’ class is mentioned at the beginning of the passage to ____.

A．show Gallegos, as a teacher, makes a mistake

B．tell teachers can help students correct mistakes.

C．show her good teaching method in daily class

D．point out the students’ impolite behavior in class

2.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 6 implies that_____.

A．having fun is Gallegos’ goal in hunting jobs.  B．Gallegos likes her job very much

C．Gallegos is considering changing her job      D．teaching Spanish will not last long

3.What made Gallegos get Golden Apple Award?

A．Her interesting class.                     B．Her determination in study.

C．Rewarding her students with prizes.         D．Her efforts made to teach kids.

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．This is what I was born to do               B．Golden Apple Awards

C．Spanish classes with fun                   D．How to get along with kids

“Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you’d win a gold medal!”

Annabel, my close friend, stunned me with that frank observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting. “I should never have let him go to the boy’s room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I’m so stupid!”

My friend burst out laughing, and then made her “Olympic” comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself “a slob” for having some papers spread out on my desk, “ugly” when I left the house without makeup and “an idiot” when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan.

In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, “I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves.”

“How many did you have on your list?” I asked.

“Fifteen,” she confessed. “But then the teacher said, ‘Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!’ ”

My jaw dropped. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, ‘I could never say these things to anyone else!’ ”

“And our teacher replied, ‘Well, if you can’t say them to anyone else, then don’t ever say them to yourself!’ ”

My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God---and I’m God’s child, too!

God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children.

What does Annabel mean by the first sentence of the passage?

  A. The writer is a good athlete.      B. The writer scolds herself too much.

  C. She is encouraging the writer.      D. A gold medal is not a big deal.

What does the writer intends to tell us through the second and third paragraphs?

  A. She has low self-esteem over some small things.

  B. She often makes serious mistakes in daily life.

  C. She is a third-grade teacher.

  D. She cares too much about her appearance.

We can infer that the underlined word “slob” might be _____.

  A. something untidy         B. someone dangerous

  C. something dirty           D. someone lazy

What does the writer mean by the last sentence of the passage?

  A. She is ready to turn to God for help.

  B. She will be kind to all children.

  C. She won’t insult herself as well as others.

  D. She is willing to be a child of God.