阅读理解

　　Although American and British English are the two major national varieties of the languages, with the largest numbers of speakers and the greatest impact(影响)worldwide, there are many other varieties of English used around the world．Today English is used as a first language, as a second language, and as a foreign language．Other important first-language varieties of English are those of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa．

　　English is extremely important as a second language in India and has official or semi-official use in the Philippines, Malaysia, Tanzania(坦桑尼亚), Kenya(肯尼亚), Nigeria(尼日利亚), Liberia(利比里亚), and other countries in Africa, the Caribbean(加勒比地区), the Pacific, and elsewhere．It is the international language of the airlines, of computer technology, of science, and indeed of communication generally．When a Japanese business firm deals with a client(客户)in Saudi Arabia(沙特阿拉伯), their language of communication is likely to be English．

　　English has more non-native speakers than any other language, is more widely disbursed around the world, and is used for more purposes than any other language．The extraordinary spread of English is not due to any inherent virtue, but rather to the fact that by historical chance it has become the most useful language for others to learn．

　　In the course of its spread, English has diversified(分化)by adapting to local circumstances and cultures, so there are different varieties of English in every country．However, because the heart of its usefulness is its ability to serve as an international medium of communication, English is likely to retain a more or less homogeneous(类似的)core－an international standard based on the usage of the United States and the United Kingdom．Yet each national variety has its own character and contribution to make to world English．

阅读理解

　　English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage of native English speakers is declining(降低)while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people．But English will continue to remain widespread and important．

　　However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导)by the middle of this century to rank, after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu．“The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn’t rising nearly as fast as the numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken,” he says．

　　In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr．Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon．These are Bengali, Tamil and Malay, spoken in south and southeast Asia．

　　David Crystal, the author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia(百科全书)of the English Language, says about 1．5 billion of the world’s six billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400 million native speakers．But another expert on the English language says Mr．Graddol underestimates(低估)the future of its dominance．“All the evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill and is getting faster, but nobody quite knows what’s going to happen because no language has been in this position before．” He said．