【单选题】

"We are observing more and more that other languages are taking over the Internet," said Victor Montviloff, who is responsible for information policy in the communication and information sector at the United NationsEducational, Scientific andCultural Organization.

"Languages like German, Russian and Spanish are spreading at rapid speed on the Web," Mr. Montviloff saiD、"French has lagged relatively behind, because France until now has seemed more preoccupied with protecting its language against foreign invasion than promoting it.But now, the number of French-language sites also is fast multiplying. "
Because the Internet makes it possible, other languages are also starting to challenge the hegemony ofEnglish in distance education. The Internet is helping to revive minority languages and cultures by bringing together widely scattered linguistic communities.
An estimated 320 million people speakEnglish as a mother tongue-fewer than those who speak Spanish or Mandarin-and demographic trends indicate that nativeEnglish speakers will decline as a proportion of. the world’s population. Probably more than 1 billion people speakEnglish with varying degrees of proficiency as a second language.
David Graddol, a language researcher and lecturer at the Open University inBritain, said that, on the one hand,English is becoming a language of everyday usage in some countries in NorthernEurope. "Something like 70 percent of theDutch population claim now that they can hold a conversation inEnglish quite comfortable," Mr. Graddol saiD、"For them, it is not a textbook-based foreign exercise. They are already exposed toEnglish in the environment. People have learned a little bit of it before they even get to school, and they can see immediately that it has some use in their lives. In courtiers like the Netherlands, Sweden orDenmark you needEnglish to complete your education."
"In other countries; however,English is more truly a foreign language," said Mr. Graddol, whose consulting firm, TheEnglishCompany, produced a worldwide report titled "The Future ofEnglish" for theBritishCouncil a few years ago, "In some countries, there is not very muchEnglish in the environment and people may be learning it from teachers who may not speakEnglish very well themselves."
In some countries, like India and Nigeria whereEnglish has been used a long time, distinct local varieties of the language are emerging, complete with their own dictionaries, textbooks and literature.
"English is so important in these countries that people use it in part to create their own social and even national identity," Mr. Graddol saiD、"When that happens, the language starts going its own way. The variety ofEnglish that proficient speakers in such countries are learning may not be terribly useful in an international context."
Bertrand Menciassi, of theEuropeanBureau for Lesser Used Languages inEurope, said the use of a world language both helps and hinders linguistic diversity. People can useEnglish for their outside contacts, while cultivating their own tongue or dialect for use at home. On the other hand, he added,English is tending to pushEuropean national languages likeDutch orDanish into a corner.
Maintaining linguistic diversity is an important aim of theEuropeanCommission, which is concerned that the increasing acceptance ofEnglish as theEuropean lingua franca should not detract from the vitality of other languages. The commission argues that the ability to speak two or three tongues will give theEuropeans economic and technical advantages over their monolingualAmerican rivals in the world of diversity, and is about to kick off "TheEuropean Year of Languages".
The purpose of "TheEuropean Year of Languages" is most probably to ______ .
A、advertise forEuropean language
B、decide on a common officialEuropean language
C、challen