How did English Become a Global Language

1.The rise of English is a remarkable tale asProfessor David Crystal reminds us in his attractive，shortbook “English has a Global language.”

2. It is certainly quite a theme. When JuliusCaesar landed in Britain more than 2，000 years ago， English did not exist. Five hundred years later， English， virtually incomprehensible tomodern ears， was probably spoken by about as few peopleas currently speak Cherokee， the language of a smallNorth American Indian tribe-and with little influence. About 1，000 years later， at the end of the 16thcentury， and after the Norman Conquest， the Reformation and the arrival of commercial printing technology， English was the native speech of between 5 million and 7 millionpeople. And yet now look at it. As the second millennium approaches， English is more widely scattered， morewidely spoken and written than any other language has never been. In the titleof the book， it has become a truly global language.According to David Crystal， about 2.09 billion people， well over one-third of the world s population are routinely exposedto it.

3. As he rightly points out， what is impressive about this staggering figure is： “not so much the grand total but the speed with which expansion hastaken place since the 1950 s. In 1950， the case forEnglish as a world language would have been no more than plausible. Fifty yearson and the case is virtually won. ”

4. So what happened？

5. Someone once said that a language is adialect with an army and a navy. In other words， whenthe British navy set out to conquer the world， is setout an “army” of Englishspeakers. As the British empire spread throughout the world， English became the basis of law， commerceand education. The British empire was succeed by another（the American）， which shared virtually thesame linguistic heritage. American English， which hasbecome the rocket-fuel of the English language， hasmagically found its way into areas undreamed of 40， letalone 400 years ago.

6 The most valuable part of Crystal s study isthe section devoted to a speedy analysis of the cultural basis of this globalreach， notably the influence of broadcasting， press， advertising， popular music and film. He is also up-to-date and informative in hisidentification of the World-Wide-Web as a powerful reinforcer of Americancultural and linguistic dominance.

7. One of his most interesting passagesconcerns the role played by the League of Nations， andlater the Untied Nations， in spreading English as aninternational language in the aftermath of the two world wars.

8. What does the future hold？ To this question， Crystal proposes therecognition of a new form of English-WSSE（worldstandard Spoken English）-which almost by definitionrules out the possibility that English would fragment into mutuallyunintelligible language as Latin once did. “English， in some shape or form， will find itself inthe service of the world community forever，” Crystalwrites.

1. Paragraph 2____

2. Paragraph 3____

3. Paragraph 5____

4. Paragraph 6____

A The figure of English

B The speed of the spread of English

C The role played by culture and the net

D The role played by military expansion

E The role played by education

F The 2，000 years ofEnglish

5. The kind of English spoken 1，500 years ago was so different from the English we speak today____.

6. What impresses people most is not theinteresting number of speakers of English found all over the world， ____ the language has spread in the past half century or so.

7. The two international organizations foundedafter the two world wars made their contributions____.

8. Crystal expresses the belief that in thefuture ____ will not happen to English.

A because of their similarity

B that we would not be able to understand it atall

C to the popularization of English as a worldlanguage

D the trend to become a global language

E what once happened to Latin

F but the speed with which