English as a Foreign Language

　 Who taught you to speak English? Your parents, while you were a young child? Your teachers at school? Perhaps even the BBC as a grown-up. Whoever it was, somehow you have developed an understanding of what is rapidly becoming a truly global language.

　 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 billion 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（文化）？Or should we worry about the dangers of ‘mono-centralism’, 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? On the contrary（相反），I would have thought－although I have never accepted the argument 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 McDonalds burgers? Surely not. If English becomes more dominant（占主导地位的）, it will 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 some French or German as well.

　 When we discussed this on Talking Point a couple of years ago, we received a wonderfully poetic email 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’s fine by me.

67．By saying “Ask the people of India…and Pakistan”（in Paragraph 4）, 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

68．What does “garden” in the last two paragraphs stand for?

A．Language　　　　　　　 B. Family　 　　　　　　　 C. The world　　　　　　　 D. The Earth

69．The author would probably agree that ______.

A．it’s very hard to plant many kinds of flowers in a garden

B．it’s good for people from other countries to learn English

C．more and more people like to plant roses in their gardens

D．English is easier to learn than other languages

70．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

More than half of all pupils failed to achieve five good GCSEs（General Certificate of Secondary Education）that included English and math this year，according to official figures published today．

The statistics suggest that record increases year-on-year in the overall pass rate mask continued potential failures in basic qualifications for most children．

Only 47.2% of all those who took GCSEs this summer—including children at private school —managed to get a C or above in math，English and three other subjects，an increase of just 0.7% on last year．

Girls continue to outshine boys，with 51.9% achieving five good GCSEs including English and math，compared to 42.8% of boys reaching that standard．

Educational inequality is highlighted（突出）by an analysis，which indicates a vast gulf in achievement between children from rich and poor areas．In the top 10% of highest achieving local authorities，61.3% of pupils get five good GCSEs on average．But in the bottom10% that figure falls to 34.8%．

Michael Gove，the Shadow Schools Secretary said：“Once again we see that children in the weakest areas are not getting the same opportunities as others．The gap between the fortunate and the forgotten remains stubbornly wide as the lucky ones pull away from the rest as they progress through school．Overall，fewer than half of children leave school aged 16 with the basic level of qualifications．The government has ploughed money into education，and rightly so，but they have not achieved the improvements to match”．

Concerning the problem，Jim Knight，the Schools Minister，said：“The bottom line is that more young people than ever before have now got a firm foundation for further education or the work-based training that they want to do．”

1．We can learn from the statistics that _________．

A．secondary education has suffered a great failure

B．the basic qualifications for most children have been improved

C．English and math are difficult for students to learn well

D．the number of the students achieving GCSEs is slightly increasing

2．According to the passage，compared with boys，_________．

A．girls have more advantages in learning English and math

B．girls perform much better in achieving good GCSEs

C．girls are more diligent when learning at school

D．girls live a more successful life at school

3．It can be inferred from the fifth paragraph that _________．

A．secondary education doesn’t achieve balanced development

B．wealth determines the success of secondary education

C．pupils in rich areas have more abilities to learn well

D．students from rich and poor areas haven’t communicated well

4．Which of the following statements might Michael Gove agree with?

A．The phenomenon of education inequality can be avoided entirely．

B．All the students are supposed to reach the level of qualifications．

C．The government is responsible for educational inequality．

D．The government shouldn't invest so much money in education．

5．What's Jim Knight's attitude towards secondary education?

A．Indifferent．        B．Supportive．        C．Negative．              D．Unknown．

Children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in inner-city London primary schools，official figures show.
Youngsters with foreign mother tongues form a majority at primary schools in 13 out of33 London cities. Across the country，English is a foreign language to more than one in seven primary school youngsters.
The figures from the Department for Children，Schools and Families (DCSF) point to major demographic (人口的) changes over the past few decades，with around a fifth of pupils now coming from ethnic minorities.
There are concerns that school finances are coming under stress from the growing numbers of youngsters requiring help with English. The government has been urged to provide more funding，and give fair treatment to schools with large concentrations of non-English speakers.
In Tower Hamlets almost four out of five youngsters do not have English as their mother tongue. In other areas，including Leicester，Luton and Bradford the proportion approaches 50 percent.
The figures indicate that many recent migrants have settled in London. Sir Andrew Green，Founder and Chairman of Migration Watch UK，says，“These figures confirm the huge impact immigration is having on our society. When government funds are as tight as they are，this is bound to have a negative impact，since children for whom English is a second language need extra tuition (学费).”He adds，“In inner London it's hard to know with whom immigrant chil­dren are supposed to practice English，since the number of immigrant children is much larger than that of local. ”
A spokesman for DCSF stresses that the figures “only indicate the language to which a child was initially exposed at home，regardless of whether he or she comes to speak English fluently later on. It is only a relatively few recent arrivals for whom communication problems are serious”.“We are increasing funding to the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (助学金)to £206 million by 2010，to help bring students weak in English up to speed. We’re also equipping schools to offer effective English as an Additional Language teaching to new arrivals，”he adds
72.A minority of London primary school students speak English as their first language because
      .
A. local children prefer to speak other languages
B. more and more immigrant children are attending school in London
C. children learning English as an additional language need extra tuition
D. English is too difficult a language for primary school children to learn
73.Some people worry about      .
A. the increasing number of adults needing help with English
B. the government taking no measures to help the schools
C. non-English speakers putting school finances under stress
D. London schools not providing adequate service for children in need
74.It can be inferred from the passage that         .
A. most immigrant children make a great effort to learn English
B. the government used to treat non-English speakers unfairly
C. it's not easy to find English speakers for immigrant children in some parts of London to communicate with
D. local children are influenced by immigrant children
75.According to the spokesman for DCSF，the figures indi­cate       .
A. that children will speak English fluently later on
B. that immigration is having a huge impact on English society
C. what the language the children were exposed to first was
D. that funding is increasing to help students weak in English

Children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in inner-city London primary schools，official figures show.

Youngsters with foreign mother tongues form a majority at primary schools in 13 out of33 London cities. Across the country，English is a foreign language to more than one in seven primary school youngsters.

The figures from the Department for Children，Schools and Families (DCSF) point to major demographic (人口的) changes over the past few decades，with around a fifth of pupils now coming from ethnic minorities.

There are concerns that school finances are coming under stress from the growing numbers of youngsters requiring help with English. The government has been urged to provide more funding，and give fair treatment to schools with large concentrations of non-English speakers.

In Tower Hamlets almost four out of five youngsters do not have English as their mother tongue. In other areas，including Leicester，Luton and Bradford the proportion approaches 50 percent.

The figures indicate that many recent migrants have settled in London. Sir Andrew Green，Founder and Chairman of Migration Watch UK，says，“These figures confirm the huge impact immigration is having on our society. When government funds are as tight as they are，this is bound to have a negative impact，since children for whom English is a second language need extra tuition (学费).”He adds，“In inner London it's hard to know with whom immigrant chil­dren are supposed to practice English，since the number of immigrant children is much larger than that of local. ”

A spokesman for DCSF stresses that the figures “only indicate the language to which a child was initially exposed at home，regardless of whether he or she comes to speak English fluently later on. It is only a relatively few recent arrivals for whom communication problems are serious”.“We are increasing funding to the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (助学金)to £206 million by 2010，to help bring students weak in English up to speed. We’re also equipping schools to offer effective English as an Additional Language teaching to new arrivals，”he adds

72.A minority of London primary school students speak English as their first language because

      .

A. local children prefer to speak other languages

B. more and more immigrant children are attending school in London

C. children learning English as an additional language need extra tuition

D. English is too difficult a language for primary school children to learn

73.Some people worry about      .

A. the increasing number of adults needing help with English

B. the government taking no measures to help the schools

C. non-English speakers putting school finances under stress

D. London schools not providing adequate service for children in need

74.It can be inferred from the passage that         .

A. most immigrant children make a great effort to learn English

B. the government used to treat non-English speakers unfairly

C. it's not easy to find English speakers for immigrant children in some parts of London to communicate with

D. local children are influenced by immigrant children

75.According to the spokesman for DCSF，the figures indi­cate       .

A. that children will speak English fluently later on

B. that immigration is having a huge impact on English society

C. what the language the children were exposed to first was

D. that funding is increasing to help students weak in English

Children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in inner-city London primary schools，official figures show.

Youngsters with foreign mother tongues form a majority at primary schools in 13 out of33 London cities. Across the country，English is a foreign language to more than one in seven primary school youngsters.

The figures from the Department for Children，Schools and Families (DCSF) point to major demographic (人口的) changes over the past few decades，with around a fifth of pupils now coming from ethnic minorities.

There are concerns that school finances are coming under stress from the growing numbers of youngsters requiring help with English. The government has been urged to provide more funding，and give fair treatment to schools with large concentrations of non-English speakers.

In Tower Hamlets almost four out of five youngsters do not have English as their mother tongue. In other areas，including Leicester，Luton and Bradford the proportion approaches 50 percent.

The figures indicate that many recent migrants have settled in London. Sir Andrew Green，Founder and Chairman of Migration Watch UK，says，“These figures confirm the huge impact immigration is having on our society. When government funds are as tight as they are，this is bound to have a negative impact，since children for whom English is a second language need extra tuition (学费).”He adds，“In inner London it's hard to know with whom immigrant chil??dren are supposed to practice English，since the number of immigrant children is much larger than that of local. ”

A spokesman for DCSF stresses that the figures “only indicate the language to which a child was initially exposed at home，regardless of whether he or she comes to speak English fluently later on. It is only a relatively few recent arrivals for whom communication problems are serious”.“We are increasing funding to the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (助学金)to ??206 million by 2010，to help bring students weak in English up to speed. We’re also equipping schools to offer effective English as an Additional Language teaching to new arrivals，”he adds

72.A minority of London primary school students speak English as their first language because

       .

A. local children prefer to speak other languages

B. more and more immigrant children are attending school in London

C. children learning English as an additional language need extra tuition

D. English is too difficult a language for primary school children to learn

73.Some people worry about       .

A. the increasing number of adults needing help with English

B. the government taking no measures to help the schools

C. non-English speakers putting school finances under stress

D. London schools not providing adequate service for children in need

74.It can be inferred from the passage that         .

A. most immigrant children make a great effort to learn English

B. the government used to treat non-English speakers unfairly

C. it's not easy to find English speakers for immigrant children in some parts of London to communicate with

D. local children are influenced by immigrant children

75.According to the spokesman for DCSF，the figures indi??cate        .

A. that children will speak English fluently later on

B. that immigration is having a huge impact on English society

C. what the language the children were exposed to first was

D. that funding is increasing to help students weak in English