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阅读理解
“English may be the global language of business but it is not enough by itself for companies to gain a lasting presence in many markets,” the European Commission(委员会)says in a study published last month．
The study collected by the British National Centre for Languages for the EU leader, says over 10 per cent of 2,000 small and medium-sized(中等规模的)firms in 29 European countries sampled(抽样)in the study have lost export contract(出口合同)because of lack of language skills．The study says French is used to trade with partners in Africa, Spanish in Latin America, and Russian in Eastern Europe．
“The picture is far more complex than the much-quoted view that English is the world language,” the study says．
Multilingual(多种语言的)Commissioner Leonard Orban admitted that English plays an important role worldwide, but he wants to improve more linguistic variety within the EU．
The EU's linguistic headaches have exploded with the group's expansion．Languages have become a sensitive topic in Brussels where English is increasingly eclipsing(侵蚀)French as the main working language of the organization．Translation of EU papers into EU's 23 official languages costs 1 billion euros(US ＄1.31 billion)a year．
“We want to be open not only to official languages of the Union, but also to others like regional(区域的)languages, languages of minorities, immigrants'(移民)languages and third countries' languages,” Orband said．
Many EU students have improved their language skills during non-formal learning activities．Young people from more than 20 different nationalities travel across Europe to participate together in many cultural programmes, language courses, thematic workshops(主题研习会)and other activities that are organized in about 100 cities．
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