Grade 9 Unit 3 Topic 1 Section C

English Around the World ( I )

There are more than 3000 languages spoken in the world. Of all these languages, English is the most widely used. Recent surveys show that more than 500 million people speak English as their mother tongue ^[1]mother tongue: n. 母语；本国语.

From its roots ^[2]root: US: [rut]  UK: [ruːt] n. 根；根茎；起源；词根 in England, the language was spread ^[3]spread: US: [spred]  UK: [spred]  n. 传播；蔓延；扩展；散布  v. 传播；扩散；展开；散布  *不规则动词，过去式和过去分词 spread around the world by English traders ^[4]trader: US: [ˈtreɪdər]  UK: [ˈtreɪdə(r)] n. 商人；经商者；买卖人；证券交易人 and English governments in new lands. One of these new lands became the United States of America.
The population of the United States is 309 million, making it the country with the largest number of native ^[5]native: US: [ˈneɪtɪv]   UK: [‘neɪtɪv]  adj. 出生地的；儿时居住地的；本地的；当地的 English speakers ^[6]speaker: US: [ˈspikər]  UK: [ˈspiːkə(r)]  n. 演讲者；扬声器；说话者；发言者 .

About 300 million people speak English as their second language. There are even more people, like some in Europe as well as ^[7]as well as: 而且 in China and Japan, who study English as a foreign ^[8]foreign: US: [ˈfɔrən]   UK: [ˈfɒrɪn]  adj. 异物；异体；外国的；涉外的 language.

English has become the base  ^[9]base: US: [beɪs]   UK: [beɪs]   n. 根基；基底；底座；根据    v. 以…为据点（或大本营等）；把（总部等）设在 language for international business, for the world’s airlines and even for the Internet. Whatever language people speak, they need to know some English if they work in these fields ^[10]in these fields: 在这些领域. It is clear that the English language is becoming more important.