The movement of English around the world began with the pioneering voyages to the Americas and Asia, continued with the 19th century colonial developments in Africa and the South Pacific, and took a significant further step when it was adopted in the 20th century as an official or semi-official language by many newly-independent states. English is now the dominant or official language in over 60 countries and it is represented in every continent and in the three major oceans Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific. It makes the application of the term world language a reality. People who speak English fall into one of three groups. Those who have learned it as their native language in the USA, the UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (320 380 million).Those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual: in more than 70 countries, such as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore (150 300 million). And those who are forced to use it for practical purposes administrative, professional or educational. One person in seven of the population in the world belongs to one of these three groups.
Evidence suggests that English is now the dominant tongue in international politics, banking, the press, new agencies, advertising, broadcasting, the recording industry, movies, travel, science and technology, knowledge management and communications. English is the main language of popular music, home computers and video games. The USA has a dominant economic position; it acts as a magnet for international business and trade, and organizations wishing to develop international market.
Old English, like modern German, French, Russian and Greek, had many infections to show singular and plural, tense, etc., but over the centuries words have been simplified. Verbs now have very few infections. Without infections, the same word can operate as many different parts of speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example swim, drink, walk, kiss, look, process, smile, record.
We can talk about water to drink and to water the flowers, time to go and to time a race, a paper to read and to paper a bedroom. Adjectives can be used as verbs. We warm our hands in front of a fire, if our clothes are dirtied, they need to be cleaned and dried. Prepositions too are flexible. A sixty-year old man is nearing retirement; we can talk about a round of golf, cards, or drinks. This involves the free admissions of words from other languages and the easy creation of compounds and derivatives. Most world languages have contributed some words to English at some time, and the process is now being reversed. Purists of the French, Russian and Japanese languages are resisting the arrival of English in their vocabulary.
But nothing is entirely predictable in the world of language. At the start of the millennium, it would have been hard to believe that few would know Latin 1000 years later. It takes only a shift in the balance of economic or political power for another language, to move centre stage.
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Discussion
1. What form of governing a country can lead to prosperity and progress in different fields?
2. How should a country be governed to become peaceful, politically stable and economically developed?
Project
Collect new stories and make notes about current events in the UK. They could be about politics, personalities, anything. Use newspapers and magazines in the English language and in your own language, TV and radio programmes.
UNIT IV: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Pre-reading
1. Do the quiz.
Our environment is constantly changing. However, as our environment changes, so does the need to become increasingly aware of the problems that surround it. Here is a quiz to find out how much you know about the environment.
| 1. What do you call the area that is inhabited by a particular species? | a) habitat; b) environment; c) biosphere |
| 2. What do you call the processing of used materials and their reuse? | a) recycling; b) reusing; c) reprocessing |
| 3. Which layer protects the Earth from ultraviolet radiation? | a) oxygen; b) nitrogen; c) ozone |
| 4. The process by which the Earths temperature is increased is called | a)biothermal effect; b) greenhouse effect; c) temperature effect |
| 5. Which of the following is biodegradable? | a) plastic; b) paper; c) glass |
| 6. What is the term for the complete disappearance of a species? | a) termination; b) disappearance; c) extinction |
| 7. Which of these energy sources is renewable? | a) natural gas; b) coal; c) wind |
| 8. What do you call the rain that contains a lot of chemicals and is harmful? | a) monsoon; b) acid rain; c) smog |
| 9. What do you call the substance that pollutes the air, water or soil? | a) pollutant; b) pesticides; c) acid |
| 10. What is the most used renewable energy source in the world? | a) hydro energy; b) solar energy; c) wind energy |
| 11. Which of these animals is not now in danger of becoming extinct? | a) panda bear; b) polar bear; c) grizzly bear |
| 12. Which type of shopping bag is more eco-friendly? | a) paper; b) plastic; c) canvas |
| 13. Global warming will cause an increase of | a) heat waves; b)hurricanes; c)both |
| 14. Which gas is responsible for global warming? | a) carbon dioxide; b) oxygen; c) hydrogen |
| 15. What are some of the consequences of deforestation? | a) loss of habitats; b) soil erosion; c) both |
| 16. Which of the following is not a fossil fuel? | a) coal; b) wood; c) oil |
| 17. Which of these human activities contributes to global warming the most? | a) using fossil fuels; b) cutting down trees; c) both |
| 18. Which of the following can be recycled? | a) milk cartons; b) plastic bottles; c) both |
| 19. Which of these animals is not yet extinct? | a) dodo; b) auroch; c) tasmanian tiger |
| 20. Rainforest land is most often cleared for | a) factories; b) pasture; c) farmland |
Reading
2. Read the text below and find the answers the questions.
1. What is the greenhouse effect?
2. How does the greenhouse effect contribute to global warming?
3. What human activities contribute to global warming?
4. What are the results of global warming?
