C．in need D．compulsory
30．The imbalance between males and females could ______ serious consequences.
A．change into B．lead to
C．turn to D．develop into
Ⅱ. 认真阅读下面两篇短文，每篇短文后有五个问题。根据短文的内容从四个选项中选择一个最佳答案，并填入答题纸相应位置。（本大题共10小题，每小题1分，共10分）
Passage One
The number of speakers of English in Shakespeare’s time is estimated to have been about five million. Today it is estimated that some 260 million people speak it as a native language, mainly in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the standard varieties of English found in these areas, there are a great many regional and social varieties of the language, as well as various levels of usage that are employed both in its spoken and written forms.
It is virtually impossible to estimate the number of people in the world who have acquired an adequate working knowledge of English in addition to their own languages. The purposes for which English is learned and the situations in which such learning takes place are so varied that it is difficult to define and still more difficult to assess what constitutes (构成) an adequate working knowledge for each situation.
The main reason for the widespread demand for English is its present-day importance as a world language. Besides serving the infinite needs of its native speakers, English is a language in which some of the most important works in science, technology, and other fields are being produced, and not always by native speakers. It is widely used for such purposes as meteorological and airport communications, international conferences, and the spread of information over the radio and television networks of many nations. It is a language of wider communication for a number of developing countries, especially former British colonies. Many of these countries have multilingual (多种语言的) populations and need a language for internal communication in such matters as government, commerce, industry, law and education as well as for international communication and for access to the scientific and technological developments in the West. |
