English

    World language

    Once people {#blank#}1{#/blank#} a language that everybody in the world could understand. Now, for the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} time in human history, perhaps there is one -- English It is the official language in more than 50 countries and 250-300 million people {#blank#}3{#/blank#} it as a second language. Some say that half the world will be speaking it in the year 2050.

    Difficult to master?

    English is not the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} language to learn -- most of its common verbs are irregular and it has a large vocabulary -- at least 200, 000 words are in common use.

    User-friendly

    But some things make {#blank#}5{#/blank#} easy. For example, nouns don't have gender ( 性别) and the usages of verbs are simpler than other languages. There is {#blank#}6{#/blank#} one form to speak to someone directly -- "you". Adjectives don't agree {#blank#}7{#/blank#} nouns, and many nouns are often also verbs.

    English Is Everywhere

    Some other languages may have more speakers, like Chinese. But English {#blank#}8{#/blank#} in many different areas. It is the language of transport: most airline pilots and air-traffic controllers use it. At {#blank#}9{#/blank#} English is the international language of communication.

    The Future of English

    What is the future of English as a global language? Will {#blank#}10{#/blank#} language ever replace it? Many think not -- it is already too popular.

Sister: Tony, could you please help out with a few things?

Brother: Could I at least finish {#blank#}1{#/blank#} this show?

Sister: No. I think two {#blank#}2{#/blank#} of TV is enough for you!

Brother: Fine. What do you want me to do?

Sister: Could you take out the {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, fold the clothes and do the dishes?

Brother: So much?

Sister: Yes, because Mom will be back from shopping any minute now. And she won't be happy if she sees this {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

Brother: But the house is already pretty clean and {#blank#}5{#/blank#}!

Sister: Yes, well, it's clean, but it's not "mother clean"!

    Reading newspapers has become an important part of everyday life. Some {#blank#}1{#/blank#} read newspapers as the first thing to do in the morning; others read newspapers when they have {#blank#}2{#/blank#} time. They can learn what is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} in the world.

    Sometimes, we do not have enough time to read all the news carefully, so we just take a {#blank#}4{#/blank#} look at the front page or the names of the passages.

    Newspapers are {#blank#}5{#/blank#} in the world. We can get many different kinds of newspapers in big cities,  {#blank#}6{#/blank#} in some mountain villages we can see fewer (更少的) newspapers.

    Some newspapers are published(出版) once a {#blank#}7{#/blank#}^, but most of the papers are published once a day with many pages, some even twice a day! You know different people enjoy reading different newspapers. Some like world news, and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} enjoy short stories. They just choose what they are interested {#blank#}9{#/blank#}.

Today newspapers in English have the most (最多的) {#blank#}10{#/blank#} in the world. Many Chinese students are reading English newspapers such as China Daily and 21st Century. They bring us more messages together with the Internet.

    Last Friday night, the weather was really bad. It was raining heavily. I was {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. There would be a school trip to a country park the next day and I was afraid that the trip would be canceled (被取消) because of the bad {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. I went to bed early that night, hoping that it would be a nice day the next day.

    I woke up early the next morning. I looked {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the window. The rain stopped! The sky was full of clouds. It was cloudy. I quickly {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the television for the weather report. The report said it wouldn't be {#blank#}5{#/blank#} on the weekend. Great!

    I went to school and everybody was excited that {#blank#}6{#/blank#} school trip was not canceled. When we arrived at the country park, we {#blank#}7{#/blank#} that the sun was shining. We played games and enjoyed our lunch there. However, we couldn't fly the kite {#blank#}8{#/blank#} it was not windy at all.

    At four o'clock, it was time to {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. Miss Black said it might become foggy (有雾的) soon and we might not be able to see {#blank#}10{#/blank#} clearly. So we picked up our things quickly and left.