柯灵思英语-英语听力高手6

　             　                            The importance of English

　　The importance of a language can be judged according¹ to several things. The first is the numberof native speakers that a language happens to have. The second is how widely the native speakersare distributed² over the world. Next comes the cultural, economic and political³ influence of thosewho speak it as their mother tongue.
There can be no doubt now the English is one of the world's most widely used languages. Peopleuse the language in 3 ways.
As a native language, as a second language, or as a foreign language. English is spoken as anative langue by nearly 300000000 people, in the United⁴ States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand,Canada, some Caribbean countries, and South Africa.
As a second langue, English is often necessary for official business, education, informationand other activities in a great many countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Singapore andPhilippines.
It is one of the few working languages of the United nations and is more frequently⁵ used thanthe others. English has in fact become the langue of international co-operation in science andtechnology. The most advanced results in space, nuclear and computer research are published in it.
A scientist who speaks and writes English is in closer touch with the scientist in other countriesthan one who doesn't.

1 according   

adj.按照，根据

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• We must cut our coat according to our cloth this year.今年我们必须学会量入为出。

2 distributed   

adj.分布式的v.分配( distribute的过去式和过去分词)；散发；分销；[常用被动语态]将…分类(into)

参考例句：

• The organization distributed food to the earthquake victims. 这个机构向地震灾民分发了食品。
• During the war, all foods were distributed in a planned way. 在战争中，所有的食品都按计划分配。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 political   

adj.政治上的，政党的，政略性的，政治的

参考例句：

• He was forced to leave his homeland for political reasons.因为政治原因他被迫离开自己的祖国。
• In ideas those two political parties are worlds apart.那两个政党在思想上有巨大分歧。

4 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

5 frequently   

adv.常常，屡次，经常地，频繁地

参考例句：

• Please write to me frequently.请经常给我来信。
• I like that you should call on me frequently.我喜欢你经常来拜访我。