English and English Community
1　There is no doubt that English is a useful language. The people who speak English today make up the largest speech community in the world with the exception of speakers of Chinese.
2　A speech community is similar to other kinds of communities. The people who make up the community share a common language. Often they live side by side, as they-do in a neighborhood （街坊）, a village, or a city. More often they form a whole country. National boundaries, however, are not always the same as the boundaries of a speech community. A speech community is any group of people who speak the same language no matter where they happen to live.
3　We may say that anyone who speaks English belongs to the English speech community. For convenience （方便）, we may divide the speakers into two groups: one ig which the speakers use English as their native language, the other in which the speakers learn [English as a second language for the purpose of education, commerce, and so on.
4　Learning a second language extends one's vision and expands the mind. The history and literature of a second language record the real and fictional （虚构的） lives of people and their culture; a knowledge of them adds to our ability to understand and to feel as they feel. Learning English as a second language provides another means of communication through which the window of the entire English speech community becomes a part of our heritage.
23 Paragraph 1_________.
24 Paragraph 2_________.
25 Paragraph 3_________.
26 Paragraph 4_________.

A　Threat Posed by English
B　Definition of a Speech Community
C　Benefits of Learning a Second Language
D　Advantages of Learning Chinese
E　Two Groups of the English Speech Community
F　A Widely Used Language

27 Overall there are more speakers of Chinese than of_________.
28 The boundaries of a speech community may be different from_________.
29 People who live in different places may belong to_________.
30 Many people learn English as_________.

A　a second language
B　the same language
C　the same speech community
D　any other language
E　national boundaries
F　a part of one's heritage

答案:
23. F　　24. B　　25. E　　26. C    27. D　　28. E　　29. C　　30. A