Many people hope that the whole world will
Many people hope that the whole world will one day speak a common language.Over the years,people have made up new languages with this aim.At least six hundred languages have been developed in the search for a language which all human beings would be able to speak.The most famous one,Esperanto (世界語),was the idea of Ludwig Zamenhof,a doctor in Warsaw who published a book about his new language in 1887.
To encourage people to learn the language,he made it as simple as possible.
Esperanto has never been accepted as an official world language,but it has been suggested as an auxiliary (輔助的) language.By 1950 it had been taught to one and a half million speakers,and it was spoken in six hundred schools.Today Esperanto is spoken by about eight million people,and more than one hundred newspapers and magazines in the language are published regularly throughout the world.Thousands of books have been written in Esperanto,including those translated from other languages.
Today the need for a new auxiliary language like Esperanto seems less obvious’ Throughout this century English has grown more and more important it has become a second language for many millions of people.The fact that more are learning English
shows that the use of English is still growing worldwide.No one would deny the usefulness of a world language,but not many people think that Esperanto is likely to play such a role.
Multiple Choice
1.Over the years,people have made up new languages in the hope that＿＿＿＿.
a) they will be able to use a common language one day
b) they can read more newspapers and magazines
c) they can understand each other much better
d) they will be able to speak several languages
2.Zamenhof made Esperanto as simple as possible＿＿＿＿.
a) because he knew it was only an auxiliary language.
b) so that more,and more people would be willing to learn it
c) so that everyone would speak it without any difficulty
d) because he knew it.would be accepted as an.official world language.
3.Esperanto has never been accepted as an official world language because ＿＿＿＿.
a) it is mainly a spoken language
b) it is difficult to learn
c) the use of English is growing worldwide
d) people don’t like it very much
4.Which of the following is not true of Esperanto?
a) It was widely taught in schools.
b) It Was spoken by many students.
c) Many books have been written in Esperanto.
d) It was once used as an official language.
5.It is not likely that Esperanto will＿＿＿＿.
a) be learned by many people
b) play such an important role as English does
c) be used as a written language
d) remain a useful language