Use of English
Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase marked A, B, C or D for each numbered blank.
The English language is growing bigger rapidly; thanks, of course, _1_ the internet. oN the one hand there are the proliferating net neologisms(新词)-email, emotions, cyberspace(网络空间), and so on. on the other hand, there is the hard fact _2_ the net is overwhelmingly an English medium, an _3_ 85% of its pages being in English.
By 2050, it is said that more than half the world’s population will be _4_ users of English. The net advances the global power of the language ruthlessly _5_ the British Empire _6_ could. Every new user will have to learn a version of English if he is not find himself _7_ in a linguistic cyberghetto (网络之外的隔离区).
The expansion of the language is not a new phenomenon. When the oxford was completed in 1928, it defined 200,000 words; now, thanks to the _8_ addition of supplements and amalgamation into the second edition, _9_ in 1989, it defines 240,000.
However, the net-driven globalization of English will tend to enhance the worldwide significance of a net dictionary. There are already sites--Webopedia and the Encyclopedia of the New Economy at Hotwired—which act _10_ dictionaries of and guides _11_, the new webspesk. As cyberEnglish(网络语言) expands, so will the need and the desire to understand the language. one can easily imagine a Japanese sufer _12_ the oED window permanently open to help him _13_ an alien language. In this sense, since English is the mother tongue of the cyberrealm (网络世界), the oED may well become this new religion’s virtual Bible. wｗw.ExamＷ.CoM
Net communication is usually _14_ strangers who may share few cultural references and whose sense of the language may be _15_ out of register. This will tend to produce either bland, have-a-nice-day standardization _16_, more usually, _17_ idiolects-private version of the language-that work only in specific contexts.
This will accelerate _18_ the expansion and evolution of e-English, and will tribalise the language. English will move more quickly into the future and, as a result, _19_ forms will become more rapidly obsolete. Most people already find it difficult to read Chaucer, and a proliferation of new idiolects may soon make Shakespeare equally _20_.
1. A. for B. to C. as D. of
2. A. this B. that C. which D. who
3. A. evaluating B. evaluated C. estimating D. estimated
4. A. competent B. competing C. competitive D. compete
5. A. than B. as C. that D. then
6. A. never B. often C. usual D. ever
7. A. lock B. locker C. locking D. locked
8. A. rational B. frequent C. regular D. repeated
9. A. published B. publishing C. publicized D. publicizing
10. A. like B. as C. in D. of
11. A. on B. in C. to D. of
12. A. maintaining B. staying C. being D. keeping
13. A. travel B. tour C. navigate D. trip
14. A. among B. between C. within D. beyond
15. A. serially B. serial C. seriously D. serious
16. A. or B. nor C. and D. also
17. A. vary B. varied C. various D. variety
18. A. furture B. farther C. remote D. distant
19. A. earlier B. former C. later D. latter
20. A. improbable B. impossible C. inaccessible D. incompressible