Passage5

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

The number of speakers of English in Shakespeare's time is estimated to have been about five million. Today it is estimated that some 260 million people speak it as a native language, manly in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.In addition to the standard varieties of English found in these areas, there are a great many regional and social varieties of the language, as well as various levels of usage that are employed both in its spoken and written forms.

It is virtually impossible to estimate the number of people in the world who have acquired an adequate working knowledge of English in addition to their own language. The purposes for which English is learned and the situations in which such learning takes place are so

varied that it is difficult to define and still more diffident to assess what constitutes an adequate working knowledge for each situation.

The main reason for the widespread demand for English is its present-day importance as a world language. Besides serving the infinite needs of its native speakers, English is a language in which some of the most important works in science, technology and other fields are being produced, and not always by native speakers. It is widely used for such purposes as meteorological (气象学的) and airport communication, informational conferences, and the dissemination (传播) of information over the radio and television networks of many nations. It is a language of wider communication for a number of developing countries, especially former British colonies. Many of these countries have mulct-lingual populations and need a language for informational communication in such matters as government, commerce, industry, law and education s well as for international communication and for access to the scientific and technological development in the West.

Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this passage?

(66)

(67)

(65)

To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genus is requireD.A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error.

[(63)If the matter is one that can be settled by observation，make the observation yourself．] Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men， by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted.He did not do so because he thought he knew.[(64)Thinking that you know when in fact you don;t is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone.] I believe myself that hedgehogs eat black beetles，because I have been told that they do； but if I were writing a book on the habits of hedgehogs，I should not commit myself untilI had seen one enjoying this unappetizing diet． Aristotle，however, was less cautious．Ancient and medieval authors knew all about unicorns and salamanders；not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic statements about them becausehe had never seen one of them.

Many matters，however, are less easily brought to the test of experience．[(65)If, like most of mankind，you have passionate convictions on many such matters there are ways in which you can make yourself aware of your own bias．][(66)If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do．]If some one maintains that two and two are five，or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction．The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way．Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic，because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion．[(67)So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion，be on your guard； you will probably find，on examination，that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants．]

(From How to Avoid the Foolish Opinions)

(63)

(64)

in what ways is money income related to spouses' good health?

(60)

What are the two major parts in a stress-reducing mechanism? What are the stress-reducing behaviors which. may help spouses promote each other’s health?

(58)

(59)