Over the past 600 years, English has grown from a language of few speakers to become the dominant language of international communication. English as we know it today emerged around 1350, after having incorporated many elements of French that were introduced following the Norman invasion of 1066. Until the 1600s, English was, for the most part, spoken only in England and had not extended even as far as Wales, Scotland or Ireland. However, during the course of the next two centuries, English began to spread around the globe as a result of exploration, trade (including slave trade), colonization, and missionary work. Thus, small enclaves of English speakers became established and grew in various parts of the world. As these communities proliferated, English gradually became the primary language of international business, banking and diplomacy. 

Currently, about 80 percent of the information stored on computer systems worldwide is in English. Two-thirds of the world’s science writing is in English, and English is the main language of technology, advertising, media, international airports, and air traffic controllers. Today there are more than 700 million English users in the world, and over half of these are non-native speakers, constituting the largest number of non-native users than any other language in the world.

According to the passage, all of the following contributed to the spread of English around the world EXCEPT .............

Câu hỏi liên quan

• The word “immense” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

• How is Briggo’s invention superior to human workers?

• What is the main topic of the passage?

ZUNIA12

• The reason why telecommuting has not become popular is that the employees ___________.

• According to the passage, in what way did the climate changes in the ice ages differ from the modern ones?

• The word “lies” in the first paragraph could be best be replaced by ______.

• According to the passage, an exuberant tone of voice may be an indication of a person's _______.

• Fish are suited to underwater life because of their ______

• Why was painting inside the Lascaux complex a difficult task?

• Which of the following helps to create the Earth’s magnetic fields?

• With which of the following conclusions would the author probably agree?

• Which of the following processes does the author imply was done by both men and women?

• What can be inferred about machines that are not calculators or computers?

• In the process of drying certain kinds of fruits, sulphur fumes help ______.

• The word “ball” in paragraph 2 probably means ............

• According to the passage, which of the following sentence is NOT true?

• Which of the following statement is TRUE about the passage?

• It’s probable that the next paragraph would discuss ________.

• The word “reckless” in line 11 is closest in meaning to ..............

• Extreme weather can be caused by ...............