【正文】 nglish likely to be challenged by other fast growing languages such as Mandarin, Spanish or Arabic? Second, as English spreads and is influenced by local languages, could it fragment, as Latin did into Italian and French – or might it survive but spawn new languages, as German did with Dutch and Swedish? Third, if English does retain a standard character that allows it to continue being understood everywhere, will the standard be that of the old Englishspeaking world or something new and different?全球英語的評論人士問及三個主要問題。首先，英語是否可能遭遇其它發(fā)展迅速的語言的挑戰(zhàn)，如漢語、西班牙語或阿拉伯語？其次，隨著英語不斷傳播并受到地方語言的影響，它是會被分化——像拉丁語分化為意大利語和法語一樣，還是會繼續(xù)存在但滋生出新的語言——就像德語與荷蘭語和瑞典語的關(guān)系？第三，如果英語確實能保留標(biāo)準(zhǔn)特性，使之繼續(xù)為全球各地的人所理解，那么這個標(biāo)準(zhǔn)將是老牌英語世界的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，還是一個不同的新標(biāo)準(zhǔn)？Mr Graddol says the idea of English being supplanted as the world language is not fanciful. About 50 years ago, English had more native speakers than any language except Mandarin. Today both Spanish and HindiUrdu have as many native speakers as English does. By the middle of this century, English could fall into fifth place behind Arabic in the numbers who speak it as a first language.葛拉多爾表示，英語作為世界語言的地位被取代，這種想法并非不切實際。大約50年前，除了漢語之外，以英語為母語的人口超過了其它任何語言。今天，以西班牙語和印度烏爾都語為母語的人口已經(jīng)和以英語為母語的人口一樣多。到本世紀(jì)中葉，以英語為第一語言的人口可能少于阿拉伯母語人口，跌倒世界第五位。Some believe English will survive because it has a natural advantage: it is easy to learn. Apart from a pesky “s” at the end of the present tense third person singular (“she runs”), verbs remain unchanged no matter who you are talking about. (I run, you run, they run。 we ran, he ran, they ran.) Definite and indefinite articles are unaffected by gender (the actor, the actress。 a bull, a cow.) There is no need to remember whether a table is masculine or feminine.一些人相信英語會流傳下去，因為它有一個天然優(yōu)勢：容易學(xué)習(xí)。除了現(xiàn)在時第三人稱單數(shù)后面那個討厭的“s”以外(“she runs”) ，不管你談到誰，動詞形式保持不變。(I run, you run, they run。 we ran, he ran, they ran.)定冠詞和不定冠詞不受性別的影響(the actor, the actress。 a bull, a cow)。沒有必要去記住一張桌子是陽性還是陰性。There is, however, plenty that is difficult about English. Try explaining its phrasal verbs – the difference, for example, between “I stood up to him” and “I stood him up”. Mr Crystal dismisses the idea that English has bee the world39。s language because it is easy. In an essay published last year, he said Latin39。s grammatical plexity did not hamper its spread. “A language bees a world language for extrinsic reasons only, and these all relate to the power of the people who speak it,” he wrote. The British empire carried English to all those countries on which the sun never set。 American economic and cultural clout ensured English39。s dominance after the British empire had faded.不過，英語還是有很多難點(diǎn)。例如，試著解釋一下動詞詞組“I stood up to him”（在他面前，我堅持了自己的原則）與“I stood him up”（我爽約了，沒去見他）之間的區(qū)別。克里斯特爾并不認(rèn)為，英語成為世界語言的原因是它易于學(xué)習(xí)。他在去年發(fā)表的一篇論文中表示，拉丁語的復(fù)雜語法并未妨礙它的傳播?！耙环N語言成為世界語完全是由外部原因造成的，與說這種語言的人的實力密切相關(guān)，”他在文中寫到。大英帝國將英語帶到了那么多的國度——在這些國家，太陽永遠(yuǎn)不會落下；在大英帝國沒落之后，美國的經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化影響力確保了英語的統(tǒng)治地位。So could China39。s rise see Mandarin being the world39。s language? It may happen. “Thinking back a thousand years, who would have predicted the demise of Latin?” Mr Crystal asks. But at the moment there is little sign of it, he says. The Chinese are rushin