English

Text 1.
Ïðî÷èòàéòå òåêñò è ïåðåâåäèòå åãî.

LEARNING ENGLISH

Do you know?

* English is spoken in the British Isles, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and much of Canada and South Africa.
* After English and Chinese, the next commonly spoken language is Spanish.
* The language with most letters is Cambodian. It has 72 letters!
* Modern English has the largest vocabulary in the world, it has more than 600,000 words.
* About 450 -500 words are added to the English vocabulary every year.
*The commonest letter is "e". More words atarts with the letter "S" than any other.
* The newst letter added to the English alphabet are "J" and "V", wich are of post-Shakespearen use.
* The most overworked word in English is the word "set", it has 126 verbal uses and 58 noun uses.
* The commonest English name is Smith,. There are about 800,000 people called Smith in England anâ Wales, and about 1,700,000 in the USA.

“Do you speak English?”- this question is most frequently heard when people from different countries gather. There are almost three thousand languages, but English is the most universal. It is the official language in more then forty countries and the most widely used language in international business, science, and medicine. Some people believe that English should be the international language; they think things would run more smoothly if everyone spoke the same language.

Why do people learn foreign languages? They do it for communication or business; they want to read foreign books in the original for pleasure or to improve their professional skills. Learning foreign languages helps the student to understand other peoples, their culture and ways of life. It develops personality, broadens the outlook and perfects the student’s knowledge of his or her mother tongue.

Learning English or any other foreign language takes a lot of time and effort. It involves hard work and a lot of memorization, but can also be a lot of fun. Of course there are students and students. Some are both capable and intelligent. They hang on the teacher’s every word, take notes of everything that may become useful and sit up late to prepare for their classes.

They never stay away from classes without a good excuse and try not to lag behind the group. Others aren’t so bright and hardworking. Sometimes they are too lazy and slap-dash to prepare properly; they miss lectures, cut classes and work by fits and starts. But “no pains, no gains” and it’s only natural you must work hard to make progress in English, master the language and become a true professional.

It is important for the person to learn English to feel confident about himself. English is everywhere. It is in signs, clothing, soft drinks, and household products around the world. The names of pop groups, computer software and magazines are often presented in English. Some think English is chic, English is stylish. Sometimes we use English words for effect rather than as a language, for example adding “O.K!” or “No problem!” in our conversation.

The English language helps to know what is going on in the world. The world is changing rapidly in many fields, such as business, arts, medicine. These changes affect everyone and it is important to keep up with these changes. In fact, learning English is the answer to a lot of the things that we need to know.