题目内容：

    Languages will continue to diverge. Even if English were to become the universal language, it would still take many different forms. Indeed the same could happen to English as has happened to Chinese: a language of intellectuals which doesn’t vary hugely alongside a large number of variations used by local peoples.

We will continue to teach other languages in some form, and not just for reasons of practical use. Learning a language is good for your mental health; it forces you to understand another cultural and intellectual system. So I hope British education will develop a more rational approach to the foreign languages available to students in line with their political importance. Because so many people believe it is no longer important to know another language, I fear that time devoted to language teaching in schools may well continue to decline. But you can argue that learning another language well is more exhausting than, say, learning to play chess well—it involves sensitivity to a set of complicated rules, and also to context.

Technology will certainly make a difference to the use of foreign languages. Computers may, for instance, relieve the hard work that a vast translation represents. But no one who has seen a computer translation will think it can substitute for live knowledge of the different languages. A machine will always be behind the times. Still more important is the fact that no computer will ever get at the associations beyond the words associations that may not be expressed but which carry much of the meaning. In languages like Arabic that context is very important. Languages come with heavy cultural baggage too—in French or German if you miss the cultural references behind a word you’re very likely to be missing the meaning. It will be very hard to teach all that to computer.

All the predictions are that English will be spoken by a declining proportion of the world’s population in the 21st century. I don’t think foreign languages will really become less important, but they might be perceived to be— and that would in the end be — a very bad thing.

1.According to the text,we can infer that Chinese _______.

A.is a language full of cultural background

B.is narrowly used by local peoples

C.will be regarded as important as English

D.will soon become the universal language

2.Which of the following best describes the author’s opinion ?

A.Foreign languages should be taught for political importance.

B.Learning another language is just like learning to play chess well.

C.British education lacks a rational approach to the teaching of foreign languages.

D.Learning a language need to know a country’ cultural and intellectual system.

3.Why can the computer translation make a difference to the use of foreign languages?

A.It can replace for live knowledge of the different languages.

B.It can always keep the pace with the times in the translation.

C.It can reduce the hard work that a vast translation represents.

D.It can express the implied meaning beyond word associations.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.Learning foreign languages is a challenging job.

B.Learning a language is good for your mental health.

C.Cultural background blocks the understanding of a language.

D.Computers play an important role in learning foreign languages.