英语演讲-全世界的通用语言.doc

演讲稿 英语演讲:全世界的通用语言 theenglishlanguage英语语言mr.chairman,adjudicators,ladiesandgentlemen,goodafternoon.thearrivaloftheyear1999hasbroughtwithanearperfectopportunitytotakealookbackatthelastonethousandyears,assessmanssuccessesandfailures,andlookforwardwithourpredictionsofthethirdmillennium.alreadythisafternoonyouveheardmanyassessmentsandyouveheardavarietyofpredictions.avarietysovast,rangingfromlewiscarolsdepictionofcelebratorylife,totheirishcelebrationofdeath.sovastavarietythatitsdifficulttofindanymongroundamongstthecontestantsheretoday.perhapstheonlythingthatweallshareisthatweareindeeddiscussingmillennia,theoldandthenewandtheturnofthemillennium,andwerealldiscussingitinthesamelanguage.afewhundredyearsagotohaveheldaneventlikethisitwouldhavebeenimperativethatwewereallfluentinanumberofdifferenttongues,fortheapproachofbatingthelanguagebarrierwassimplytolearnmanydifferentlanguages.ofcoursepeoplebackthenhadanulteriormotive:thatwastoensurethatdifferentlanguagesheldtheirdifferentsocietiesorpositions,oraskingcharlesvofspainputit,“ispeakspanishtogod,italiantowomen,frenchtomenandgermantomyhorse.”todayourapproachissomewhatdifferent.insteadoftryingtovastlyspreadourverbalabilityacrosstheboard,wevechosenrathertofocusit,concentratingonourabilitytomasteroneparticularlanguage,theenglishlanguage.timemagazinerecentlysuggestedthatbytheturnofthemillennium,englishwillbethelinguafrancaforonequarteroftheworldspopulation.alreadytodaysixtypercentsoftheworldstelevisionandradiobroadcastsareproducedanddeliveredinenglish.seventypercentsoftheworldsmailaddressedinenglish.anditisthelanguageofchoiceforalmosteverybiteofputerdatasentacrosstheglobe.butwhyenglish?therearenoclearlinguisticreasonsforitssuggestedglobaldominance,certainlythegrammarisplicated,thespellingpeculiarandthepronunciationeccentric,tosaytheveryleast.onewouldneedonlylookthroughthedictionarytofindthevastlistofamusingparadoxesintheenglishlanguagequicksandthatworksslowly,aboxingringthatisinfactsquareandaguineapigthatsreallyneitherfromguineanorisitapig.doesntitseemoddthatonecanmakeamendsbutnotoneamend.orgothroughtheannalsofhistorybutnotoneannal.thereason,ladiesandgentlemen,issimple.englishisstrange,butnowherenearasstrangeassomeofouralternatives.perhapsishouldgiveyouafewidiomaticexamples.inenglishwesay“onceinabluemoon”.theitalianchooseinstead“everydeathofapope”.irishdoesntlikeour“dropdead”,replacingitratherwiththeslightlymoreobscure“youshouldlieintheearth.”andifyouwantedtotellsomeoneoffinspanishourrelativelyobvious“goflyakite”wouldbebetterservedbythephrase“gofryasparagus”.englishsprimaryadvantageisthatofflexibility.ontheonehandithasthelargestvocabularyofallmodernlanguages,allowingus,asitsusers,tosayexactlywhatwewantinexactlythewordswechoosetouse.ontheother,globalizationhasinsuredtheintroductionofabusinessenglish,asortoftrimmeddownvarietyofthelanguagewevealletoknowandlove.itsinterestingtoknowthatthesimplelistofjusttenwords,wordslike“a”,“and”,“have”and“the”,binedtoformonequarterofallthoseeverusedinmodernmunication.perhapstherealtestis:willtheglobaladoptionofenglishasamasterlanguageinsuretheeradicationofanymisunderstandingsthathappentoday?theanswerisnotassimple.russellhovenonceasked:“howmanypeoplespeakthesamelanguageevenwhentheyspeakthesamelanguage?”butonecanonlyhopethatouronlyaimandouronlychanceofinsuringthatwemunicateeffectivelywitheachotheristomakesurethatwedospeakoneuniversallanguage.inathousandyearstimewesternclockswillhopefullyhavetickedontotheyear2999andwecanbeassuredthatscientists,academicsandfuturistswillconvene,muchlikewevedonetodaytolookbackatthethirdmilleniumandoffertheirpredictionsforthesuccessesoftheforth.itsimpossibletoimaginewhattheymightsay,impossibletoimaginewhattechnologytheyllhaveavailableorevenwhichplanettheyllholdthemeetingon.infact,quitepossiblytheonlythingwecansayforsureisthattheyllbediscussingtheissuesinonemonuniversallanguage.andthatwillbethelanguageofthethirdmillennium.andthatlanguagewithoutanydoubtlookssettobeenglish.thankyou.全世界的通用语言-英语主席先生，诸位评判员，女士们，先生们：下午好。1999年的到来给我们带来了一个回顾过去千年的好机会，评价人类的成与败，展望第三个千年的前景。今天下午大家已经听到了许多评价和不同的展望。这些评价和展望是如此之多，从刘易斯-卡罗对幸福生活的描绘，到爱尔兰人的死亡庆典。这些评价和展望是如此之多，以致今天的比赛上很难发现任何相同之说。也许的相同点就是我们的确在讨论千年期，新千年，旧千年以及新旧之交，而且我们都在用同一种语言对论。几百年前，举办一次像这样的活动是十分麻烦的，我们得流利地说许多种不同的语言，因为克服语言障碍就是学习多种不同的语言。当然，那时候的人们有一个心照不宣的观念：不同的语言显示着社会地位，就如西班牙国王查尔斯五世说的：“我对上帝说西班牙语，对女人说意大利语，对男人说法语，对马儿说德语。”今天我们的目的有些不一样。我们不用将学习精力分散于多种语言的学习上，而是集中在一种特别的语言英语的掌握上。时代杂志最近说，在世纪之交，英语将会成为世界四分之一人口的通用语言。今天已经有60%的电视和广播在用英语制作和传输。70%的信件是用英语写的。英语还是全球传送的电脑资料的几乎每个字节所选择的语言。但为什么是英语？对于它的全球化没有明确的语言学的原因。诚然它的语法是复杂的，拼写是独特的，发音是古怪的。就拿最基本的说，只要查一查字典，你就能发现一大串逗人的似非而是的隽语quicksand反而慢腾腾，boxingring原来是方的，guineapig不是来自几内亚，也不是猪。一个人可以说“makeamends”，但却不能说“oneamend”，这不是很奇怪吗？你可以翻阅一本史册，但却不能把“一本史册”说成“oneannal”。其中的原因，女士们，先生们，是很简单的，英语够奇怪的了，但是对于另外一些说法就更奇怪了。也许我该给大家举出几个成语例子。“千载难逢”用英语我们说“onceinabluemoon”。在意大利语中则成了“everydeathofapope”。爱尔兰人不喜欢把“死亡”说成“dropdead”，而用“youshouldlieintheearth”表达得更委婉。如果你想用西班牙语指责某人“放空头支票”，那么是用“gofryasparagus”，而不是相对较直白地说“goflyakite”。英语最基本的优势在于它的灵活性。一方面，它有着所有现代语言中最丰富的词汇表，允许我们这些使用者能用最恰当的词汇恰如其分地表达出我们的所想。另一方面，全球化使得商业英语的介入成为必然，一种我们都将能懂得和喜爱的简化语言。有意思的是，简单的十个词，如“a”,“and”,“have”和“the”，组合起来就是能形成现代交际中所用的词汇的四分之一。也许真正的问题是，作为一种主要语言的英语的全球化真能消除今天的种种误解吗？答案并