Post-reading

1. Read some amazing facts about English today, fill in the gaps with suitable numbers.

1) One billion people speak English today. That’s … of the world’s population.

2) … million people speak English as their first language. For the other 600 million it’s either a second language or a foreign language.

3) The number of Chinese people learning English today is bigger than the population of the USA.

4) There are more than … words in the Oxford English Dictionary.

5) … % of all information in the world’s computers is in English.

6) Nearly … % of all the companies in Europe communicate with each other in English.

7) English is just one of over … languages in the world today.

8) … % of all international letters and telexes are in English.

9) … % of all English vocabulary comes from other languages.

10) When the American spaceship “Voyager” began its journey in … it carried a gold disc. On the disc there were messages in … languages. Before all of them there was a message from the Secretary General of the United Nations — in English.

11) It is said that William Shakespeare used about … words in his works.

12) An average English-speaking person uses several thousands of words; a poorly educated person can do with as little as… words in his everyday life.

2. Read and say why English has become an international language of scientific publishing.