共用题干 第三篇

A Debate on the English Language

A measure declaring English the national language is under intense debate in the United
States.The US Senate passed two declarations last week.One calls English the nation"s
official language and the other says it is the "common and unifying（统一的）"tongue.But
Americans found themselves divided on the issue.
Since people worldwide know that most Americans speak only English,many can"t
understand why the issue is so controversial（有争议的）.
"The discussion is related to fears of immigration issues,"says Dick Tucker,a social
scientist at Pittsburgh"s Carnegie Mellon University."It"s related to a worry about the
changing demography（人口统计）of the US.It"s a worry about who will continue to have
political and economic influence."
In fact,the notion of protecting the language has been kicked around almost since the
nation"s founding.John Adams lobbied（游说）in 1780 for the creation of a national
academy to correct and improve the English language.But his proposal died,since
lawmakers saw it as a royalist（保皇主义者）attempt to define personal behavior.
Since then,the country hasn"t had a national language,but the idea of recognizing the
special status of English lived on.
The emotions surrounding language resurface（再次浮现）not because people feel
comfortable with English.It is more about the discomfort many Americans feel with the new
languages,says Walt Wolfram, a professor at North Carolina State University.
"Language is never about language,"he says.
According to the 2000 US Census Bureau report,of 209 million Americans over 18
years old,172 million speak only English at home.About 37 million speak languages other
than English.Among them,6.5 million speak poor English and 3.1 million don"t speak
English at all. What are the two declarations concerned with?