unit 2 english around the world 知识探讨
1．1 头脑风暴
1．how many languages can you speak? what are they?
there are many possible answers to this question, such as one, two, three…
chinese, english, japanese, russian, korean…
2．do you know how many englishes there are in the world? why?
possible answers: two, three… american english, british english, indian english…
any answer is possible. every student should answer the second question according to their knowledge of history.
e. g. ①englishmen once ruled america and india…
②many people moved to america long ago.
3．do you know the differences between american english and british english?
possible answers: ①they are different in spelling. for example: colour, centre and travelled are spelt color, center and traveled in american english.
②they are different in pronunciation. for example, americans say dance［dns］and in southern england they say［da: ns］. in america they pronounce not［nat］; in southern england they say［nt］.
③they use different words. for example:
am. englishbr. english
elevatorlift
fallautumn
first floorground floor
candysweet
checkbill
apartmentflat
subwayunderground railway
4. why should you learn english?
answers are various, e. g. ①english is an international language, spoken in many countries. ②learn english to love our country! learn english to make money globally! ③21st century is the century for english and for chinese to dominate.（21世纪是英文和中文并行于全球的世纪）
1．2 语篇探究
1．why does china have the largest number of english speakers?
possible answer: because china has the largest population in the world and more and more chinese people speak english today.
2．is english still changing now? why?
there may be several reasons. you can use your knowledge to find out possible reasons, e.g. ①more and more people speak english in the world and this can help cultures communicate with each other more often. ②with the development of society, new things appear year by year, which will add to english vocabulary…
3．why is the number of people learning english in china in creasing rapidly?
there may be several reasons. you can find out possible reasons according to the facts, e. g. ①because chinese want to communicate with other countries more often. ②because chinese people want to develop their economy rapidly. ③because chinese people have developed their economy rapidly.
1．3 阅读讨论
while you are struggling to improve your english, you might be encouraged by the fact that the chinese language has also proved popular among young people over
