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View Full Version : Discussing the English way of life...



NewLove1986
23-11-2003, 11:12
There are some strange but interesting things in the English way of life, and if you know them clearly, you will find it exciting to live with English people....

First, we get some good information of English language:
*400 years ago, there were only about six million speakers of English in the world. Recent estimates {sự đánh giá} suggest that there are now over 300 million who use it as their mother tongue {tiếng mẹ đẻ}. This is, of course, largely due to its widespread {phổ biến} use in the USA.

However, globally native {bản xứ} speakers are in the minority {thiểu số}as perhaps as many as a billion more people use it as a foreign language.
In some countries such as Nigeria and Ghana it has the status of an official language {ngôn ngữ hành chính}. It was chosen so that none of the many different languages belonging to different ethnic {dân tộc} groups would be placed above the others. In India, English is an official language alongside Hindu and no fewer than 3000 English newspapers are published throughout the country.
All round the wolrd people are trying to learn English. In China 25 years ago everybody used to carry a copy of The Thoughts of Chairman Mao. Nowadays, it's an English course {khóa học}. In 1983 more than 100 million people watched a course on Chinese TV made by the BBC to teach the language at elementary {cơ bản} level.

People are motivated {được động viên} to learn because it has become the main language of communication in diplomacy {ngoại giao}, business, tourism and seafaring {hàng hải}. It is also the official language of air-traffic control and airports. Three quarters of the world's mail is written in it as well as 80% of all information stored in computers. Two thirds of all scientists write in English. A Japanese company wishing to negotiate {đàm phán}with an Arab client {khách hàng} would conduct {điều hành} its negotiations in English. A Colombian doctor reports that he spends as much time improving his English as he does studying medicine.

Now, I think you had a good time with the passage. The next one is about Englishmen's attitude towards housework, please look forward to it...

yuna_admirer
24-11-2003, 17:35
no need for Vietnamese Quote kid. This is an English box lah, though i speak Singlish :D.
lol

zek3vil
29-11-2003, 14:16
I know lah, but you should speak a better Singlish mah.

NewLove1986
30-11-2003, 16:54
no need for Vietnamese Quote kid. This is an English box lah, though i speak Singlish :D.
lol

Yeah, that's OK, but we are learning Engish, so please acknowledge these quotes are very useful...
Any way, thanks for your idea, today we will court the Englishmen's attitude towards the housework...

It is a fairly common belief in Britain that men these day do more housework than they did in previous generation(s) {thế hệ}. But is this really so? A recent survey {cuộc điều tra} has made some interesting discoveries. Apparently, when men do help out, they enjoy cooking and shopping but most are unwilling to do the washing. A quarter of men think that women are better suitable to looking after {chăm sóc, trông nom} the home than men and 19% amit to making no contribution {hợp tác} to housework. The average man says that he does a third of the housework, while the average woman says she does three quarters of it, so someone isn't telling the truth! It was impossible to find any men who shared {chia sẻ} housework equally with there partners {người bạn đời}. Perhaps it is not so surprising, therefore, that there are some politicians {chính trị gia} who want a new law forcing {bắt buộc} men to do their share.

Noone understands why Englishmen don't like to do the washing, but you know, Vietnamsese men don't either, why that? Next, we will find out what Englishpeople think about cooking in public...
Have a good time...