三一文库（）/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.
Thearrivaloftheyear1999hasbroughtwithanearperfectopportunityto takealookbackatthelastonethousandyears,assessman’ssuccessesan dfailures,andlookforwardwithourpredictionsofthethirdmillennium.
Alreadythisafternoonyou’veheardmanyassessmentsandyou’vehear davari etyofpredictions.Avarietysovast,rangingfromLewisCarol’sdepi ctionofcelebratorylife,totheIrishcelebrationofdeath.Sovastavarietyt hatit’sdifficulttofindanymongroundamongstthecontestantsheretod ay.Perhapstheonlythingthatweallshareisthatweareindeeddiscussing mille nnia,theoldandthenewandtheturnofthemillennium,andwe’reall discussingitinthesamelanguage.
Afewhundredyearsagotohaveheldaneventlikethisitwouldhavebeeni mperativethatwewereallfluentinanumberofdifferenttongues,forthe approachofbatingthelanguagebarrierwassimplytolearnmanydiffere ntlanguages.Ofcoursepeoplebackthenhadanulteriormotive:thatwas toensurethatdifferentlanguagesheldtheirdifferentsocietiesorpositio ns,orasKingCharlesVofSpainputit,“IspeakSpanishtoGod,Italiantowo men,FrenchtomenandGermantomyhorse.”
Todayourapproachissomewhatdifferent.Insteadoftryingtovastlyspre adourverbalabilityacrosstheboard,we’vechosenrathertofocusit,conc entratingonourabilitytomasteroneparticularlanguage,theEnglishlan guage.Timemagazinerecentlysuggestedthatbytheturnofthemillenni um,Englishwillb etheLinguaFrancaforonequarteroftheworld’spopula tion.Alreadytodaysixtypercentsoftheworld’stelevisionandradiobroa dcastsareproducedanddeliveredinEnglish.Seventypercentsofthewor ld’smailaddressedinEnglish.Anditisthelanguageofchoiceforalmostev erybiteofputerdatasentacrosstheglobe.
ButwhyEnglish?Therearenoclearlinguisticreasonsforitssuggestedglo baldominance,certainlythegrammarisplicated,thespellingpeculiaran
dthepronunciationeccentric,tosaytheveryleast.Onewouldneedonlyl ookthroughthedictionarytofindthevastlistofamusingparadoxesinthe Englishlanguage—quicksandthatworksslowly,aboxingringthatisinfac tsquareandaguineapigthat’sreallyneitherfromGuineanorisitapig.Doe sn’othrou ghtheannalsofhistorybutnotoneannal.Thereason,ladiesandgentlem en,issimple.Englishisstrange,butnowherenearasstrangeassomeofou ralternatives.
PerhapsIshouldgiveyouafewidiomaticexamples.InEnglishwesay“onc einabluemoon”.TheItalianchooseinstead“everydeathofaPope”.Irish doesn’tlikeour“dropdead”,replacingitratherwitht heslightlymoreobs cure“youshouldlieintheearth.”AndifyouwantedtotellsomeoneoffinS panishourrelativelyobvious“goflyakite”wouldbebetterservedbythep hrase“gofryasparagus”.English’sprimaryadvantageisthatofflexibility. Ontheonehandithasthelargestvocabularyofallmodernlanguages,allo wingus,asitsusers,tosayexactlywhatwewantinexactlythewordswech oosetouse.Ontheother,globalizationhasinsuredtheintroductionofab usinessEnglish,asortoftrimmeddownvarietyofthelanguagewe’veallet oknowandlove.
It’sinterestingtoknowthatthesimplelistofjusttenwords,wordslike“a”,“and”,“have”and“the”,binedtoformonequarterofallthoseeverusedin modernmunication.Perhapstherealtestis:willtheglobaladoptionofEn glishasamasterlanguageinsuretheeradicationofanymisunderstandin gsthathappentoday?Theanswerisnotassimple.RussellHovenonceask ed:“Howmanypeoplespeakthesamelanguageevenwhentheyspeakth esamelanguage?”Butonecanonlyhopethatouronlyaimandouronlych anceofinsuringthatwemunicateeffectivelywitheachotheristomakesu rethatwedospeakoneuniversallanguage.InathousandyearstimeWest ernclockswillhopefullyhavetickedontotheyear2999andwecanbeassu redthatscientists,academicsandfuturistswillconvene,muchlikewe’ve donetodaytolookbackatthethirdmilleniumandoffertheirpredictionsf orthesuccessesoftheforth.
It’simpossibletoimaginewhattheymightsay,i mpossibletoimaginewha ttechnologythey’llhaveavailableorevenwhichplanetthey’llholdthem eetingon.Infact,quitepossiblytheonlythingwecansayforsureisthatthe y’llbediscussingtheissuesinonemonuniversallanguage.Andthatwillbe thelanguageofthethirdmillennium.Andthatlanguagewithoutanydou btlookssettobeEnglish.Thankyou.。