1.3. State the part of speech:

To enable, disposal, cultural, economic, to communicate, originally, government, necessity, especially, acute, serious, pleasure, prestige, vanguard, relatively, to reverse, geographically, ever, explosion, second, most, thousand, myth, about, mixture, since, who, their, ancient, dearly, seafarer, to impose, to hold, a little, further, according to, native, loud, loss, widespread, to die out.

1.4. Translate into Russian the following words and word combinations:

Disposal, the phenomenon of our age, thus, reflection, the birth of civilization, to replace, as a means of international communication, with the emergence of national states, educated people of Europe, common people, in the vanguard of European and world expansion, to fall into one of three groups, in the contemporary, to use it for a practical purpose, to define, well-rounded education, to question, explosion of knowledge, to travel abroad, the manual to the washing-machine or a vacuum-cleaner, basic characteristics of English, simplicity of form, to simplify, inflection, flexibility, loss of inflections, to operate, noun, verb, adjective, openness of vocabulary, to involve, free admission, creation of compounds and derivatives, to resist, arrival of English, the most widespread language on Earth, to survive, second only to Mandarin Chinese, diplomacy.

1.5. Give the verb for the following nouns:

Development, communication, education, mixture, government, establishment, transition, information, translation, organization, construction, appearance.

1.6. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the verbs to be and to have. Explain its usage:

1. The language is the means of communication.

2. The Greek culture and language were imposed in all Hellenistic centers and states.

3. My friend has learnt French as his native language since childhood.

4. The tourists were to leave the hotel in the shortest time.

5. Foreign languages are socially demanded especially nowadays.

6. Purists are resisting the arrival of English language in their vocabulary.

7. The words have been simplified over the centuries.

8. Many people have to learn foreign languages to travel abroad.

9. German as a third language will be taught by the native speaker.

10. Our teacher has a lot of English books and magazines at home.

11. Were your friends in Scotland last summer?

12. Are there a lot of tourists from the USA and the South Africa in the hotel?

1.7. Translate the following word combinations in different forms of Participle:

English speaking countries, having learnt the foreign language, deve-loped countries, the idea being discussed now, having been written in 1953, while buying a laptop, having completed the job, the methods being used, a scientist knowing six languages, being a polyglot, the stolen money.

II. Reading

Part 1. THE History of the International Languages

Language is the means of communication. The most common way of expressing an idea for people is to say it out loud. Language enables people to understand each other. At the same moment language can be a major barrier to understanding because there are thousands of different languages on our planet. From the earliest time, with the development of trade and exchange of ideas and techniques people saw the necessity of learning foreign languages. Egyptian pharaohs had scribes and interpreters at their disposal.

A language that is used as a means of communication by people of different nations is called international. It helps people of different nations to understand each other. As a rule the existence of the language as an international one is determined by political, cultural and economic deve-lopment of the country which language is spoken as international.

International language is not the phenomenon of our age only. The first international language appeared on Earth with the birth of civilization. The Biblical myth about the mixture of languages during the construction of the Babylon Tower, when the people lost their universal language and thus could not communicate, was a reflection of how dearly the people of ancient periods held the gift of speech and understanding. Ever since those times the foreign languages and people who knew them played a significant part in the development of international relations and trade of diffe-rent countries.

The first international language that we know about was the language of the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were a nation of industrious merchants and brave seafarers who settled originally on the territory of the Lebanon. The Greek language replaced Phoenician as a means of international communication. The Greek culture and language were imposed in all Hellenistic centers and states, including Egypt, Syria and Persia. The Romans went a little further. The Roman legionary marched to the ends of the earth carrying Latin, their language, with the help of their orators and philosophers to Europe, Asia, and Africa. From that time the role of languages in the historical development of humanity has increased. Latin survived the collapse of the Roman Empire. Until the establishment of national states, new national languages that originated from Latin (French, Spanish, and Italian) were still emerging. In such circumstances it was the universal language of Medieval Europe for fifteen centuries. In Europe Latin was used for the serious business of government, diplomacy, and philosophy. A person who did not know Latin was unable to become educated because Latin was also the language of the Universities.

Then with the emergence of national states and development of national languages the need to learn foreign languages became especially acute. Educated people of Europe were to know several modern languages. For example, Rubens, the greatest painter of the Western civilization who lived in Flanders in the 17-th century, spoke and wrote six modern languages.

It should be said that not all the languages had equal importance in different centuries in the world. Preference was given to that one which country was more powerful at that time. In the 15-th and 16-th centuries Spain was in the vanguard of European and world expansion and the Spanish language could be heard in the far reaches of our planet. French became the dominant language of the Western world in the 17-th and 19-th centuries. In the 19-th century French was the official language of our country. Since childhood Russian aristocrats were learning French. For example, Pushkin wrote his first poem in French. Russian was spoken only by common people.

In the first half of the 20-th century, during the period between two World Wars, English started gradually to replace French as the international language. The transition from French to English as the international language was relatively easy because in many countries of the world people already knew English by that time. Over 300 million people who live in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America speak English as a native tongue. English is one of the official languages in the Irish Republic, Canada, and the South African Republic.

Part 2. English as a World Language

The dominance of English in the contemporary world is explained by the appearance of lots of people who want to learn English not for pleasure or prestige but because English has become the key to international scientific, technological and commercial innovations of today.

Previously the reason for learning any foreign language was not well defined. Knowledge of foreign languages was regarded as a sign of a well-rounded education, but few had really questioned why it was necessary. Foreign languages are socially demanded especially at the present time when the progress in science and technology has led to an explosion of knowledge. People who speak English fall into one of three groups: those who have learnt it as their native language, those who have learnt it as a second language in a society which is mainly bilingual and those who are force to use it for a practical purpose - professional or educational. In a number of speakers (400 million) it is second only to Mandarin Chinese.

The total knowledge of mankind doubles every seven years. English is needed as the main and the most efficient means of information exchange. With the acceptance of English as the international language of technology and commerce a new generation of people appears who know why they are learning the language. Some people learn foreign languages because they need them in their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying languages is a hobby. A modern engineer or even a worker cannot work with an imported instrument or a machine if he is not able to read the instruction how to do it. Ordinary people need language to translation the instruction or the manual to the washing-machine or a vacuum-cleaner, medicine or even food-products. Scientists and scholars need it to keep up with developments in their fields. Many students need English because their course of studies includes textbooks available only in English. Young people around the world need English in order to be able to use the Internet, communicate with their partners in other countries, and understand films and songs. Every year thousands of people go to different countries as tourists or to work. They cannot go without knowing the language of the country they are going to.

As for basic characteristics of English there are following:

1. Simplicity of form. Old English, Greek, had many inflections to show singular and plural, tense, person, etc., but over the centuries words have been simplified. Verbs now have very few inflections, and adjectives do not change according to the noun.

2. Flexibility. As a result of the loss of inflections, English has become, over the past five centuries, a very flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can operate as many different parts of speech, many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example work, phone, answer, visit, and watch. Adjectives also can be used as verbs: warm and to warm, clean and to clean.

3. Openness of vocabulary. This involves the free admission of words from other languages and the easy creation of compounds and derivatives. Most world languages have contributed some words to English at some time, and the process is now being reversed. Purists of the French, Russian, and Japanese languages are resisting the arrival of English in their vocabulary.

4. The future of English. Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations Organization and other political organizations. It is the language of literature, education, modern music, international tourism, science, trade and cultural relations, aviation, and international sport. It is also the major language of diplomacy. This will no doubt continue, although the opinion that all other languages will die out is absurd.

At present no other language on Earth is better suited to play the role of world language.