四、閱讀測驗
One day about two hundred years ago, the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was looking at a map of the world. Pointing to China, he said, “There is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep! If he awakes, he will shake the world.” These days, you would have to be living on a desert island not to have noticed that China has indeed awakened.
Young Americans are one group that is aware of the Asian giant’s growing importance to the global economy. One way they are showing this awareness is by lining up to study Mandarin Chinese. In American schools, Chinese is rapidly becoming the hot new subject. There are ten times as many students now enrolled
in Mandarin courses as there were in the year 2000. More and more schools, from kindergartens through to universities, are setting up language programs, many with the support of government and business. Traditionally, students of Mandarin in America were either interested in Chinese culture for its own sake, or were pressured into learning it by their ethnic Chinese families. Now, there is a widespread belief among students—and their parents—that proficiency in Mandarin can bring a competitive edge in the job market. That is, they feel that the ability to speak Mandarin may improve their chance of getting a well-paid job and enjoying future success. The increasing interest in Chinese language courses has caught U.S. educators by surprise, and qualified teachers are in demand. Some encouragement has come from Beijing, where the Chinese government funds the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. Not only can Chinese products be found in every corner of the world, but this organization is vigorously promoting Chinese culture and language in every part of the world.
【題組】49. What is the main reason why young Americans are learning Chinese?
(A)To satisfy their curiosity.
(B)To make their family members happy.
(C)To improve their job prospects.
(D)To communicate with their teachers.
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