Almost two in three Britons are unable to speak a language other than English, i. e. monolingual, in effect, the worst record in

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问题    Almost two in three Britons are unable to speak a language other than English, i. e. monolingual, in effect, the worst record in Europe, a study done by the European Commission, has formed. This compared with an average of 44% across the EU and just 1% in Luxembourg.
   The study also proved that English was the most widely-spoken foreign language throughout Europe, with 51% of EU citizens able to hold a conversation in English, including 13% for whom it was their mother tongue.
   The report warned that there was growing divide between multilingual and monolingual Europeans, " A multilingual European is likely to be young, well-educated or still studying, born in a country other than the country of residence, who uses foreign languages for professional reasons and is interested in learning. " the report concluded. "As a result, it seems that a large part of European society is not enjoying the advantages of multilingualism. "
   Tamzin Caffrey of the National Center for Learning Languages, said Britons could lose out because of laziness. She said, "there is sometimes a very self-important view that people from other countries will learn to speak English, so we don’t need to bother to learn to speak their languages. Britons are missing out on a wonderful chance to work together with other countries on holiday or on business because they don’t speak the language. "
   Ms Lemmens, 42, who has lived in the UK for five years, said, " When I was growing up, I had to take at least two foreign languages to finish high school. I started Latin as my first language at age 10, English as my second and French as my third, I learnt Italian after I left school. Learning a language really is a life-changing experience. It enables you to really experience different cultures and it opens the world up to you.
Which of the following Europeans is most likely to be an monolingual?

选项 A、A retired factory worker.
B、A manager of a big company.
C、A university professor.
D、A student studying overseas.

答案A

解析 根据文章第三段“A multilingual European is likely to be young,well-educated or still studying,born in a country other than the country of residence,who uses foreign languages for professional reasons and is interested in learning.”可知,多语言使用者可能是年轻的,受到过良好教育的,或者还在学习的,或者出生在一个居住国家以外的国家。他们使用外语是因为工作原因或对学习有浓厚兴趣。大公司经理、大学教授、海外留学生均符合多语言使用者的特征,只有退休工人是最有可能使用一种语言的人,所以A项最符合题意,故选A。
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