Foreign language is a language of business communication.

Today the English language is one of the major languages in the world. It is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, commerce and business. In the Shakespeare` s time, for example, only a few million people spoke English, and the language was not through to be very important by the other nations of Europe, and was unknown to the rest of the world.

English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all continent of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventh century, with the first settlements in the North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. That has given the English language its present standing in the world.

People who speak English fall in to one of three groups: those who have learned it as their native language; those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual; and those who are forced to use it for a practical purpose, administrative, professional or educational. One person is seven of the world` s entire population belongs to one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75% of the world` s mail and 60% of the world` s telephone calls are in English/. Thousands and hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English and read all over the world. English is spoken by more than 350 million people.

To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist – an engineer, an artist, a doctor or an architect.

New vocabulary:

Language - язык

Science – наука

Cultural relations – культурные отношения

Commerce – коммерция

Important – важный

Europe – Европа

Tongue – язык

Century – век, столетие

Fall into - распадаться

Society – общество

Purpose – цель, причина

Educational – образовательный

Specialist – специалист

Engineer – инженер

Architect – архитектор

Answer the following questions according to the text:

1. Was English important in the Shakespeare` s time as it nowadays?

2. What is the position of English in modern world? What is it conditioned by?

3. Which three groups people who speak English fall in to?

4. How many people speak English?

1. Why is it necessary to know English?

1. Выпишите исчисляемые существительные в одну колонку, а неисчисляемые в другую колонку. При исчисляемых существительных поставьте артикль а или аn:

Wool, air, airship, word, aviation, assistance, assistant, paper (), paper (), hour, bread, darkness, water, sea, cheese, happiness, event, glass (), glass (), hero, sand, music, piano, friend, friendship, quickness, tobacco, cigarette, copper, armchair, coffee, ship, coin, university, money, ink, banknote, meat, silver, watch, timber, tree, idea, ice, furniture, chalk, heat, cow, milk, butter, horse, obligation, machine, equipment, instrument, speed, umbrella.

2.Приведите свои примеры исчисляемых и неисчисляемых существительных.