FacebookfounderMarkZuckerbergspokeChineseforabout30minu...

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke Chinese for about 30 minutes in a talk at Tsinghua University, which surprised Chinese students.

Clayton Dube, head of the U.S.-China Institute, praises Zuckerberg's effort. "To speak Chinese means you begin to think as Chinese people do, which is vital if you're to be culturally competent."

Zuckerberg's talk raises a larger question: is Chinese the language of the future? Could it replace English as the world's international language? Chinese already has the most native speakers. And China may soon pass the US as the world's largest economy.

The study of Chinese is increasing around the world. In 2009, about 60,000 American college students were studying Chinese.

"As China rises you can expect more people will adopt the language. But I don't think Chinese is going to replace English.” says Clayton Dube. "American movies, music, television, video games have wide audiences. So far China's success in this field has been very limited. It doesn't have a huge following outside China."

Andres Martinez, a famous professor, says English, with its association with freedom, will remain the global language." In many languages, the "you" form is different depending on the person you're talking to in English if I'm talking to President Obama or if I'm talking to my closest friend or my son, it’s ‘you.'"

Chinese is also a more difficult language to learn, which would take a native English speaker 2,200 hours to reach professional fluency. Chinese grammar is much simpler, but Chinese has a tone and writing system that is more difficult for adult learners to master.

A survey by Gallup showed for most Americans, Brits, and Australians, learning a foreign language is a choice, not a necessity. China Daily estimates that 400 million Chinese are studying English. That means China has more English learners than the U.S. has English speakers.

25. The main idea of the passage is _______.

A. why Chinese is becoming popular

B. whether Chinese will take the place of English

C. what makes English a global language

D. the great importance of the Chinese language

26. Which factor may prevent the development of the Chinese language?

A. The population of speaking Chinese. B. Its complicated grammar.

C. China's limited success in films or music overseas. diverse dialects.

27. More foreigners begin to learn Chinese because_____.

A. Chinese is going to replace English

B. Chinese is easy to learn

C. Mark Zukerberg’s speech influences them