【推荐2】The make-up has been __________ and the costumes are back in the wardrobe. All of the ghosts, and zombies (僵尸) have disappeared for another year. If you were out On October 31, you probably noticed that there seemed to be many more of the __________ creatures scaring up fun on Shanghai streets this year. Not everyone, however, is __________ about the increasing popularity of Halloween in our city.

In actual fact, Halloween is a holiday that makes __________ people unhappy, even in countries where it is widely popular. It is not surprising that stories of the dead rising and walking among us might offend certain religious and cultural __________ of any country.

__________, costumes are often designed to be scary, disturbing and even disgusting. This particular feature of Halloween is exactly what __________some elderly passengers on the metro a few nights ago. A group of local university students, who were heading for a Halloween party, had dressed up like zombies. Their frightening appearance shocked the elderly passengers, causing them to become nervous.

Micro-bloggers later discussed the __________ online, expressing __________ opinions. On one hand, some see it as an example of young people showing a lack of __________ and respect towards the people around them. On the other hand, others see it as a harmless way to have fun.

__________ one’s judgment of that particular story, we can all agree that this is an obvious case of both cultural and generational __________. China is a country that values respect for dead ancestors. It’s quite likely that some Chinese people see certain Halloween traditions as making fun of the dead. It seems that while China’s younger generation embraces the celebrations of Western countries, the __________ generation can easily feel offended and question the wisdom of adopting foreign holidays.

China is changing rapidly, and many of those changes are due to outside influences. As the country embraces the values and cultural celebrations of foreign countries, what happens to __________ values and celebrations? How do generations, which are becoming so vastly different, continue to respect and understand one another? __________ to think about while you eat your Halloween candy.

【推荐1】Never in recorded history has a language been as widely spoken as English is today. The reason why millions are learning it is simple: it is the language of international business and,     _______, the key to prosperity.

David Graddol, the author of English Next, says it is _______ to view the story of English simply as success for its native speakers in North America, Britain and Ireland, and Australasia — but that would be a mistake. Global English has entered a more complex stage, changing in ways that the English-speaking countries cannot control and might not _______.

An important question one might ask is: whose English will it be in the future? Non-native speakers now _______ native English speakers by three to one. The majority of encounters in English today take place between non-native speakers. According to David Graddol, many business meetings held in English appear to run more smoothly when no native English speakers are _______. This is because native speakers are often poor at ensuring that they are understood in international discussions. They tend to think they need to avoid longer Latin-based words, but in fact _______ problems are more often caused by their use of idioms, metaphors, phrasal verbs, etc.

Professor Barbara Seidlhofer, Professor of English and Applied Linguistic at the University of Vienna, records and transcribes spoken English interactions between speakers of the language around the world. She says her team has noticed that non-native speakers are _______ standard English grammar in several ways. Even the most experienced speakers sometimes omit the “s” in the third person singular. Many omit definite and indefinite articles where they are _______ in standard English, or put them in where standard English does not use them. Nouns that are not plural in native-speaker English are used as plurals by non-native speakers (e.g, “informations,” “knowledges,” “advices”). Other variations include “make a discussion,” “discuss about something,” or “phone to somebody.” Many native English speakers will insist these are just _______. “Knowledges” and “phone to somebody” are simply wrong. Many non-native speakers who teach English around the world would __________. But language changes, and so do concepts of grammatical __________.

Those who insist on standard English grammar remain in a(n) __________ position. Academics who want their work published in international journals have to obey the grammatical rules followed by native English-speaking elites (精英).

But spoken English is another matter. Why should non-native speakers bother with what native speakers regard as correct? Their main aim, __________, is to be understood by one another, and in most cases there is no native speaker present.

Professor Seidlhofer says, “I think that what we are looking at is the __________ of a new international attitude, the recognition and awareness that in many international contexts non-native speakers do not need to speak like native speakers, to compare themselves to them, and thus always feel ‘__________’.”