【EnglishwasoncespokenonlybypeopleinapartofBritish．Butduringthetwentiethcentury，itbecamea（31）___language-alanguageusedbyspeakersofmanydifferentlanguagestocommunicatewith（32）___．Althoughitiscalleda"wo】

　　English was once spoken only by people in a part of British．But during the twentieth century，it became a （31）___language-a language used by speakers of many different languages to communicate with （32）___．

　　Although it is called a"world language"，（33）___more than five billion people---most of the people on the earth---do not speak English（34）___ either their first or second language．However，hundreds of millions of people use it every day，and hundreds of millions of people___（35）___ it now．

　　Because so many people learn and use English，it may be（36）___to imagine that one day English may not be world's leading language．Remember that there were other important languages in the past（37）___ lost their importance or even disappeared．（38）___，Latin was used as a common language for many centuries before people stopped using it．French was once a language known by all well-educated people，and was（39）___than English．But since the nineteenth century，things have changed．

　　Today many people who want to learn a new language are learning Chinese，Spanish or Arabic．It may be that，one day，（40）___English，another language will be used across the world．

　　31．A．secondB．beautifulC．worldD．mother32．A．each otherB．othersC．the otherD．another33．A．butB．soC．andD．/34．A．asB．forC．inD．with35．A．learnedB．are learningC．have learnedD．learning36．A．easyB．possibleC．hardD．interesting37．A．whichB．whatC．WhenD．who38．A．In AmericaB．In AsiaC．In AfricaD．In Europe39．A．popularB．more popularC．most popularD．less