英語(yǔ)有一天會(huì)統(tǒng)治世界嗎？

Just 1,500 years ago, English was spoken by a smattering of Germanic tribes as they migrated from mainland Europe to the island of Britain. Today, linguists whisper and wonder: will English eradicate all other languages?

1500年前，英語(yǔ)還是一小撮日耳曼部落從歐洲內(nèi)陸往英倫島遷移時(shí)說的語(yǔ)言。如今，語(yǔ)言學(xué)家心生疑惑悄聲交流，英語(yǔ)會(huì)不會(huì)消滅所有其它語(yǔ)言?

English's 339 million native speakers are outnumbered by those who speak Spanish (427 million) and Mandarin Chinese (897 million). What's more, English's native speaking population has been decreasing steadily. While this situation seems to suggest that English is on the way out, globally, it's actually ascending.

有3.39億人的母語(yǔ)為英語(yǔ)，而說西班牙語(yǔ) (4.27億)和普通話(8.97億)的人更多。此外，以英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人數(shù)穩(wěn)步下降。盡管情況看來(lái)英語(yǔ)似乎有漸弱之勢(shì)，但全球范圍而言，其實(shí)地位正逐步上升。

That's because 510 million people from all over the world have elected to learn English as a second language. No other language comes close. In science, business, and the media, English dominates. Learning the language is a cheap price of admission to join an increasingly interconnected world.

那是因?yàn)槿?.1億已經(jīng)選了英語(yǔ)作為第二外語(yǔ)，沒有哪一門語(yǔ)言可以與之匹敵。科學(xué)、商務(wù)還有媒體領(lǐng)域，英語(yǔ)占主導(dǎo)地位。要進(jìn)入這個(gè)聯(lián)系日益緊密的世界，學(xué)習(xí)這門語(yǔ)言是廉價(jià)入場(chǎng)券。

Researchers modeled declines in hundreds of languages and found that, on average, a language is going extinct every two weeks. If this trend continues to play out over the next century, 2,600 languages will be gone.

研究人員復(fù)制模擬了幾百種語(yǔ)言的沒落，發(fā)覺平均每?jī)啥Y拜就有一門語(yǔ)言消亡。如果這一趨勢(shì)持續(xù)下去，接下來(lái)的兩個(gè)世紀(jì)，會(huì)有2600門語(yǔ)言消失。

It is easy for speakers to associate larger languages with opportunity and smaller ones withbackwardness, and therefore to stop speaking smaller ones to their children.

人們很容易把大語(yǔ)種和機(jī)會(huì)相掛鉤、把小語(yǔ)種和落后相聯(lián)系，因而會(huì)不再對(duì)子女說小語(yǔ)種。

English has cemented itself as the defining cosmopolitan language of our time. Over time, the language grows more streamlined and simple to learn.

英語(yǔ)已經(jīng)明確了其在我們這個(gè)時(shí)代都市語(yǔ)言的地位。隨時(shí)間流逝，這門語(yǔ)言越來(lái)越精簡(jiǎn)、越來(lái)越容易學(xué)。

There's no question that English has evolved considerably over the years. Just compare the flowing prose of John Adams and Abraham Lincoln to the simplified of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

毫無(wú)疑問多年來(lái)英語(yǔ)歷經(jīng)演變。只要拿約翰·亞當(dāng)斯、亞伯拉罕·林肯行云流水般的散文和希拉里·克林頓還有唐納德·特朗普簡(jiǎn)約的風(fēng)格比較下即可知。