英语全球化的功与过_BEC初级作文_BEC初级-查字典英语网

英语全球化的功与过

One of the odd stories to come out of the French-speaking province of Quebec last year was the announcement that intensive English courses would be offered to students in state schools. Odd, because in the past half-century, much of the Québécois identity has been built on resisting English. Authorities throw the book at people for doing things that would be normal elsewhere in Canada. Last autumn, the Montreal newspaper La Presse revealed that two real estate executives had made presentations in English to a Montreal-based pension fund, violating the province's language laws, which give workers the right to a French-speaking environment.

去年，以法语为官方语言的加拿大魁北克省传来了一则不同寻常的消息：该省宣布将在公立学校中面向学生开设英语精读课程。之所以说它不同寻常，是因为在过去半个世纪中，魁北克人的民族认同在很大程度上建立在抵制英语这一基础上。在加拿大其他地方被视为正常的事情，在魁北克却会受到当局最严厉的惩罚。去年秋天，蒙特利尔报纸《La Presse》曝光了一件事：两名房地产行业的高管使用英语向一支总部位于蒙特利尔的养老基金做报告。这种行为违反了魁北克省的语言法。在该省，员工有权享有一个讲法语的工作环境。

Now, school authorities in Quebec City are questioning whether the time is ripe for introducing those English classes after all. Their hesitation has left French-speaking parents angry. On one hand, those parents want their children to cherish their own community and its language. On the other hand, English is the international language of business, and their children will have a hard time climbing the social ladder without it.