巴靈芝

Thomas Cheatham had planned to study Latin during his time at Hebron High School in Texas. But when he learned that the school district was going to offer a Mandarin（普通話） class， he quickly changed his mind.

“I thought Mandarin would be more beneficial than Latin，” said Cheatham， who is now in his second year of studying the language.

He speaks Mandarin to order food at Chinese restaurants and read social media posts from his Chinese?speaking friends. While its a difficult language to master， the high school junior， who plans to study computer engineering， thinks it will be important to his career. “Chinese is a good language to know， especially with China becoming a growing power，” he said.

Many experts agree that proficiency in a language spoken by a billion people worldwide will give American students an edge in the global economy.

“People are looking on China as our next economic competitor， and interest in Mandarin is growing fast，” said Marty Abbott， director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. “Were seeing it in all parts of the country.”

Abbott predicts that as many as 100，000 students are now studying Mandarin in public and private schools throughout the US. She said the US government has designated Mandarin as an “important need” language and provides professional development programs for teachers. “Our government wants to increase our language ability for economic competitiveness，” Abbott added.

At the same time， the Chinese government is spreading knowledge of the Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes set up in many US states. For example， the Confucius Institute at the University of Texas at Dallas has been the home of a Confucius Institute for 10 years. It sponsors Confucius Classrooms at 21 local public and private schools， where tens of thousands of students are learning Mandarin.

[Reading][Check]

1. Why did Thomas Cheatham decide to study Mandarin instead of Latin？

A. Mandarin is easier to learn than Latin.

B. Mandarin could be more helpful to his future career.

C. Mandarin might help him learn more about China.

D. Mandarin could enable him to study computer engineering.

2. The underlined word “edge” in paragraph 4 probably means “? ? ? ? ? ? ? ”.

A. a slight advantage B. the outside area

C. a sharp tone of voice D. an exciting quality

3. Which of the following statements might Marty Abbott agree with？

A. Mandarin should be taught in classrooms throughout the US.

B. Those skilled at Chinese will be the most competitive in the future.

C. The US governments policy has helped popularize Mandarin in the US.

D. Americans learn Mandarin because they worry about their economic security.

4. What does the author mainly talk about in this passage？

A. The rising popularity of Mandarin among American students.

B. The great benefits of learning Mandarin for American students.

C. The influence of Chinas growing power on American education.

D. The effect of Confucius Institutes on promoting Mandarin in the US.

[Language][Study]

Difficult sentence

It sponsors Confucius Classrooms at 21 local public and private schools， where tens of thousands of students are learning Mandarin. 它贊助了當地21所公立和私立學校的孔子課堂，那里有成千上萬的學生正在學習普通話。

【點石成金】本句中where引導的是一個非限制性定語從句。