Thenumber of speakers of English in Shakespeare′s time is estima

Thenumber of speakers of English in Shakespeare′s time is estimated to have beenabout five million.Today it is estimated that some 260 million people speak itas a(an)21?language,mainlyin the United States,Canada,Great Britain,Ireland,South Africa,Australiaand New Zealand.In addition to the standard varieties of English found inthese areas,22?are a greatmany regional and social varieties of the language as well as?23?levels of usage that are employedboth in its spoken and written forms. In fact,it is?24?to estimate the numberof people in the world who have acquired an adequate working knowledge ofEnglish in addition to their own languages.The?25?for English learningand the situations in which such learning takes place are so varied that itis 26 to explain and still moredifficult to judge?27?forms an adequateworking knowledge for each situation. The main reason forthe widespread?28?for English is its present dayimportance as a world language.Besides 29 the indefinite needs of its nativespeakers,English is a language in which some of important works inscience,technology,and other?30 are beingproduced,and not always by native speakers.It is widely used for 31 purposes as meteorological(气象的)and airport communications,international conferences,and the?32?of information over the radio andtelevision networks of many?33.It is a language of widercommunication for a number of developing countries,specially former Britishcolonies.Many of these countries have multilingual?34.and need a language for internalcommunication in such matters as government,commerce,industry,,law and 35 as well as for internationalcommunication and for entrance to the scientific and techno-logicaldevelopments in the West. 第26题答案是（ ）
A、simple
B、natural
C、practical
D、difficult
【正确答案】：D
【题目解析】：第26题所在的句子是“The reasons for English learning and the situations in which such learning takes place are so varied that it is difficult to explain and still more difficult to judge what forms an adequate working knowledge for each situation.” 这句话的意思是：“学习英语的原因以及学习发生的情境是如此多样化，以至于很难解释，更难判断每种情境下什么构成了足够的工作知识。” 根据上下文，这里强调的是由于英语学习的原因和情境多种多样，因此很难解释和判断每种情境下什么是足够的工作知识。这体现了描述的动作或状态的难度，因此应选用表达“困难”或“不易”的词。 在给出的选项中： A. simple 意为“简单的”，与句意不符； B. natural 意为“自然的”，与句意不符； C. practical 意为“实际的”，虽然与知识有关，但不强调难度； D. difficult 意为“困难的”，符合句意。 因此，第26题的正确答案是D. difficult。