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28题答案是（ ）
A、require
B、request
C、supply
D、demand
【正确答案】：D
【题目解析】：第28题考查的是对上下文语境的理解和词汇的准确应用。根据句子“The main reason for the widespread ____ for English is its present day importance as a world language.”可知，此处要表达的是“英语广泛____的主要原因是它作为世界语言的重要性”。 A选项“require”意为“需要”，通常用于表达某物或某事被需要或必需的情境，与句子中的“widespread”不搭配。 B选项“request”意为“请求”，通常用于表达某人或某组织向另一人或组织提出要求或请求的情况，也不符合句子的语境。 C选项“supply”意为“供应”，通常用于表达提供某物或某服务的情境，与句子要表达的“对英语的广泛需求”不符。 D选项“demand”意为“需求”，用于描述某物或某事被广泛需要或要求的情境，与句子中的“widespread”和“importance as a world language”相搭配，符合句子的语境。 因此，正确答案是D选项“demand”。