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33题答案是（ ）
A、cities
B、stations
C、states
D、nations
【正确答案】：D
【题目解析】：第33题考查的是对上下文语境的理解和词汇的准确运用。 首先，根据句子“It is widely used for ... purposes as meteorological(气象的) and airport communications, international conferences, and the ... of information over the radio and television networks of many ...”可知，这里列举的是英语被广泛用于的场合，包括气象、机场通信、国际会议以及通过无线电和电视网络传播信息等。 接下来，我们需要确定哪个选项最符合这个语境。选项A“cities”（城市）通常指的是具体的城市或地区，而这里讨论的是更广泛的国际交流和信息传播，因此不太合适。选项B“stations”（电台或电视台）虽然与无线电和电视网络有关，但仅指具体的电台或电视台，不足以代表多个实体的集合。选项C“states”（州或国家的一部分）在语境中也不太适用，因为它通常指的是一个国家内部的政治或地理单位，而不是国际层面的交流。 最后，选项D“nations”（国家）最符合语境。句子中提到的是通过无线电和电视网络进行信息传播，这通常涉及多个国家或国际层面的交流。因此，英语作为一种广泛交流的语言，在多个国家的无线电和电视网络上被使用，这是非常合理的。 综上所述，正确答案是D，即“nations”。