Text B Language of China
导 读
汉语是中华人民共和国的通用语言，且为国际通用语言之一，属汉藏语系。除了中国以外，汉语还分布在新加坡、马来西亚等地。汉语是联合国的工作语言之一。
Chinese is the principal language of China,but it is not the only language and,more importantly,it is not even one single language.The official language of the country is known today as Putonghua,which translates as the “common language” or lingua franca.
Mandarin,or Standard Chinese,is in fact a standardised form of the spoken language of the region of northern China that includes the capital,Beijing.It is not,however,spoken universally,even in the capital itself where there is a dialect (Beijing tuhua) used by the local people and which can take some time for even seasoned speakers of Standard Chinese to get used to.Mandarin is the offciial spoken language of television and radio and it is taught in all schools: in theory,everyone in China should understand Putonghua even if they are more comfortable speaking a dialect of Mandarin or one of the southern variants of Chinese.
There are various dialects of Mandarin throughout the north and northwest of China,with the most noticeable difference being between the northern and southern dialect areas,but anyone who has ventured far from the major urban centres will have become aware of the great variations in pronunciation within the rural population of the Mandarin-speaking area.Because of the awareness of the existence of dialects within Mandarin,it has become more usual to see the other varieties of Chinese,which were once referred to as “dialects”,now promoted to the status of “languages”.This recognizes the linguistic reality since they are as different from each other as the languages of,say,the Romance family in Europe—Portuguese and Romanian,for example.Regional forms of speech that are spoken a great distance apart,especially in the rural areas,are mutually incomprehensible,have quite distinct vocabularies and to some extent different grammars.
Cantonese,which is spoken in Guangdong Province and in Hong Kong and is also used very widely as a lingua franca among the communities of the Chinese diaspora in Europe and North America; the Shanghai or Wu language of eastern China; and Fujianese or Hokkien from the southeastern province of Fujian.
What is unusual about the condition of language in China is that,while each of these regions has its own distinct spoken vernacular,they all use one single form of written Chinese (based on the grammar and vocabulary of Mandarin Chinese) for most practical purposes.This is possible because Chinese characters are essentially non-phonetic.There are in existence variant written forms which are used in certain circumstances to represent the local idioms,for example,popular regional drama,but newspapers,magazines,books (including textbooks for schools) and the internet all use the standard written language.
Notes
1.Cantonese（粤语）：It is a Chinese dialect spoken in and around the city of Guangzhou in Southern China，by the majority population of Hong Kong and Macao，and as a lingua franca of Guangdong Province，eastern Guangxi Province，and some neighbouring areas.It is spoken by some of overseas Chinese communities in Canada，the United States and Australia，as well as throughout Europe and Southeast Asia，being the most widely spoken dialect and a lingua franca in many of these communities.
2.Mandarin（普通话）：It is an official standardized language of China based on the Beijing dialect，one of the four official languages of Singapore，and one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
3.Hokkien（闽南语）：A group of mutually intelligible Min Nan Chinese dialects spoken by many overseas Chinese throughout Southeast Asia.It originated from the same dialect in southern Fujian.It is closely related to Teochew，though mutual comprehension is difficult，and somewhat more distantly related to Hainanese.
4.Middle East（中东）：A region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa.It is often used as a synonym for Near East，in opposition to Far East.The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times，and throughout its history，the Middle East has been a major centre of world affairs.
New Words and Expressions
1.variant['vεəriənt] adj.不同的；多样的
n.变体；转化
2.venture['ventʃə] vt.敢于
vi.冒险；投机
3.diaspora[dai'æspərə] n.民族大移居
4.vernacular[və'nækjulə] n.本地话；方言
Exercises
I.Decide whether each of the following statements is true (T) or false (F) according to the passage.
1.Chinese is the principal and single language of China.( )
2.During the Qing period,the national language was known in Chinese as Guanhua.( )
3.Mandarin is a standardized form of the spoken language of the region of northern China so that the local people use it all the time in the capital,Beijing.( )
4.Standard Chinese is the official language of television and radio.( )
5.The north and south of China have different dialects.( )
6.Because of the awareness of the existence of dialects,Mandarin has become fewer and fewer.( )
7.Regional forms of speech have quite distinct vocabularies and to some extent different grammars.( )
8.Many dialects use one single form of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of Mandarin Chinese.( )
II.Fill in each of the following blanks with the most suitable word given below.Change the form if necessary.
tend venture disguise grapple standardize
1.Two men_______with a guard at the door.
2.Sally_______to interfere in other people’s business.
3.Attempts to_______English spelling have never been successful.
4.Today is the first time I’ve_______out of doors since my illness.
5.There is no_______the fact that business is bad.