2016-2017学年高中英语 Unit 2 Language Period One Welcome to the unit Reading讲义 牛津译林版必修3.doc

Unit 2 Language The Official UN Languages The United Nations was founded in 1945 after World War Ⅱ to stop wars between countries，and to provide a platform for dialogue.The headquarters of the United Nations is in New York.There are 193 members now.The official languages of the United Nations are the six languages.They are Arabic，Chinese，English，French，Russian and Spanish. When the UN was founded，five official languages were chosen：English，French，Chinese，Russian and Spanish.Arabic was added in 1973.These languages are used at meetings.They are also used for the dissemination of official documents.These six languages are all working languages in the General Assembly and in the Economic and Social Council.They are also the working languages of the Security Council.The working languages at the UN Secretariat are only English and French. Language Days of the UN In 2010，the UN’s Department of Public Information announced an initiative of six “language days” to be observed throughout the year，one for each official language，with the goal of celebrating linguistic diversity and learning about the importance of cross-cultural communication.The days and their historical significance are： UN Arabic Language Day：December 18th.It is the date on which the United Nations General Assem-bly chose Arabic as the sixth official language of the United Nations in 1973. UN Chinese Language Day：April 20th.It is also the day to honor Cang Jie，the ancient Chinese mythical figure who invented Chinese characters. UN English Language Day：April 23rd.The date is traditionally regarded as the death of William Shakespeare. UN French Language Day：March 20th.It is the date of International Francophonie Day. UN Russian Language Day：June 6th.It is the birthday of Alexander Pushkin. UN Spanish Language Day：October 12th.It’s the date of Columbus Day. Notes 1．dissemination n．散布，传播 2．the General Assembly联合国大会 3．linguistic diversity语言的多样性 4．International Francophonie Day全球法语日 Task 根据上文完成下列各题 1．Which two