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这篇文章是《经济学人》官网12月4日发出来的最新文章。以一家英语教学公司的数据展开讨论。虽然数据有片面性，但是却从一定程度上反映了现实情况和问题。文章短小有趣，简单易读，是个很好的写作素材和小伙伴们的谈资。
九月以前在丹麦工作过，的确感觉丹麦人几乎人人都会说英语，至少去超市的时候连收银员都会哦！我以前的同事有印度人，印度人说话虽然有非常严重的口音，但是其表达方式是外国人完全理解的。咱们国人要和世界连接，还是要好好学习英语的，但是我的确非常不赞成为了过各种考试而刷题学习！那就是舍本逐末了，而且无论是通过写作还是说话交流都没有得到提高！
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Where are the world‘s best English-speakers?
世界上英语说的最好的人在哪里？
A newly updated index ranks proficiency around the world
一项最新的指数对全世界英语熟练程度做了排名
Graphic detail Dec 4th 2019
ENGLISH IS THE most widely spoken language in the world. And of the roughly 1.5bn speakers globally, the vast majorityspeak it as a second language. So where are the world’s best non-native English speakers? According to a new report by EF Education First, an English-teaching company, Northern Europeans are the most fluent (the Netherlands tops the rankings, followed by Sweden, Norway and Denmark). Middle Easterners are the least proficient (Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia all rank near the bottom).
l the vast majority绝大多数
英语是世界上使用最广泛的语言。在全球15亿人中，绝大多数人将英语作为第二语言。那么，世界上母语不是英语但把英语说的最好的人在哪里呢？根据英语教学公司EF（教育第一）的最新报告，北欧人说的最流利（排名第一的是荷兰，其次是瑞典、挪威和丹麦）。中东人最不熟练（伊拉克、科威特、阿曼和沙特阿拉伯都排在倒数）。
These results are not comprehensive, however.Nor are they representative. EF’s index is based on the results of a free online test taken by 2.3m volunteers in 100 countries. Only people with an internet connection and time and willingness to take a test are included in the sample, which means the results are biased towards richer countries interested in English. As a result,many African countries do not have enough test-takers—at least 400—to be included in the index.
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l comprehensive adj. 综合的，全面的
l representative adj.有代表性的，典型的；n. 代表
但是，这些结果并不全面。他们也没有代表性。EF的指数是根据100个国家230万志愿者的免费在线测试结果制定的。样品里只包括了有互联网连接，有时间和意愿参加测试的人，这意味着测试结果偏向于对英语感兴趣的富裕国家。结果是，许多非洲国家没有足够的测试者（至少要400人）被列入该指数中。
Such biases aside, the EF’s index produces results that are interesting, if not entirely scientific. Nearly six in ten of this year’s test-takers were female. Women have always faredbetter than men, but this year men closed the gap somewhat. Some countries saw their proficiency scores decline. This is probably not because their English got worse; more likely, a big increase in the number of test-takers brought in more people with weak English.
l fare：我们熟知的意思是名词，表示“费用、票价”。这里是动词，表示“进展、进行”
撇开这些偏见不谈，EF指数的产生的结果即使不完全科学，也很有趣。今年有近六成的测试对象是女性。女性的情况总是比男性好，但今年男性在一定程度上缩小了这一差距。一些国家的熟练程度得分下降了。这可能不是因为他们的英语变差了，更有可能是参加测试的人数大幅增加带来了更多英语水平不高的人。
In Europe, the powerhouse economies fare surprisingly badly: only Germany makes the top tierof “very high proficiency” countries. France is next, while Spain and Italy are persistent laggards. A study by a Spanish research institute confirmed the bad news: 60% of adults say they speak no English at all. The fact that Spanish is a global language in its own right(the language boasts 400m native speakers) is probably the culprit. If you speak Danish, you need another language to take part in global culture; speaking French or Spanish (or Arabic) means hundreds of millions of people to talk to with out English.
tier /tɪr/ n. 行，列，make the top tier 位于顶级
laggard /ˈlæɡəd/ n. 落后者；adj. 落后的，迟钝的
culprit n.犯人、罪犯
在欧洲，经济强国表现得出人意料地糟糕，只有德国在“非常高水平”的国家中名列前茅。法国其次，西班牙和意大利则持续落后。西班牙一所研究机构的一项研究证实了这一坏消息：60%的成年人说他们根本不会说英语。事实是西班牙语本身就是一种全球语言（该语言号称有4亿母语者），这可能是罪魁祸首。如果你说丹麦语，你需要另一种语言来参与全球文化中；说法语或西班牙语（或者阿拉伯语）则意味着数亿人不用通过英语就可以交谈。
Asia is the region of greatest diversity. Only Singapore makes the top tier, but the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong and India are not far behind. China is further back but still in the second tier, a few slotsahead of Japan. Languishingin the bottom slots are a clutch ofSouth-East and Central Asian countries like Cambodia and Kyrgyzstan. This correlates with another factor: EF repeatedly finds that English skills are highly correlated with connections and openness to the rest of the world.
slot n. 位置，（时间表，计划中的）时段
ahead of 领先…非常好用的小词组
languish v. 衰败，衰落，中落
a clutch of 一小群
亚洲是个具有多样性的区域。只有新加坡在位于非常高水平行列，但菲律宾、马来西亚，香港和印度也不落后。中国虽然排名靠后，但仍处于第二层次中，比日本领先几位。排名垫底的是一小群东南亚和中亚国家，比如柬埔塞和吉尔吉斯斯坦。这与另外一些因素有关：EF反复发现，英语技能与这个国家与世界其他地方的联系和开放性高度相关。
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