The English proficiency of Chinese women is much better than that of men, according to a study released in Shanghai yesterday, Chinese women scored three points higher than men in the English Proficiency Index(英语水平指数) released by EF Education, a language training company, mainly English. Worldside, women scored one point higher than men on average.
“This shows that Chinese women are more used to the Chinese education mode, the report said. Chinese women use their gift of language to gain success.”
However, Chinese mainlanders English proficiency ranked second to last in Asia, despite the great time and effort that many people invest in learning the language, the report said, China’s mainland is ranked the 36th in the index of 54 countries and regions where English is not the native language. That’s down by seven places comparing with that last year. The Chinese mainland belongs to the low-proficiency tier(低水平层次) and is ranked just above Thailand in Asia. This year’s index has increased the weight of listening tests, while decreasing the importance of grammar and vocabulary exams, which partly caused the ranking change, researchers said. Moreover, test-oriented(以考试为目的) and rote-based(死记硬背)learning methods often used in China hurt the language skills of Chinese students, education experts said.
The study compared test scores of more than 1.7 million adults in the 54 countries and regions. Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands have the best command of English, while Libya has the lowest English proficiency level. European countries generally performed well. But Italy, Spain and Portugal, some of the countries at the heart of the euro zone crisis, are being dragged down by poor English, according to the report. Singapore is 12th, the best in Asia, followed by Malaysia and India, South Korea; at 21st, and Japan, at 22nd, performed disappointingly low despite their focus on education; the report said.
One in every four people frequently uses English at work on China’s mainland, nevertheless nearly 15 percent said they never use English, lower than the world average level, according to the study.
32.What is EF Education?
A. It is a language test organization. B. It is an English teaching school.
C. It is a language training company. D. It is an organization studying human.
33. By what do Chinese women gain success in English learning?
A. Cheating. B. Gift. C. Learning by heart. D. Asking for help.
34. What can we learn from paragraph 3?
A. Chinese mainlanders’ English proficiency ranked second in the index of 54 countries and regions.
B. Chinese mainlanders’ English proficiency ranked 29th last year.
C. The Chinese mainland belongs to the midproficiency tier.
D. This year’s index has increased the weight of grammar and vocabulary exams.
35. Which of the following order is TRUE in the ranking of the English Proficiency Index?
A. Denmark > India > Japan > Singapore > Libya
B. Denmark > Japan > Singapore > India > Libya
C. India>Japan > Denmark > Singapore > Libya
D. Denmark > Singapore > India > Japan > Libya