When 4-year-old English family member Prince George(乔治王子) started his first day of school in September, Chinese language was on his curriculum(课程表).

    And he wasn't the only one kid. According to a report published by the British Council(英国文化协会) in September, about 51 percent of UK parents want their children to learn Chinese, because it's one of the most useful languages.

    In fact, the popularity of Chinese made the UK government start the Mandarin Excellence Programme in September last year. Its aim(目的) is to make at least 5000 English students speak Chinese well by 2020.

    Yet, the UK isn't the only country showing a growing interest in Chinese. The language becomes the second most spoken foreign language in the USA this year, after only Spanish, with over 2.1 million speakers.

    Many US famous people such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Malia Obama, former US President(总统) Barak Obama's daughter, study Chinese as a second language. 

    In April, Arabella and Joseph Kushner, grandchildren of US President Donald Trump, sang the traditional folk music Jasmine in Mandarin for Chinese President Xi Jingping when the two leaders met in Florida.

     So far, 67 countries have studied Chinese in their national curriculum, reported the Chinese website.

Chinese has become more and more____.

一个国家的发展强大与海洋的开发利用有着密不可分的关系。阅读材料，回答问题。

材料一：中国古代海外贸易历史悠久，它是随着中国社会经济的发展和造船航海业的进步而不断发展的，成为古代中国对外经济联系的一个主要梁道。

——搜狗百科·中国古代海外贸易

材料二：起源于海洋文明的西方国家很早就重视海洋的意义。几百年来，萄萄牙、西班牙、荷兰、英国乃至今天的美国在世界上的优势力量都是以海权为基础的。

——《科普百家论坛：海军武器实录》

材料三：孙中山说：“中国海权一日不兴，则国基一日不宁。”“争太平洋之海权，即争太平洋之门户权。人方以我为争（意为别国以我国为争夺瓜分的对象），岂置之不问。”孙中山面对旧中国的形势，从民族存亡和民生的角度关注海洋，在《实业计划自序》中说：“操之在我则存，操之在人则亡。”

——杨金森、范中义《中国海防史》

材料四：有的学者从中国面临20世纪80年代世界第二次重大产业梯度转移出发，提出只有采取率先加快沿海地区对外开放的战略，才能抓住这个难得的机遇。“因为内地无论从区位上、与海外的联系上还是从工业基础上、科学技术水平上、劳动者的素质上，都与沿海存在差距。能较快扩大开放，转换机制，吸引海外资金和技术，吸收和借鉴外国一切反映现代社会化生产规律的先进经营方式、管理方法、率先接收东亚地区第二次重大产业样度转移的，还是沿海地区。”

——夏禹龙《加速发展、达到共同富裕的捷径》