阅读理解
With the Chinese language growing in popularity,the UK government plans to invest（投资）10 million pounds to help more kids learn Mandarin（普通话）.Do you think it is necessary for the UK pupils to learn Mandarin?Some people share their opinions online.
Ted(UK): The learning of any language can be valuable and rewarding,but it is not suitable for everyone. Chinese is a difficult language to learn and the UK has a poor reputation for teaching foreign languages.Why should they learn Chinese when most people in the world speak English?
Mark(US): I studied French for 2 years in high school and German for 4 years in college.I studied Mandarin informally for about 4 months before moving to China.Now I speak Mandarin every day as my wife doesn't speak English.But it is far from being fluent.Learning additional languages is a great thing,which offers a different perspective on the world around us.Nowadays,it's almost necessary to be able to speak more than just your native tongue.
George(UK): No,unless they're taught from a very early stage of childhood.Mandarin is so difficult.If China really is going to dominate the world,it'll have to do so by speaking the world's dominant language—English.
Sam(UK): I don't think Chinese will become as widely spoken throughout the world as English.It is too difficult to learn as a second language.To learn Chinese you completely have to devote yourself to learning how to write and read it.If you have to learn it besides other subjects you can't be good at it.But Chinese will become more popular, and that is a good thing.
