A.WritealettertoyourlocalEnglish-languagenewspapergivingyourviewonadiscussionthathasarisenasaresultofanarticletheypublishedentitled"WhyDoWeNeedEnglish?"
B.Yourlettermustbewrittenofabout200words,excludingtheaddresses,etc.No.47,HaidianRoadHaidianDistrictBeijing,100086August18,1999TheEditorLocalEnglishDailyWuhuaBuildingBeijing,100781DearSir:
IhavebeenfollowingwithgreatinterestthediscussioninspiredbyMrWangLi'sarticle"WhyDoWeNeedEnglish?"publishedintheLocalEnglishDailyof20thMay,1999.
TheoneaspectoftheEnglishlanguagethatmostofyourcorrespondentsseemtobeunawareofisitswidespreaduseastheinternationallanguageofdiplomacy,commerceandtechnology.ItisthelanguageoftheUnitedNationsanditsagenciesaswellasofmanyotherinternationalbodies.Wewouldbefoolishtoconfineourvisiontoournationalbordersonly.Wearestill,afterall,dependentonothercountriesfortechnicalandindustrialassistance.Howcanwehopetobeeconomicallyandtechnologicallyindependentifwearenotabletocommunicateintheseareasoutsideourowncountry?
Englishmustbetaughtinallourschools,notonlyfortheabovereasonsbutalsosothatourstudentscangoabroadtolearnthetechniquesournationsourgentlyneeds.Wealsoneedrepresentativeswhocancommandrespectattheinternationalconferencetablesoftheworld.AndifEnglishisthecommonlanguageofcommunicationsforworlddiplomacy,economicsanddefense,thenletusbeasfluentandproficientinitaspossible,forthesakeofourowncountry'sadvancementandprestige.Yourssincerely,LiXiaohua