有“英国高考”之称的A-level考试8月16日正式放榜。
今年报考外语科目的A-level考生中选考汉语的人数首次超过德语,汉语成为英国第三大热门语言。
今年有3334名学生报考了汉语A-level考试,德语有3058人。
选考汉语的报名人数比去年增长了8.6%,而德语减少了16.5%。
法语仍然是A-level中选考人数最多的现代语言,其次是西班牙语。
但是与去年相比,这两种语言的报考人数分别减少了8%和4%。
培生集团高级官员德里克·理查森说:“我们看到一些主要现代语言的报考人数大幅度减少,包括法语、德语和西班牙语。
这意味着也许年轻人开始思考未来哪些语言对他们的事业更有帮助。
”英国私立学校理事会主席巴纳比·莱农说:“在20世纪60和70年代,甚至到了80年代,德国在欧洲经济发展中一直起着重要作用。
以前,因为德国经济的重要性,学生被大力鼓励学习德语。
现在,尽管德国经济依旧很强,但是这种观点正在逐渐消失,中国在过去25年中已经崛起为全球发展最快的经济体了。
”
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL0NoaW5lc2VfQS1sZXZlbF9PdmVydGFrZXNfR2VybWFuX2Zvcl90aGVfRmlyc3RfVGltZV8tXzYwMjQubXAz&filename=Chinese-A-level-Overtakes-German-for-the-First-Time.mp3&signature=d0dd336a5d969b4518396c98b88347a5758cf11dd11705c217aa14fc3f813c5d
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is |
| 英国 | Yīng guó | United Kingdom (UK); Britain |
| 高考 | gāo kǎo | college entrance exam |
| 之 | zhī | (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]) |
| 称 | chēng | name / appellation |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 考试 | kǎo shì | exam |
| 月 | yuè | month / monthly |
| 日 | rì | sun / day / date, day of the month |
| 正式 | zhèng shì | formal; official |
| 放榜 | fàng bǎng | to announce the results of an examination; to post the list of successful candidates |
| 今年 | jīn nián | this year |
| 报考 | bào kǎo | to enter oneself for an examination |
| 外语 | wài yǔ | foreign language |
| 科目 | kē mù | academic subject / field of study |
| 考生 | kǎo shēng | exam candidate / student whose name has been put forward for an exam |
| 中 | zhōng | within; among; in |
| 选考 | xuǎn kǎo | to choose to take an examination in a subject; to select a subject for exam entry |
| 汉语 | Hàn yǔ | Chinese language |
| 人数 | rén shù | number of people |
| 首次 | shǒu cì | for the first time |
| 超过 | chāo guò | to surpass / to exceed / to outstrip |
| 德语 | Dé yǔ | German (language) |
| 成为 | chéng wéi | to become; to turn into |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number) |
| 三 | sān | three / 3 |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest |
| 热门 | rè mén | popular; hot; in vogue |
| 语言 | yǔ yán | language |
| 名 | míng | classifier for people |
| 学生 | xué shēng | student / schoolchild |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 人 | rén | person; people |
| 报名 | bào míng | to sign up / to enter one's name / to apply / to register / to enroll / to enlist |
| 比 | bǐ | (followed by a noun and adjective) more {adj.} than {noun} / (in some compounds derived from Classical Chinese) |
| 去年 | qù nián | last year |
| 增长 | zēng zhǎng | to grow; to increase |
| 而 | ér | but (not) / yet (not) / (indicates contrast) |
| 减少 | jiǎn shǎo | to lessen; to decrease; to reduce; to lower |
| 法语 | Fǎ yǔ | French (language) |
| 仍然 | réng rán | still; as before; yet |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 最 | zuì | (before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree; (the) most ...; -est |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of |
| 现代 | xiàn dài | modern times / modern age / modern era |
| 其次 | qí cì | next / secondly |
| 西班牙语 | Xī bān yá yǔ | Spanish language |
| 但是 | dàn shì | but; however |
| 与 | yǔ | (formal) with; from (marking the other participant in an interaction, comparison, or contrast) |
| 相比 | xiāng bǐ | to compare |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 两 | liǎng | two / both / some / a few |
| 种 | zhǒng | classifier for types, kinds, sorts |
| 分别 | fēn bié | in different ways; differently / separately; individually |
| 和 | hé | and; together with |
| 培生 | Péi shēng | Pearson; the Pearson Group (a proper name) |
| 集团 | jí tuán | group / bloc / corporation / conglomerate |
| 高级 | gāo jí | high level / high grade / advanced / high-ranking |
| 官员 | guān yuán | official (in an organization or government) / administrator |
| 德里克·理查森 | Dé lǐ kè Lǐ chá sēn | Derrick Richardson, a person’s name. |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 我们 | wǒ men | we; us; ourselves; our |
| 看 | kàn | to see; to look at / to read / to watch / to visit; to call on / to consider; to regard as / to look after / to treat (a patient or illness) / to depend on / to feel (that) / (after a verb) to give it a try / to watch out for |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive / to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point) / (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point) |
| 一些 | yī xiē | some; a few; a little; (following an adjective) slightly ...er |
| 主要 | zhǔ yào | main; principal; major; primary |
| 幅度 | fú dù | width / extent / range / scope |
| 包括 | bāo kuò | to comprise / to include / to involve / to incorporate / to consist of |
| 意味着 | yì wèi zhe | to signify / to mean / to imply |
| 也许 | yě xǔ | perhaps; maybe |
| 年轻人 | nián qīng rén | young people / youngster |
| 开始 | kāi shǐ | to begin / to start |
| 思考 | sī kǎo | to reflect on / to ponder over |
| 未来 | wèi lái | future / tomorrow |
| 哪些 | nǎ xiē | which ones? / who? / what? |
| 对 | duì | towards; at; for / concerning; regarding |
| 他们 | tā men | they; them |
| 事业 | shì yè | undertaking / project / activity / (charitable, political or revolutionary) cause / publicly funded institution, enterprise or foundation / career / occupation |
| 更 | gèng | more / even more / further / still / still more |
| 帮助 | bāng zhù | assistance; aid |
| 私立 | sī lì | privately-run; private (school, hospital etc) |
| 学校 | xué xiào | school |
| 理事会 | lǐ shì huì | council |
| 主席 | zhǔ xí | chairperson / premier / chairman |
| 巴纳比·莱农 | Bā nà bǐ Lái nóng | Barnaby Lanenon, a personal name (British private school council chairman). |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 世纪 | shì jì | century |
| 年代 | nián dài | a decade of a century / age / era / period |
| 甚至 | shèn zhì | even; so much so that |
| 德国 | Dé guó | Germany |
| 欧洲 | Ōu zhōu | Europe |
| 经济 | jīng jì | economic |
| 发展 | fā zhǎn | development / growth |
| 一直 | yī zhí | straight (in a straight line) / continuously; always; all the way through |
| 起 | qǐ | to rise / to raise / to get up / to set out / to start / to appear / to launch / to initiate (action) / to draft / to establish / to get (from a depot or counter) |
| 着 | zhe | aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state |
| 重要 | zhòng yào | important; significant; major |
| 作用 | zuò yòng | action; function; activity / impact; result; effect |
| 以前 | yǐ qián | before / formerly / previous / ago |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | because; owing to; on account of |
| 重要性 | zhòng yào xìng | importance |
| 被 | bèi | used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb) / (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes |
| 大力 | dà lì | energetically; vigorously |
| 鼓励 | gǔ lì | to encourage |
| 学习 | xué xí | to learn / to study |
| 现在 | xiàn zài | now; at present; currently |
| 尽管 | jǐn guǎn | despite / although / even though / in spite of |
| 依旧 | yī jiù | as before; still |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite |
| 强 | qiáng | strong / powerful / better / vigorous / violent / best in their category |
| 观点 | guān diǎn | point of view / viewpoint / standpoint |
| 正在 | zhèng zài | to be in the process of (doing sth); to be currently ...-ing |
| 逐渐 | zhú jiàn | gradually |
| 消失 | xiāo shī | to disappear; to fade away |
| 中国 | Zhōng guó | China |
| 过去 | guò qù | (in the) past; former; previous |
| 年 | nián | year |
| 已经 | yǐ jīng | already |
| 崛起 | jué qǐ | to rise abruptly (to a towering position) / to tower over / to spring up / to emerge suddenly |
| 为 | wéi | to take sth as / to act as / to serve as / to behave as / to become / to be / to do |
| 全球 | quán qiú | worldwide; global |
| 快 | kuài | rapid / quick |
| 经济体 | jīng jì tǐ | an economy; a country (or region etc) viewed as an economic entity |