There are about 1500 languages in the world, but __41__ a few of them are very __42___. English is one of these. Many people use it, not only in England and the US, but also in other parts of the world. About 200,000,000 people speak it as their own language. It is difficult to say how many people are learning it as a __43__ language. Many millions are __44__ to do so.

   Is it easy or difficult to learn English? Different people may have different __45__. Have you ever __46___ the ads of this kind in the newspapers or magazines?

   “Learn English in six weeks, or your __47__ back …” “Easy and funny? Our records and tapes __48__ you master(掌握) your English in a month. __49___ the first day your __50___ will be excellent. Just send…” Of course, it never __51__ quite like this.

The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should __52__ that we all learned our own language well when we were __53__. If we could learn English in the same way, it would not seem so difficult. __54__ what a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears. When he is using the language, talking in it, and __55__in it all the time, just imagine how much __56__ that gets!

So it is __57___ to say that learning English is easy, because a good command（掌握） of English __58__ on a lot of practice. And practice needs great effort and __59__ much time. Good teachers, records, tapes, books, and dictionaries will __60__. But they cannot do the student’ s work for him.