Language is a major problem for the European Union (EU). The agreement or treaty (条约) which created the organization that eventually became the EU, the Treaty of Rome, stated that each country's language must be treated equally. The original six countries had only three languages between them: French. German and Dutch/Flemish. However, there are now 15 countries in the EU, with a total of 12 languages. EU documents must be translated into all these languages, and at official meetings the speeches must be translated into all the languages by interpreters.
All this translating is very expensive and time-consuming (费时的). it is said that nearly half of all employees of the EU are engaged in translating documents and speeches, and nearly half of the EU's administrative(管理方面的) costs are spent on this task. In the near future it is probably that several more countries, most of them having their own languages, will join the EU, thus making the situation even worse.
The problem is not just cost: there are practical difficulties as well. With 12 languages, there are 132 possible "translation situations" that might be needed. It is often' difficult to find people in the right place at the right time who can translate from (for example) Danish into Greek, or Dutch into Portuguese, at a high professional standard.
In practice the problem has been made less serious by the use of English in many contacts between EU officials, since almost all of them speak some English. However, any move to reduce the number of official languages (perhaps to four or five) would be a blow to the pride of the smaller countries. Another commonly suggested solution is to make English the official language for all EU business. However, powerful member countries like France and Germany are strongly against it.
小题1:What's the main purpose of this passage?
A．To give a solution to a problem.
B．To discuss a problem and show how serious it is.
C．To criticize the European Union for inefficiency(效率低).
D．To show that the problem cannot be solved.小题2:According to the writer, the use of English in contacts among EU officials has ________.
A．angered the officials who don't speak English
B．reduced the number of official languages
C．made the problem less serious
D．been opposed by powerful member countries小题3:In paragraph three, the writer mentions "Danish into Greek" as an example of ________.
A．a situation that might be difficult to deal with
B．a situation that occurs often
C．one of the 12 situations that requires an interpreter
D．languages that are easy to translate小题4:The writer suggests that if the number of official languages was reduced _______.
A．the EU would not know which official languages to choose
B．countries whose languages were not used officially would be unhappy
C．only languages that are easy to translate would be used officially
D．the smaller member countries would be pleased
