SECTION A
In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.
Esperanto
Esperanto was invented a (1) philologist, Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. Esperanto means " (2) ". The vocabulary comes mainly from Western European languages, and the grammar is similar to Slavic languages. It sounds like (3) . It is spoken all over the world by approximately (4) people. As to the learners, it has the advantage that there are no (5) to rules. The main advantage, is that Esperanto is a (6) language. It doesn’t have the national, political and cultural (7) that all others of course have.
Why not English as the world language English is easy in the beginning, but then the bridge between basic knowledge and (8) takes a long time to cross, and many people give up. On the contrary, Esperanto is a very easy language to learn. There are five (9) sounds in Esperanto. The most remarkable thing is that after a very short time learners find that they can express quite (10) deas just as in their own language.