英语专业论文范文(3)
2.2 The Rising of the United States after WWII
If the Great Britain made English an international language in 19th century, to some extent, the United States sped up the globalization of English in 20th century.
During the wartime, Americans accumulated a lot of money because of scarcity of wartime supply, and full employment and savings, which greatly stimulated consumption. After the Second World War, America became the strongest power in the capitalist world. The three Axis powers, including Germany, Italy, and Japan, were destroyed while other capitalist countries were greatly weakened. As a great creditor nation, America made a lot because many countries were deep in debt to it. The U.S. industrial production took up about 60% of the World’s total while its exports took up some 30% of the world market. European nations had not recovered from mass war destruction yet and the capitalist world market was widely opened to American goods. At the mean time, houses, automobiles and many other kinds of goods were all in short supply at home. Inflation caused prices rose sharply. The workers enjoyed full employment. America’s large productivity enabled the country to produce plenty goods for both the domestic but also the overseas markets, resulting in economic boom.
On the other hand, Britain, the empire on which the sun never sets, has undergone a decline. There is a western saying that the 19th century is the time of the Great Britain, while the 20th century belongs to America. As it goes on and on, America becomes a nation which stands towering in world nation community. Since the WWII, the US becomes literally the leader of the western world and one of the superpower in the world hegemony. With entry to the 21st century, according to inertia of linear history, America, the national powerhouse may continue to stand its ground. Just looking at the panorama of the whole world, not merely in economy, military, culture, education, sports, but also in hi-tech, America is undoubtedly the leading body. That is to say, during the wartime, because of the economic prosperity, America has achieved full victory. Meanwhile, its language and culture or civilization also spread all over the world. At this very time, as a cultural output mode of America, English swept the world soon. Thus in less than four hundred years, American English has developed fast. American English today is no longer just a transplanted language from Britain, but a variety or even an international standard of English having its own features in spelling, pronunciation, grammatical usage, and vocabulary. It comes to the conclusion that the rapid rising of America after WWII speeds up the global use of English.
