(二) For any Englishman, there can never be any discussion as to who is the world’s greatest dramatist. Only one name can possibly suggest itself to him : that of William Shakespeare. Every Englishman has some knowledge, however slight, of the work of the greatest writer. All of us use words, phrases and quotations from Shakespeare’ s writings that have become part of the common property of theEnglish - speaking people. Most of the time we are probably unaware of the source of the words we used, rather like the old lady who was taken to see a performance of Hamlet and complained that it was full of wellknown proverbs and quotations. Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, makes full use of the great resources of the English language. Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal use of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twentyfive thousand. There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare used it. Such study is well worth the effort (it is not, of course, recommended to beginners) even though some aspects of English usage, and the meaning of many words, have changed since Shakespeare’ s day.
Every Englishman knows______
A．Shakespeare, butonly slightly
B．more or less about Shakespeare
C．all Shakespeare’s writings
D．only the name of the greatest English writer
