Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers (Reading) — practice #rmcma-007

Esperanto was created in the late nineteenth century by a Polish eye doctor who hoped a simple, neutral language could ease tensions between peoples. He designed its grammar to be strikingly regular, with no irregular verbs and a vocabulary drawn largely from European roots so that many learners would recognise it. For a time the project gathered real momentum, attracting congresses, journals and a devoted international community. Yet it never came close to its founder's dream of becoming a universal second tongue. Critics point out that its European bias makes it no easier for speakers of Asian or African languages, and that English has since spread as a global lingua franca by other means. Still, Esperanto survives, with a small but committed body of speakers who continue to learn, write and even raise children in it.