A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders: Can I communicate with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?

    Certainly, there are some differences between British and American English. There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say "in hospital" and "Have you a pen?" Americans say "in the hospital" and 'Do you have a pen?' Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like "bird" and "hurt". Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, "colour" and "honour" are British, "color" and "honor" are American.

    These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.

    People from Great Britain brought the English language to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. And in the 1 300 years, there have been so many 2 in both places that now people can easily 3 an English person from an American in the 4 he or she talks.

    Many old words 5 in England but were kept in America. For example, 300 years ago people in Great Britain got their water from something they 6 either a "aucet", "spigot", or a "tap". All these words are 7 heard in different parts of America, but only "tap" is still 8 in England. Americans often make 9 new words or change old ones. "Corn" is one kind of plant in America and 10 in England.

    Also, over the last three centuries the English language has 11 thousands of new words for things that weren't 12 before. And often, American and English people used two 13 names for them. A tin can is called "tin" for short in English, but a "can"in America. The word "radio" is 14 all over the world, including America. But many English people call it a "wireless". And almost anything 15 something to do with cars, railroads, etc. has different 16 in British and American English.

    But now American and British English may be 17 closer together. One thing is that 18 people can hear a large amount of American speech daily in 19, on television, or from travelers. Because of this, Americans 20 to be influencing the British more and more. So some day, English may even be the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

    You might dream of fluency in this or that language, and maybe you have already achieved fluency in a foreign language.       

    Fluency, like all abstract terms, has no universal meaning. Each individual must determine what the term means.       

    Perfect fluency means knowing each word you encounter, speaking quickly, clearly and easily and having no accent.        You aren't familiar with every word of your native language, and sometimes you have to search for the right word, even in your mother tongue.

    Quick fluency is the type of fluency you see in advertisements, because "Master a Language in 2 Months!" sounds very catchier than "Fluency in 20 Years!"        It is possible to achieve quick fluency, but the fluency achieved after such a short time frame will be a very thin, superficial fluency.

           Native-like fluency means that you generally know all the same words that a native knows and can speak at the same pace with the same amount of ease as a native speaker. You will likely have an accent, but as long as your conversation partner can understand you, it doesn't matter.

    Literary fluency is like graduating from native-like to educated-native-like fluency. It focuses on the more intellectual side of a language: including in literature, attending university, composing song lyrics, etc.

    There are a ton of other things that fluency could potentially be, but that's up to you to figure out.

注意：①词数100左右；②可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；③开头和结尾已为你写好。

Dear Wang Peng,

    Wish you success.

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua