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Inside a brightly-lit classroom, around 20 schoolchildren are singing the Chinese national anthem. That song is followed by another tune in Chinese—one typically sung during the Lunar New Year. But this scene is not taking place in a Chinese school but at Lakewood Premier school, thousands of kilometers away in Nairobi. Here, schoolchildren are learning Mandarin, a language spoken by nearly 1 billion people almost 8,000 kilometers away from their home. More will join their ranks in 2020 when Mandarin will be officially taught in all Kenyan schools alongside French, Arabic and German, which are already on the curriculum.

Sandra Wanjiru, 13, is one of hundreds of African schoolchildren who are increasingly proficient in the Chinese language. Lakewood Premier School, where Wanjiru studies, has begun the program a year early to give its pupils a head start. "I chose to learn Chinese first not only because it's interesting to learn a foreign language but also because I would want to travel and do business in China," said Wanjiru.

Julius Jwan, CEO of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), told Chinese state-owned Chinese news agency Xinhua: "The place of China in the world economy has also grown to be so strong that Kenya stands to benefit if its citizens can understand Mandarin." China has become increasingly powerful and prominent across Africa over the past two decades. Through President Xi Jinping's flagship Belt and Road Initiative, China has loaned money to African countries to build highways, dams, stadiums, airports and skyscrapers.

Henry Adramunguni, a curriculum specialist at Uganda's National Curriculum Development Centre, said Mandarin was included in the curriculum because it is one of the United Nations' languages of work. "We want to give the opportunity for our young Ugandans to have access to jobs, education and business beyond our borders. That's why we've given them this opportunity to learn Chinese," he said.

1.What made Sandra Wanjiru learn Chinese language at last?

A The school asked him to learn.

B He found it was interesting.

C He believed it was very useful.

D The language was very easy.

解析：选C。推理判断题。根据文章第二段最后一句后半部分but also because I would want to travel and do business in China可以得知是因为汉语很有用，因此这最终使得Sandra Wanjiru学习汉语，故选C。

2.How did China help African countries?

A China built many schools for Africa.

B China lent them money to develop themselves.

C China shared the curriculum.

D China let Africans go to China.

解析：选B。细节理解题。根据文章第三段第三句的China has loaned money to African countries to build highways, dams, stadiums, airports and skyscrapers可以得知中国借钱给非洲国家搞基础建设，故选B。

3.What did Henry Adramunguni think of students’ learning Mandarin?

A It was necessary.

B It was useless.

C It was not beneficial.

D It was not profitable.

解析：选A。观点态度题。根据文章第四段第二句We want to give the opportunity for our young Ugandans to have access to jobs, education, and business beyond our borders.可以得知由于年轻人学习普通话能得到更好的工作、教育和商业机会，因此他认为学习普通话是很有必要的，故选A。

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A The Lunar New Year is celebrated in Africa.

B Lakewood Premier school is very near China.

C The Chinese national anthem is easier to sing.

D More young Africans learn to speak Mandarin.

解析：选D。主旨大意题。随着中国和非洲的贸易增加和对非洲的援助增多，很多非洲年轻人认为他们的未来在中国，因此越来越多非洲年轻人学习普通话，故选D。