Therearearound6,000livinglanguagesintheworld—andatleas...

问题详情：

 There are around 6,000 living languages in the world—and at least half of these are in danger. In every part of the world, languages are disappearing. In fact, one scientist has said that languages are in more danger of extinction than birds or animals. Professor Steve Sutherland of the University of East Anglia says that in the past 500 years 4.5 percent of languages have died out—compared with 1.3 percent of birds, and 1.9 percent of mammals.

  Languages come and go, and thousands have done exactly that without leaving any trace(痕迹). Only a very few—Basque, Greek and Latin among them—have lasted more than 2000 years. But it seems that the pace of their disappearance is becoming quicker.

  The Ethnologue, a database of all the languages spoken in the world, states that 417 languages are spoken by so few people that they are in the final stages of becoming extinct. If very few people speak a language, it will probably die out.

  Languages may be lost through migration(迁徙), as people move from small towns to city centers, or when environments are destroyed by the search for oil or wood. Natural disasters can also devastate populations, and along with them, their language. Governments also play a role in the extinction of languages. The need to establish “official languages”, for a country to educate its children and carry out its business, had a disastrous effect on many small languages.

  What is lost if a language is lost? Some people argue that languages die as the human race develops. Obviously there could be great benefits if everyone in the world spoke the same language—some industries already reflect(反映) this, with English essential for pilots and air traffic controllers. But there are more important things than convenience. As languages are lost, whole ways of life and knowledge may be lost along with them.

  To put it simply, language expresses something about identity, about our place in the world. Ani Rauhihi, a Maori teacher in New Zealand’s North Island, sums it up: “If you grow up speaking our language, you won’t know who you are.”

32. The figures mentioned in the first paragraph suggest that______.

A. most languages have died out completely

B. languages are in great danger of extinction

C. animals are disappearing faster than languages

D. languages are disappearing slower than before

33. The underlined word “devastate” can best be replaced by “       ”.

A. increase     B. control     C. destroy     D. improve

34. If a language is lost, ________.

A. there will be great trouble

B. there is no need to worry about it

C. its culture and knowledge will also be lost

D. people will be able to communicate with others conveniently

35. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. Languages reflect our identity.

B. People will speak the same language one day.

C. Fewer people will remember their own languages.

D. Ani Rauhihi cares less about languages dying out.

【回答】

BCCA

知识点：*经济文化类阅读

题型：阅读理解