適用地區(qū)：河南、河北、山西、江西、湖北、湖南、廣東、安徽、福建、山東

C

Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers, small, tightly knit (聯(lián)系)groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other. Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.

幾千年來(lái)，語(yǔ)言總是不斷地出現(xiàn)和消失，但在近代，新出現(xiàn)的語(yǔ)言越來(lái)越少，而消失的卻越來(lái)越多了。當(dāng)這個(gè)世界還是狩獵采集者的世界時(shí)，很多小而緊密聯(lián)系的群體都有著各自獨(dú)立的語(yǔ)言模式，因此那時(shí)候的語(yǔ)言種類(lèi)繁多。一些語(yǔ)言專(zhuān)家認(rèn)為，一萬(wàn)年前，當(dāng)世界上只有500萬(wàn)到1000萬(wàn)人的時(shí)候，他們之間大約有12000種語(yǔ)言。

Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalization and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many Languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.

但不久之后，這些人中有很多人開(kāi)始定居下來(lái)成為農(nóng)民，而他們的語(yǔ)言也變得越來(lái)越固定，數(shù)量也越來(lái)越少。近幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，貿(mào)易、工業(yè)化、民族國(guó)家的發(fā)展和義務(wù)教育的普及，尤其是過(guò)去幾十年中全球化的實(shí)現(xiàn)和更好的通信交流，都導(dǎo)致了很多語(yǔ)言的消失，使它們?nèi)找鏋橛⒄Z(yǔ)、西班牙語(yǔ)和漢語(yǔ)等優(yōu)勢(shì)語(yǔ)言所取代。

At present, the world has about 6, 800languages. The distribution of these languages is hugely uneven. The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages, often spoken by many people, while hot wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 languages; the Americas about 1, 000; Africa 2, 400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number(中位數(shù)) of speakers is mere 6,000, which that half the world's languages are spoken by fewer people than that.

目前，世界上有大約6800種語(yǔ)言，而且這些語(yǔ)言的分布極不均衡。一般的規(guī)律是，溫和地區(qū)的語(yǔ)言相對(duì)較少，但講的人卻很多，而炎熱潮濕地區(qū)的語(yǔ)言很多，但講的人卻通常很少。歐洲只有大約200種語(yǔ)言；美洲有約1000種；非洲400種；亞洲和太平洋地區(qū)大約有3200種，其中僅巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞就有超過(guò)800多種。世界語(yǔ)言使用人數(shù)的中位數(shù)為6000人，這意味著世界上有一半的語(yǔ)言使用人數(shù)要少于這一數(shù)字。

Already well over 400 of the total of 6, 800languages are close to extinction (消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick, at random, Busuu in Cameroon (eight remaining speakers), Chiapaneco in Mexico (150), Lipan Apachein the United States (two or three) or Wadjigu in Australia (one, with a question-mark): none of these seems to have much chance of survival.

在這6800種語(yǔ)言中，有超400多種語(yǔ)言也已瀕臨消亡，只剩一些上了年紀(jì)的人還在使用。隨便挑幾個(gè)來(lái)說(shuō)，如喀麥隆的Busuu（僅剩8人還在使用）、墨西哥的Chiapaneco（只剩150人）、美國(guó)的古吉拉特文（只剩兩三個(gè)人在用）或澳大利亞的Wadjigu（只有一人，就這還得打個(gè)問(wèn)號(hào)）：它們的消亡也只是時(shí)間問(wèn)題了。

28. What can we infer about languages in huntergatherer times?

28. 以下關(guān)于狩獵采集時(shí)代語(yǔ)言的推斷哪個(gè)是正確的？

A. They developed very fast.   B. They were large in number.

A. 它們發(fā)展很快。         B.它們數(shù)量很多。

C. They had similar patterns.   D. They were closely connected

C. 它們模式相似。          D. 它們緊密相連。

29. Which of the following best explains "dominant " underlined in paragraph 2？

29. 下列哪項(xiàng)最好地解釋了第2段中強(qiáng)調(diào)的“dominant”?

A. Complex.    B. Advanced.

C. Powerful.    D. Modern.

30. How many languages are spoken by less than 6, 000 people at present? 

30.目前有多少種語(yǔ)言的使用者少于6000人?

A. About 6 800   B. About 3400

C. About 2.400   D. About1-200

31. What is the main idea of the text?

31. 本文的主旨是什么？

A. New languages will be created.

B Peoples lifestyles are reflected in languages

C. Human development results in fewer languages

D. Geography determines language evolution.

答案與解析：

28. B

解析：推斷題。先看題干“What can we infer about languages in huntergatherer times? 以下關(guān)于狩獵采集時(shí)代語(yǔ)言的推斷哪個(gè)是正確的？”。所以我們首先要找到“huntergatherer”出現(xiàn)的段落，也就是第一段。

然后我們用排除法來(lái)做這道題（排除法非常適用于推斷題）：根據(jù)出現(xiàn)這個(gè)詞的這句原文“當(dāng)這個(gè)世界還是狩獵采集者的世界時(shí)，很多小而緊密聯(lián)系的群體都有著各自獨(dú)立的語(yǔ)言模式，因此那時(shí)候的語(yǔ)言種類(lèi)繁多?！?/span>A沒(méi)有講到；C項(xiàng)：原文有說(shuō)independent patterns，顯然是不同的模式；D項(xiàng)緊密相連的是“groups”而不是語(yǔ)言。所以B項(xiàng)是正確的。

29. C

解析：詞義猜測(cè)題。如果我們平時(shí)詞匯積累夠的話“dominant：占主導(dǎo)地位的，有優(yōu)勢(shì)的，占據(jù)統(tǒng)治地位的”，很容易就能把C項(xiàng)選擇出來(lái)。如果不知道這個(gè)單詞什么意思，就需要定位到“dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese areincreasingly taking over. ”根據(jù)原文來(lái)猜測(cè)。

30. B

解析：定位到第三段，根據(jù)本段最后一句“世界語(yǔ)言使用人數(shù)的中位數(shù)為6000人，這意味著世界上有一半的語(yǔ)言使用人數(shù)要少于這一數(shù)字。”可知使用人數(shù)不足6000人的語(yǔ)言占世界語(yǔ)言的一半，那么我們只需要知道世界上目前有多少語(yǔ)言就行了。根據(jù)本段第一句“目前，世界上有大約6800種語(yǔ)言”。所以6800的一半就是3400。

31. C

解析：本題需要通篇理解，整篇文章主要講的就是隨著人類(lèi)的發(fā)展，很多語(yǔ)言消失了。我們使用排除法來(lái)做這道題。A.新的語(yǔ)言將產(chǎn)生，顯然是不對(duì)的。B.人們的生活方式會(huì)在語(yǔ)言中體現(xiàn)出來(lái)，也不對(duì)。C項(xiàng)完全契合。D項(xiàng)顯然也不對(duì)。

重點(diǎn)詞匯掌握：

Soon afterwards   不久之后

Industrialization  工業(yè)化

Compulsoryeducation  義務(wù)教育

Globalization    全球化

Take over    取代，接替，接管

Dominant 占主導(dǎo)地位的，有優(yōu)勢(shì)的，占據(jù)統(tǒng)治地位的

Survival  存續(xù)，存活