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第5部分:補全短文(第46~50題,每題2分,共10分)
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TheDay a Language Died
WhenCarlos Westez died at the age of 76, a language died, too.Carlos Westez, morecommonly known as Red Thunder Cloud, was the last speaker of the NativeAmerican language Catawba.Anyone who wants to hear various songs of theCatawba can contact the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where,back in the 1940s.Red Thunder Cloud recorded a series of songs for futuregenerations.Some people might even try to learn some of these songs byhearts.(46 F) They are all that is left ofthe Catawba language.The language that people used to speak is gone forever.
Weare all aware of the danger that modern industry can do to the world’s ecology(生態(tài)). However, few people are awareof the impact that widely spoken languages have on other languages and ways oflife.English has spread all over the world.Chinese, Spanish, Russian, andHindi have become powerful languages as well.As these languages become morepowerful, their use as tools of business and culture increases.(47 D)When this happens, hundreds oflanguages that are spoken by only a few people die out.
Scholarsbelieve there are around 6,000 languages around the world, but more than halfof them could die out within the next 100 years.There are many examples. Arakiis a native language of the island of Vanuatu, located in the Pacific Ocean.Itis spoken by only a few adults, so like Catawba, Araki will soon disappear.Manylanguages of Ethiopian will have the same fate because each one has only a fewspeakers.Papua New Guinea is an extremely rich source of differentlanguage, but more than 100 of them are in danger of extinction(滅絕).(48 C)In the Americas, 100 languages,each of which has fewer than 300 speakers, also are dying out.
RedThunder Cloud was one of the first to recognize the threat of language deathand to try to do something about it.He was not actually born into the Catawbatribe, and the language was not his mother tongue.However, he was afrequent visitor to the Catawba reservation in South Carolina, where he learnedthe language.(49 A)The songs he sang forthe Smithsonian Institution helped to make Native American music popular.Nowhe is gone, and the language is dead.
Whatdoes it mean for the rest of us when a language disappears? When a plant,insect, or animal species dies, it is easy to understand what we’ve lost and toappreciate what this means for the balance of the natural world.However,language is only a product of the mind.To be the last remaining speaker of alanguage, like Red Thunder Cloud, must be a lonely destiny, almost as strangeand terrible as being the last surviving member of a dying species.For therest of us, when a language dies, we lose the possibility of a unique way ofseeing and describing the world.(50 B)
46.F.Some people might want to try to learn some of these songs by heart.
47.D.As these languages become more powerful, their use as tools of business andculture increases.
48.C.Papua New Guinea is an extremely rich source of different language, but morethan 100 of them are in danger of extinction(滅絕).
49.A.However, he was a frequent visitor to the Catawba reservation in SouthCarolina, where he learned the language.
50.B.For the rest of us, when a language dies, we lose the possibility of aunique way of seeing and describing the world.
【E.These languages don’thave many native speakers.】
(責任編輯:vstara)