Question

【題目】As more and more people speak the global languages of English, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, other languages are rapidly disappearing. In fact, half of the 6, 000-7, 000 languages spoken around the world today will likely die out by the next century, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In an effort to prevent language loss, scholars from a number of organizations—UNESCO and National Geographic among them—have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.

Mark Turin, a scientist at the Macmillan Centre Yale University, who specializes in the languages and oral traditions of the Himalayas, is following in that tradition. His recently published book, A Grammar of Thangmi with an Ethnolinguistic Introduction to the Speakers and Their Culture, grows out of his experience living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.

Documenting the Thangmi language and culture is just a starting point for Turin, who seeks to include other languages and oral traditions across the Himalayan reaches of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. But he is not content to simply record these voices before they disappear without record.

At the University of Cambridge Turin discovered a wealth of important materials-including photographs, films, tape recordings, and field notes—which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection.

Now, through the two organizations that he has founded –the Digital Himalaya Project and the World Oral Literature Project—Turin has started a campaign to make such documents, for the world available not just to scholars but to the younger generations of communities from whom the materials were originally collected. Thanks to digital technology and the widely available Internet, Turin notes, the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities.

【1】Many scholars are making efforts to ______.

A. promote global languages

B. rescue disappearing languages

C. search for language communities

D. set up language research organizations.

【2】 What does “that tradition’ in Paragraph 3 refer to ?

A. Having full records of the languages

B. Writing books on language teaching.

C. Telling stories about language users

D. Living with the native speaker.

【3】 What is Turin’s book based on?

A. The cultural studies

B. The documents available at Yale.

C. His language research in Bhutan.

D. His personal experience in Nepal.

【4】Which of the following best describe Turin’s work?

A. Write, sell and donate.

B. Record, repair and reward.

C. Collect, protect and reconnect.

D. Design, experiment and report.

【語篇導(dǎo)讀】本文告訴我們世界上有很多語言和文化即將消失，有很多學(xué)者正在努力保護(hù)這些文化，如Mark Turin。他們收集，整理這些文化有關(guān)的材料，運(yùn)用現(xiàn)代電子技術(shù)進(jìn)行保存或保護(hù)等等。

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】A

【3】D

【4】C

【解析】

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段2,3行have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.可知很多學(xué)者正在記錄這些即將消失的語言和文化。以防止這些語言和文化永遠(yuǎn)地消失。他們在挽救這些文化。故C正確。

【2】推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第二段have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.可知很多學(xué)者正在記錄這些即將消失的語言和文化。以防止這些語言和文化永遠(yuǎn)地消失。而Mark Turin正在 following in that tradition（追隨這樣的傳統(tǒng)）。所以這里的It就是指前面一段里的學(xué)者在記錄這些即將消失的語言和文化。故A正確。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第三段中的grows out of his experience living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.這本書的內(nèi)容出自他在尼泊爾生活，工作以及撫養(yǎng)家人的經(jīng)歷。說明這本書是以他的個(gè)人經(jīng)歷為基礎(chǔ)的。故D正確。

【4】推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第四段Documenting the Thangmi language and culture is just a starting point for Turin, who seeks to include other languages and oral traditions across the Himalayan reaches of India , Nepal, Bhutan, and China .他一直都在收集這些材料；根據(jù)文章第五段which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection可知他在努力這些材料。再根據(jù)文章最后一段the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities可知C項(xiàng)說法是正確的。