Question

【题目】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.

【语篇导读】本文告诉我们世界上有很多语言和文化即将消失，有很多学者正在努力保护这些文化，如Mark Turin。他们收集，整理这些文化有关的材料，运用现代电子技术进行保存或保护等等。

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】A

【3】D

【4】C

【解析】

【1】细节理解题。根据第二段2,3行have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.可知很多学者正在记录这些即将消失的语言和文化。以防止这些语言和文化永远地消失。他们在挽救这些文化。故C正确。

【2】推理判断题。根据文章第二段have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.可知很多学者正在记录这些即将消失的语言和文化。以防止这些语言和文化永远地消失。而Mark Turin正在 following in that tradition（追随这样的传统）。所以这里的It就是指前面一段里的学者在记录这些即将消失的语言和文化。故A正确。

【3】细节理解题。根据文章第三段中的grows out of his experience living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.这本书的内容出自他在尼泊尔生活，工作以及抚养家人的经历。说明这本书是以他的个人经历为基础的。故D正确。

【4】推理判断题。根据文章第四段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 .他一直都在收集这些材料；根据文章第五段which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection可知他在努力这些材料。再根据文章最后一段the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities可知C项说法是正确的。