Throughout history, people have been interested in knowing how language first began, but no one knows exactly where or how this happened. However, we do know a lot about languages, the language of today and also the languages of earlier times. There are probably about three thousand languages in the world today. Chinese is the language with the most speakers. English, Russian and Spanish are also spoken by millions of people. On the other hand, some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.

There are several important families of languages in the world. For example, most of the languages of Europe are in one large family called Indo-European. The original language of this family was spoken about 4,500 years ago. Many of the present-day languages of Europe and India are modern forms of the language of 4,500 years ago.

    Languages are always changing. The English of today is very different from the English of 500 years ago. In time, some even die out completely. About 1,000 years ago, English was a little known relative of German spoken on one of the borders of Europe.

If a language has a number of speakers, or if it is very old, there may be differences in the way it is spoken in different areas. That is, the language may have several dialects. Chinese is a good example of dialect differences. Chinese has been spoken for thousands of years by many millions of people. The differences between the dialects of Chinese are so great that speakers of Chinese from some parts of China can’t understand speakers from other parts.

1.The first paragraph mainly tells us that_______.

A. most people in the world speak Chinese

B. there are thousands of languages in today’s world

C. man has much knowledge about languages

D. some people know several languages

2.Most European and Indian languages_______.

A. will soon die out completely

B. were once a relative of English

C. are no longer spoken

D. come from the same family of language.

3.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

  A. Chinese is the language with the most speakers.

  B. English was a well-known relative of German spoken on one of the borders of Europe.

  C. A language has many speakers, but there may be no differences in the way it is spoken in different areas.

  D. Speakers of Chinese from some parts of China can understand speakers from other parts.

4.It is considered a most difficult thing for one to learn to speak Chinese because_______.

A. there are great differences between the dialects of Chinese

B. Chinese and many foreign languages are not of the same family

C. Chinese is a very old language

D. there are great differences between the old Chinese and the present-day Chinese

5.The underlined word “dialect” in the last paragraph means_______.

A. a special language spoken by Chinese

B. the sign used by Chinese people in a special area

C. the difference between the old and today’s Chinese

D. the form of a language used in one part of the country

Ang Lee won the Best Director Oscar for his adventure film Life of Pi at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 24, 2013.
　　Life of Pi shows a young Indian named Pi, who finds the world he knows swept away when his family sells their zoo and sets sail for Canada with a few animals. Only Pi escapes from the storm and floats in a lifeboat with a giant Bengal tiger.
　　“I really want to thank you for believing this story and sharing this unbelievablejourney with me,” Lee said in his speech. The film also won three other Oscars, for best original music, best cinematography(电影艺术) and best visual(视觉) effects. It won more awards than Lincoln and Argo which were also among the hottest nominees.
　　Coming from China's Taiwan, the 58-year-old Lee won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and another for Best Director in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain. He is the only person of Asian to win the directing award and one of the rare people who won that award more than once.
In an after-ceremony interview, Lee said he believed Asian films would come to the main stage of the world sooner or later. "I was born in Asia and grew up with Chinese education. It is natural for me to put Asian thinking into Western things." The film, which cost 120 million U.S. dollars, has earned nearly 600 million dollars worldwide. Lee said most of the earnings came from outside China. Lee said he felt warm that he won the award on the day of the Lantern Festival, a Chinese traditional festival on which families get together to solve puzzles on lanterns and eat Tang Yuan. He wished everyone a happy new year of the snake and everybody gets lucky.
【小题1】What kind of film does Life of Pi belong to?

The fast development of technology has brought great changes to China’s media industry．It’s becoming difficult for Chinese TV entertainment programmes to get a high rating(收视率)easily as they did in the 1980s．
However，Zhejiang Satellite TV’s talent show The Voice of China became one of China’s hottest topics last year．The popular singing contest has helped turn some winners into hot stars，with a bright future ahead of them．Last year,I’m a Singer,another singing talent show of Hunan Satellite TV,had caught many people’s eyes，helping some once hot singers become popula again．
The Voice of China originares(起源)from The Voice of Holland.The show first started in Holland 4 years ago．Later the American television network NBC bought the copyrights(版权)to do a similar show in the U．S．Since then，the music talent show has become a hit in more than 50 countries around the world．I’m a Singer was one of the highest rating shows in South Korea in 2011．It was bought by Hunan Satellite TV from MBC，the South Korean television network later．
The success of The Voice of China and I’m a Singer has helped Chinese TV producers find that it’s a good way to buy the copyrights of some overseas TV shows and make them local programmes．Last year，they turned their eyes from singing to diving(跳水)．Stars in Danger-High Dive produced by Jiangsu Satellite TV in the Water Cube is a celebrity (名人) diving talent show originating from Germany．Zhejiang Satellite TV’s  Splash also comes from the TV show named Celebrity Splash in Holland.

A) 根据所读内容，在文章后第62—71小题的空格里填入恰当的单词。每个空格只填1个单词。

Venice, a city in the northeast of Italy, is famous throughout the world for its buildings and romantic canals (运河). But in February every year, people come to Venice for another reason. The city carnival fills the place with excitement and fun. This year, the celebration runs from February 4 to 21.

Colorful costumes have always played a very important role in the Venetian carnival. The carnival happens at the start of the Christian fasting (斋戒) period of Lent. It was traditionally a time to go a bit crazy with eating, drinking, dancing and dressing up before the fast began. People used masks to hide their social identity so that the nobility(贵族) would look no different from the commoners.

Today the carnival is largely for the tourists. “Venetians don’t dress up for Carnival after the age of 10.” Giuseppina Giudice, who has lived in the city all her life, told the Guardian. “All we see of Carnival is a river of strangers who flow into town to feel ‘Venetian’. They fill it, buy a cheap mask and leave with nothing but photographs of St Mark’s Square.”

Some locals want to bring back the original (最初的) feel of Carnival. In 2009, two social networking groups started organizing their own carnival. Visitors were invited. But there were no expensive tickets or fancy ball dresses---- just an old-fashioned Italian street party. “Tourists are welcome to our party ---- the more we can show them about the real Venice rather than the postcard Venice, the better,” Matteo Secchi, one of the organizers, told the Guardian.