Question

14．The death of languages is not a new phenomenon．Languages usually have a relatively short life span as well as a very high death rate．Only a few，including Egyptian，Chinese，Greek，Latin，have lasted more than 2，000 years．
What is new，however，is the speed at which they are dying out．Europe's colonial conquests caused a sharp decline in linguistic diversity，eliminating at least 15 percent of all languages spoken at the time．Over the last 300 years，Europe has lost a dozen，and Australia has only 20 left of the 250 spoken at the end of the 18th century．
The rise of nation-states has also been decisive in selecting and consolidating national languages and sidelining others．By making great efforts to establish an official language in education，the media and the civil service，national governments have deliberately tried to eliminate minority languages．
This process of linguistic standardization has been boosted by industrialization and scientific progress，which have imposed new methods of communication that are swift，straightforward and practical．Language diversity came to be seen as an obstacle to trade and the spread of knowledge．Monolingualism became an ideal．
More recently，the internationalization of financial markets，the spread of information by electronic media and other aspects of globalization have intensified the threat to"small"languages．A language not on the Internet is a language that"no longer exists"in the modern world．It is out of the game．
The serious effects of the death of languages are evident．First of all，it is possible that if we all ended up speaking the same language，our brains would lose some of their natural capacity for linguistic inventiveness．We would never be able to figure out the origins of human language or resolve the mystery of"the first language"．As each language dies，a chapter of human history closes．
Multilingualism is the most accurate reflection of multiculturalism．The destruction of the first will inevitably lead to the loss of the second．Imposing a language without any links to a people's culture and way of life stifles the expression of their collective genius．A language is not only used for the main instrument of human communication．It also expresses the world vision of those who speak it，their imagination and their ways of using knowledge．To safeguard languages is an urgent matter．
 
74．Which of the following does not contribute to the death of languages？B
A．Colonial conquests of Europe
B．The boom of human population．
C．Advances in science and industrialization
D．The rise of nation-states．
75．What does the underlined word"stifles"in Paragraph 7 probably mean？D
A．boosts      B．fuels         C．imposes      D．kills
76．The serious effects of the death of languages include all except thatB
A．people would fail to understand how languages originated．
B．language diversity would become an obstacle to globalization．
C．monolingualism would lead to the loss of multiculturalism．
D．human brains would become less creative linguistically．
77．What is the author's purpose of writing this passage？C
A．To explain the reasons why languages are dying out．
B．To warn people of the negative aspects of globalization．
C．To call people's attention to the urgency of language preservation．
D．To argue how important it is for people to speak more languages．

Answer 1

分析 文章講述了語言的死亡這一現(xiàn)象，分別從民族國家的崛起，科學的進步和工業(yè)化，歐洲殖民的征服等方面解釋了這一現(xiàn)象發(fā)生的原因，呼吁人們維護語言．

解答 74．B 選項A、C、D可以分別從第二段中的"Europe's colonial conquests caused a sharp decline in linguistic diversity"和第三段中的"The rise of nation-states has also been decisive in selecting and consolidating national languages and sidelining others"以及第四段中的"This process of linguistic standardization has been boosted by industrialization and scientific progress"找到，原文中沒有提到選項B，故選B．
75．D 原文中"Imposing a language without any links to a people's culture and way of life stifles the expression of their collective genius．"是說民族文化和生活方式扼殺了他們的語言表達天賦，由此可見選項D正確，故選D．
76．B 倒數(shù)第二段中的"if we all ended up speaking the same language，our brains would lose some of their natural capacity for linguistic inventiveness．We would never be able to figure out the origins of human language or resolve the mystery of"the first language"我們的大腦會失去一些自然創(chuàng)造能力和我們將無法找出人類的起源，對應選項A和D，最后一段中"Multilingualism is the most accurate reflection of multiculturalism"多種語言最準確的反應多元文化對應選項C，文章未提到選項B，故選B．
77．C．由 最后一段中的"To safeguard languages is an urgent matter．"維護語言是一個緊迫的問題可知作者寫文章是為了提醒人們語言保護的緊迫性，故選C．

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