Question

Can you imagine a world without a writing system for your language? It may be hard to picture it now, but a man named Sequoyah lived in such a world. Sequoyah was a member of a native American tribe, the Cherokee. Cherokee people speak their own language, but for hundreds of years they did not have a system of writing. Without a writing system, the Cherokee had no newspapers or books before 1809.

Sequoyah was probably born around the year 1770 and lived with his mother in a small village in the mountains of Tennessee. When he grew up, he became a blacksmith. When he was doing business with those “English-speaking people”, he noticed that they used paper with marks to record their thoughts and ideas. Sequoyah called these pieces of paper with marks “talking leaves”. He began to wonder why people who spoke Cherokee did not have a way to write down their words.

In 1809, Sequoyah decided to give the Cherokee their own “talking leaves”. At first he tried to make a different symbol for every word in the Cherokee language. But in that case, there would be so many symbols and too hard for people to remember, so he decided to make a picture for each syllable (音节). After much hard work, Sequoyah invented 85 symbols. In order to see whether it would work, he helped his six-year-old daughter Ayoka learn each symbol and found she could learn to read and write very quickly. Sequoyah’s invention was a success!

Before long, Sequoyah’s writing system had spread far and wide. Cherokee people living in all different parts of the country learned to read and write. In 1825, Sequoyah’s system was made the official written language for Cherokee people. To this day, Cherokee speakers still use Sequoyah’s writing system. In some parts of the United States, you can see street signs and billboards written in both English and Cherokee. Sequoyah will always be remembered for his important contribution to Cherokee people.

1.Did the Cherokee have newspapers before 1809?

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2.What did Sequoyah call the pieces of paper with marks?

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3.How many symbols did Sequoyah invent in the Cherokee language?

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4.When was Sequoyah’s system made the official written language?

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5.Why will Sequoyah always be remembered?

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Answer

1.No.

2.Talking leaves.

3.85.

4.In 1825.

5.Because of/For his important contribution to Cherokee people. / Because he created the writing system for Cherokee language. / Because he made the official written language for Cherokee people.

【解析】本文是一篇说明文，文中主要介绍了塞阔雅（Sequoyah）对切诺基语的发展所做出的巨大贡献。

1.题意：在1809年之前，切诺基人有报纸吗？细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句“Without a writing system, the Cherokee had no newspapers or books before 1809.”可知没有报纸，答案No.。

2.题意：Sequoyah把带有符号的纸张称为什么？细节理解题。根据第二段倒数第二句“Sequoyah called these pieces of paper with marks ‘talking leaves’.”可知，他把这些带有符号的纸张称为“说话的树叶”。答案为Talking leaves.

3.题意：在切诺基语中，Sequoyah发明了多少符号？细节理解题。根据第三段第四句中“After much hard work, Sequoyah invented 85 symbols.”可知，Sequoyah发明了85个符号。可知答案是85.

4.题意：Sequoyah的书写系统什么时候成为了官方的书面语？细节理解题。根据最后一段第三句“In 1825, Sequoyah’s system was made the official written language for Cherokee people.”可知，Sequoyah的书写系统在1825年成为了官方的书面语。可知答案是In 1825.

5.题意：Sequoyah为什么会被人们永远纪念?阅读短文可知，Sequoyah为切诺基人的语言发展做出了巨大的贡献，据此表述即可，答案不唯一。Because of/For his important contribution to Cherokee people. / Because he created the writing system for Cherokee language. / Because he made the official written language for Cherokee people.