Question

    For all the pressures and rewards of regionalization (地区化) and globalization, local identities remain the most deeply impressed. Even if the end result of globalization is to make the world smaller, its scope seems to foster the need for more private local connections among many individuals. As Bernard Poignant, mayor of the town of Quimper in Brittany, told the Washington Post, “Man is a fragile animal and he needs his close attachments. The more open the world becomes, the more ties there will be to one s roots and one’s land.”

In most communities, local languages such as Poignant’s Breton serve a strong symbolic function as a clear mark of “authenticity (原真性)”. The sum total of a community’s shared historical experience, authenticity reflects a noticeable line from a culturally idealized past to the present, carried by the language and traditions associated with the community’s origins. A concern for authenticity leads most secular (世俗的) Israelis to defend Hebrew among themselves while also acquiring English and even Arabic. The same obsession with authenticity drives Hasidic Jews in Israel or the Diaspora to champion Yiddish while also learning Hebrew and English. In each case, authenticity amounts to a central core of cultural beliefs and interpretations that are not only resistant to globalization but also are actually reinforced by the “threat” that globalization seems to present to these historical values. Scholars may argue that cultural identities change over time in response to specific reward systems. But locals often resist such explanation and defend authenticity and local mother tongues against the perceived threat of globalization with near religious eagerness.

As a result, never before in history have there been as many standardized languages as there are today: roughly 1,200. Many smaller languages, even those with far fewer than one million speakers, have benefited from state-sponsored or voluntary preservation movements. On the most informal level, communities in Alaska and the American northwest have formed Internet discussion groups in an attempt to pass on Native American languages to younger generations. In the Basque, Catalan, and Galician regions of Spain, such movements are fiercely political and frequently involved loyal resistance to the Spanish government over political and linguistic rights. Projects have ranged from a campaign to print Spanish money in the four official languages of the state to the creation of language immersion nursery and primary schools. Zapatistas in Mexico are championing the revival of Mayan languages in an equally political campaign for local autonomy.

In addition to causing the feeling of the subjective importance of local roots, supporters of local languages defend their continued use on practical grounds. Local tongues foster higher levels of school success, higher degrees of participation in local government, more informed citizenship, and better knowledge of one’s own culture, history, and faith. Government and relief agencies can also use local languages to spread information about industrial and agricultural techniques as well as modern health care to diverse audiences. Development workers in West Africa, for example, have found that the best way to teach the vast number of farmers with little or no formal education how to sow and rotate crops for higher yields is in these local tongues. Nevertheless, both regionalization and globalization require that more and more speakers of local languages be multi-literate.

1.In paragraph 1, the author quoted a mayor’s word to show that globalization ________.

A. strengthens local identities B. weakens regionalization

C. strengthens individualism D. weakens local attachments

2.The influence of globalization on authenticity is that it ________.

A. weakens the authority of authenticity

B. prevents the development of authenticity

C. enhances the importance of authenticity

D. promotes the maturity of authenticity

3.In terms of campaigns for language protection, America differs from Spain and Mexico in that ______.

A. its volunteers have enough sponsorship from the state.

B. its locals are not interested in finding native Americans.

C. its youths are eager to pass on the local traditions.

D. its movements are not political.

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Practically, local languages are less used than English.

B. Local languages are more important in daily life.

C. The smaller the world is, the more united the locals are.

D. The relation between localization and globalization is double-win.

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

本文是说明文。对于区域化和全球化的所有压力及其回报来说，本地的认同还是最关键的。即使全球化的最终结果是促使世界变小了，这一能力依然促进了众多个体最初在本土相连的需求。世界越是变得开放，其本源与本土的连接就会越紧密。文章列举了当地文化的现状及各国采取的保护措施。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段得知，作者用引用的句子是为了说明全球化让世界越变越小，但它也促使个体之间更加亲密，增加了地方认同。故选A。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段In each case, authenticity amounts to a central core of cultural beliefs and interpretations that are not only resistant to globalization but also are actually reinforced by the“threat”that globalization seems to present to these historical values.得知，全球化对真实性的影响是增强了真实性的重要性。故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段communities in Alaska and the American northwest have formed Internet discussion groups in an attempt to pass on Native American languages to younger generations.阿拉斯加和美国西北部的社区已经形成了互联网讨论会来保护语言，而西班牙和墨西哥通过政治活动保护语言。故选D.

4.细节理解题。根据最后一段得知，地方语言的众多用处，但并没有明确比较地方语言和英语在实际应用方面孰多孰少。A项表述错误。故选A。