Question

    The United States is home to 562 recognized American Indian Nations each with its own language.

Yet the number of native. Americans with the ability to speak their tribe's language has decreased over the past century.

Now, Indian Nations are trying different ways to expand the number of native speakers, and increase interest in their communities to learn tribal languages.

Since the late 1800s. many American Indian children have attended boarding schools. At that time, Indian children were required to attend schools by law, and the government forced Indian families to send their children to such schools.

The children were separated from their families. and given English name The teachers often taught native American students in English, instead of the language of their parents. They were told they needed to learn English in order to get a job, earn money and buy a house or nice things.

However, fearing a loss of history and culture, the Indian Nations are experimenting with new ways to increase the language ability of tribal members.

At least one organization is turning to modern technology---The Sealaska Heritage Institute, a nonprofit group, has developed two apps for speakers of the Tlingit language.

The “Learning Tlingit” app serves as a reference for important language topics such as conversation phrases, number, and letters.

The Tlingit tribe has about 10, 000 members. They live mainly in southeastern Alaska. But as of 2013, the tribe had only 125 native speakers left. in addition, very few young people are able to speak Tlingit.

Currently there are two apps, called “Learning Tlingit” and “Tlingit Language Games”. The “Learning Tlingit” app serves as a language guide. It provides Tlingit words and expressions, the tribal alphabet, as well as a basic list of the words included. With the “Tlingit Language Games” app, users are given a choice of different places of environments, like a house, forest or ocean.

1.What is the problem the native Americans are facing now?

A.The number of native Americans has been increasing.

B.Fewer and fewer native Americans speak their own language.

C.Their native language has been extinct.

D.It's hard to increase the interest of hearing native languages.

2.What will be the result if more and more native Americans only speak English?

A.They will get better jobs and higher pay.

B.They will teach their own children to speak English.

C.They will lose their history and culture.

D.They will get along well with the government.

3.What can we know about Tlingit?

A.It can help the native people know some language topics.

B.It can help the: native people earn money and buy a. house or nice things

C.It is a very popular app among the native speakers

D.It is a native language spoken by fewer than 200 people.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A.American Indian tribes' efforts to increase native speakers.

B.Reasons for the disappearance of some American Indian languages.

C.Ways to help the native tribes lead a traditional life.

D.The popularity of the language learning apps.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。美国的印第安人正在使用新的方法来增加本族语言的使用，否则，他们的本族语言将面临严重的危机。

1.细节理解题。根据文章第二段“Yet the number of native. Americans with the ability to speak their tribe's language has decreased over the past century. （但是能说他们本族语言的本地美国人的数量在过去的一个世纪中已将减少。）”可知，会说本族语的美国土著的人数在过去的一个多世纪中已经减少了，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据文章第六段“However, fearing a loss of history and culture, the Indian Nations are experimenting with new ways to increase the language ability of tribal members.（然而，害怕失去自己的历史和文化，许多印第安部落尝试新的方法来提升族人的本族语使用能力。）”可知，如果越来越多的族人只说英语，他们将会失去自己的历史和文化。故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据文章第九段前三句“The Tlingit tribe has about 10, 000 members. They live mainly in southeastern Alaska. But as of 2013, the tribe had only 125 native speakers left.（特林吉特部落有大约一万人。他们主要居住在阿拉斯加东南部。但是就2013年的统计，这个部落只有125人可以说自己民族的语言）”可知，现在仅仅有不到两百人可以说这种语言了，故选D。

4.主旨大意题。这是一篇说明文，文章前六段描述了美国印第安人在民族语言方面面临的处境以及这一处境引起的担忧，最后四段提出了针对这一问题的解决方案：美国的印第安人正在使用新的方法（app）来增加本族语使用人数。选项A中efforts能凸显人们这一问题的担心及在努力寻求解决方案方面所做的努力。故选A。