Question

Taktak tabulaba?

You probably don’t know how to answer that question---unless you happen to be one of the about 430 people in the world who speak a language called Matukar Panau. Then you would know it means “What are we doing?” Matukar Panau is one of the world’s rarest languages. It is spoken in just two small coastal villages in Papua New Guinea.

Several years ago, David Harrison, a language expert didn’t know much about Matukar Panau either. No one had ever recorded or even studied its words and rules. With so few speakers, the language risked disappearing soon. It was endangered.

Harrison didn’t want that to happen to Matukar Panau. So in 2009, he set out for Papua New Guinea. His goal: use modern technology to help the remaining speakers preserve their native tongue.

But Matukar Panau is far from the only language facing loss. Studies suggest that by the end of this century, nearly half of the 7,000 languages now spoken worldwide could disappear. They’re in danger partly because the only people left speaking them are elderly adults, Harrison says. When those individuals die, their language will die with them. In addition, children may discard a native language and instead use more common global languages, such as Chinese, English or Spanish.

In the United States alone, 134 native American languages are endangered. Harrison says, “language hotspots” exist all over the world. These are places with endangered languages that haven’t been recorded. They include the state of Oklahoma, pockets of central and eastern Siberia, parts of northern Australia and communities in South America.

1.The purpose of using the question “Taktak tabulaba?” is to ________.

A.introduce a new foreign language

B.introduce the topic of the text

C.show the difficulty understanding Matukar Panau

D.stress the importance of Matukar Panau

2.The underline word “discard” in Paragraph 4 means _______.

A.get rid of B.pick up

C.hear of D.learn about

3.The last two paragraphs imply that endangered languages are _________.

A.dying quickly in Siberia

B.popular in some special places

C.becoming a worldwide problem

D.some native tongues

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。Matukar Panau语是一种稀有的语种，由于讲这种语言的人很少，这种语言面临消亡的危险；与此类似，到本世纪末世界上将有近一半的语言面临消亡，仅美国就有134种本地语言濒临消亡。

1.推理判断题。通读全文可知，本文主题为语言消亡问题，根据第一段You probably don’t know how to answer that question---unless you happen to be one of the about 430 people in the world who speak a language called Matukar Panau.可知，用疑问“Taktak tabulaba?”做标题，是为了引出该主题，故B项正确。

2.词义猜测题。根据画线词后的a native language and instead use more common global languages, such as Chinese，English or Spanish可以判断，那里的孩子们可能不说这种本地方言，而是更多地讲汉语、英语和西班牙语等国际通用语言，故画线词意为“摆脱，丢弃”，故A项正确。

3.推理判断题。根据第四段第二句Studies suggest that by the end of this century, nearly half of the 7,000 languages now spoken worldwide could disappear(研究表明,到本世纪末，全球近一半的7000语言现在可能消失。)及最后一段的“language hotspots” exist all over the world可以判断，濒危语言正在成为世界性难题，故C项正确。