Just as in the Caribbean, the English language arrived in South Asia as a result of colonization (殖民). Unlike its history in the Caribbean, however, English has always co-existed in the Indian subcontinent alongside thousands of local languages. So for most of the population, it has only ever been a second language.
The British first arrived in India in the early1600s and soon established trading posts in a number of cities under the control of The East India Company. By 1765 the company’s influence had grown to such an extent that the British were effectively controlling most parts of the country. This date is often taken as the start of what is referred to as The Raj — a period of British rule in India that lasted until Independence in 1947.
At first, English was only taught to the local population through the work of Christian missionaries (传教士) — there were no official attempts to force the language on the masses. But by the 1700s, English had firmly established itself as the language of administration and many educated Indians were demanding instruction in English as a means of social advancement. By 1857 universities had opened in Bombay, Calcutta and Madros. English was increasingly accepted as the language of government, of the social elite (精英), and of the national press.
After Independence, India became a nation state, and it was intended that English would be phased out as the language of administration. But there was no simple solution as to which language should replace it. At first Hindi, the most widely spoken language, seemed to be the obvious choice, but since violent protests in 1963 in the state of Tamil Nadu against Hindi as a national language, opinion has remained divided. In a country with over 1.3 billion people and more than a thousand languages, it is difficult to choose a single national language, as mother tongue speakers of that language would automatically enjoy greater social status and have easier access to positions of power and influence.
Despite continued pressure from nationalists, English remains at the heart of Indian society. It is widely used in the media, in higher education and government and therefore remains a common means of communication , both among the ruling classes, and between speakers of mutually unintelligible (难以理解的) languages.
1. What led to the introduction of the English language to India?| A．The British rule. | B．The spread of English education. |
| C．The development of Indian press. | D．The contribution of the scholars. |
| A．Commonly taught. | B．Publicly recognized. |
| C．Widely used. | D．Gradually put to an end. |
| A．Hindi was spoken by most Indians. |
| B．Indians accepted Hindi as an official language. |
| C．Plans to make Hindi a national language met with opposition. |
| D．Non-native language speakers tend to have greater social status. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Opposed. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Defensive. |
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【推荐1】You might dream of fluency in this or that language, and maybe you have already achieved fluency in a foreign language.
Fluency, like all abstract terms (术语, 词语), has no universal meaning. Each individual must determine what the term means.
Perfect fluency means knowing every word you come across, speaking quickly, clearly and easily and having no accent.
Quick fluency is the type of fluency you see in advertisements, because “Master a Language in 2 Months!” sounds more attractive and pleasing than “Fluency in 20 Years!”
There are a ton of other things that fluency could potentially be, but that’s up to you to figure out.
| A．It sounds too good to be true. |
| B．However, nobody is “perfectly fluent” in any language. |
| C．Quick fluency is good if you have some sort of deadline. |
| D．But have you ever considered what fluency really means? |
| E．But does fluency have the same meaning to other person as it does to you? |
| F．Unlike perfect fluency, native-like fluency is a reasonable and achievable goal. |
| G．To assist you in determining what fluency is, I’ll describe a few different types of fluency. |
【推荐2】My parents immigrated to the U.S. from Guangdong, a province in southern China. The jobs they found in hot kitchens and clothing factories came with long hours, leaving them no time to learn English. So I spent most of my childhood, in Brooklyn, speaking Cantonese, the only language my parents understand. But as I continued my education, I gradually, or deliberately avoided using Cantonese. And as a result, Cantonese avoided me. As it slips from my memory, I also lose my ability to communicate with my parents. For years I have to rely on translation apps and online dictionaries for most of our conversations.
Actually, we speak on the phone only once a week and the conversations are much the same: “Have you eaten yet?” my father asks in Cantonese. Long pause. “No, not yet. You?” I reply. “Why not? It’s so late, my mother cuts in. Long pause.” Remember to drink more water and wear a mask outside.” she continues. “OK. You too.” Longest pause. “We’ll stop bothering you, then.” At age thirty-two, I feel like someone they know instead of their daughter.
On my mom’s sixty-fourth birthday, at the peak of the pandemic, I became increasingly aware of the limited amount of time together. Did I really want to spend the rest of our lives with a language barrier between us? I made it a goal to relearn Cantonese, and, ultimately, rebuild the relationship with my parents. I take Cantonese classes. I watch Wong Kar-wai movies. I repeat Maggie Cheung’s words over and over until I get the tones just right. But, most of all, I call my parents and try to have more meaningful conversations with them, no matter how challenging it gets. Though Cantonese no longer feels natural for me to speak, it will always be my first language---even if it takes a lifetime for us to know each other.
1. How does the author relearn Cantonese?| A．By asking her parents to teach her. | B．By using translation apps and dictionaries. |
| C．By reading Maggie Cheung’s books. | D．By taking classes and watching movies. |
| A．They find nothing to communicate. | B．They speak different languages. |
| C．They grew up in different cultures. | D．They know too much about each other. |
| A．Language matters in communication. | B．Cantonese counts more than English. |
| C．It’s never too late to learn a language. | D．Call your parents before it’s too late. |
【推荐3】The world celebrates Earth Day every year on April 22. Today, we celebrate our shared mother Earth with a show about earth expressions. First, “on earth”, which is used to make strong feelings like surprise, shock, anger, dislike and so on. Here are some examples.
What on earth are you cooking? It smells terrible!
I did not know what on earth she was talking about.
The earth sometimes comes up when a person wants to make big promises. When you say you will go to the ends of the earth for someone, it means you’ll do as much as possible to help them. For example, when the wife became sick, the husband went to the ends of the earth to find the best doctor for her.
A mother or father may promise to move Heaven and Earth to help their children. “To move Heaven and Earth” simply means that someone is willing to work very hard.
We can call a beautiful place a heaven on earth. Actually, “heaven on earth” could describe any enjoyable place. Let’s say you love books and reading. Then a library was likely to be your heaven on earth. If you prefer to be in a mountain hike, that would be your heaven on earth.
We use “earth” to describe not only places, but people. Down-to-earth people are reasonable and dependable. We can also them grounded, an adjective that goes well with the word “earth”. Flighty people are the opposite. They change their minds often and are hard to trust.
We will end this program with one more “earth” expression. When you promise someone the earth, you promise to give them whatever they want. We use this only in a literal (字面上的) sense. No one can give another person the earth!
1. Why is the Earth Day mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To remind people of the day’s approach. |
| B．To introduce a related topic of the show. |
| C．To raise awareness of protecting the earth. |
| D．To inspire more creative ways of celebration. |
| A．A dull place. | B．A familiar place. |
| C．A wealthy place. | D．A fascinating place. |
| A．Promise to respect Mother Earth. | B．Promise to become down-to-earth. |
| C．Promise to move Heaven and Earth. | D．Promise to go to the ends of the earth. |
| A．A radio programme. | B．A modern novel. |
| C．A news report. | D．A noticeboard letter. |
【推荐1】Tommy, a 26-year-old chimp (猩猩), lives in a small cage in a used truck sales lot in New York. Retired from movie work and whatever else once occupied him, he has no chimp friends—just a TV. He is worlds away from the rainforest of Western Africa, where chimps spend most of their lives in trees, hunting, and socializing together.
His owner hasn’t broken any laws, but an animal rights group called the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) is trying to change the view. The group says chimps have such a humanlike intelligence that they should be recognized as “legal persons” and be placed in an animal shelter and wander free.
You’ve probably heard the term “animal rights”, but animals don’t actually have rights in many countries. Animal-welfare laws punish people who mistreat animals, but that’s not the same as chimps having a right to liberty or anything else.
NhRP’s first step is to ask a judge to end people’s unjust arrest on behalf of Tommy and other privately owned chimps. If the court (法庭) decides to recognize chimps as legal persons, NhRP’s next step will be arguing for what rights the chimps should be guaranteed. “The right that they should have is the right to body liberty,” says Wise, a NhRP group member. “They should be able to choose how to live their lives.”
Tommy’s owner, Pat Lavery, says he rescued Tommy from a careless owner about a decade ago and denies the chimp is mistreated or unhappy. “He likes being by himself,” he says.
“There’s a danger in making a jump to say they’re just like people,” says Richard Cupp, a professor who writes about animals and the law. “If we really believe chimps are very, very smart, then who knows if maybe someday we might…say, ‘Hey, here’s a particular human being that’s not very smart at all, maybe the chimps have higher status than this person.’”
1. What can we infer from the text?| A．Great progress has been made on improving animal rights. |
| B．Pat Lavery is thought to mistreat Tommy by NhRP. |
| C．Animal rights are going from bad to worse. |
| D．Animal rights have been admitted in western countries. |
| A．To ensure chimps’ body safety. | B．To stop illegal hunting of chimps. |
| C．To help chimps find their families | D．To help chimps enjoy their freedom. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Uncaring. | C．Worried. | D．Supportive. |
【推荐2】In the United States, researchers are experimenting with sodium to see whether it can power much-improved batteries in the future. Sodium is a soft, silvery metal. It is plentiful and found in seawater. The most common battery used today is made of lithium(锂). These batteries power everything from smartphones to computers to electric vehicles. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego are attempting to build a new generation of batteries powered by sodium instead of lithium.
The California researchers are studying lithium batteries, but in the next few years they plan to begin testing new sodium batteries. Team member Hayley Hirsh says she looks forward to working more with sodium development in the future.
Lithium is costly and not easy to collect because it is widely spread across many parts of the world. Large amounts of water and energy are also required to gather lithium. But sodium is found in the world’s oceans, with a seemingly limitless supply. This would lead to much lower costs to produce sodium for batteries.
Hirsh says she is examining different ways to make batteries that last longer and can store more power.
”Right now it’s just in the lab and we’re working on figuring out how to make it hold more energy and last longer so that it can be used in your phone, in your car or even to store energy for solar, for wind,” she said.
Finding better ways to store more energy at a lower price has been one of the major barriers to developing more powerful batteries. Today it is not really cost-effective for power companies to use batteries. This is because it would cost hundreds of dollars per kilowatt hour to operate.
However, using sodium batteries could bring that cost way down. The researchers say it could then make economic sense for people to have storage containers at home to save energy produced by the sun or wind.
1. What can we know about sodium in paragraph 1?
| A．It is a kind of hard metal. |
| B．Seawater contains plenty of sodium. |
| C．It is able to power much-improved batteries. |
| D．The most common battery today has been made of it. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By giving descriptions. |
| C．By using figures. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．The low cost. |
| B．Energy conservation. |
| C．The geographical distribution. |
| D．Safety and environment protection. |
| A．The differences between sodium and lithium. |
| B．The advantages and disadvantages of sodium. |
| C．Researchers look to sodium to make better batteries. |
| D．Researchers find better ways to make batteries last longer. |
【推荐3】You may be attracted by pictures of animals in the wild. You might have imagined yourself taking pictures of animals that are seldom seen in the city. If you do get that chance, you may want to consider the following tips or rules.
First of all, a lot of professional photographers give respect (尊重) to these animals and the environment they are in. Just remember that you should respect the animals and the environment in case these animals bite or attack you.
Keep in mind that you are taking pictures of real, live, wild animals. A wild animal may bite to protect itself. You must be aware while taking their pictures and be gentle in all your movements. Do not feed the animals, or interact (互动) with animals that are sleeping or caring for their young.
Change the flash of your camera to natural light, so the animals will not be frightened or surprised when you start shooting. Animals do not react well when they are surprised. Be very patient. Make sure you are aware of the changes in behavior of the animal and its emotions. Be familiar with the animals’ natural habitat.
Now if those rules are clear, it is time for planning. Consider the weather; some animals do not go out when it is raining while some animals love the rain. Therefore, a little research on the weather will not hurt. You should consider taking pictures after sunrise and before sunset. Now if the animal is active at night, then you should prepare to fight against not only the wild but also the darkness.
An adventure in the wild will make you very excited. However, you should be well prepared, have experts to back you up, and also a permit (许可证) for doing the photo shoot. If you do not have any of these, then maybe you should consider visiting the zoo instead.
1. What should you do to show respect to the wildlife?| A．Tuning off the flash. | B．Caring for their babies. |
| C．Feeding them whenever you want. | D．Taking pictures when they are sleeping. |
| A．Food and water. | B．Weather and time. |
| C．Emotions and safety. | D．Place and transportation. |
| A．Most animals love being taken photos of. | B．We have to go to the zoo to take photos. |
| C．Only experts have a permit to take photos. | D．There is danger while taking photos with wild animals. |
| A．To advertise a zoo. | B．To do some research. |
| C．To give some advice. | D．To introduce some wildlife. |
