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题型:阅读理解-阅读单选 难度:0.65 引用次数:52 题号:22702986

Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers, small, tightly connected groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other. Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.

Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to becoming farmers, and their languages became more settled and fewer in number, too. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory (强制的) education, especially globalization and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.

At present, the world has about 6,800 languages. The distribution (分布) of these languages is hugely uneven (不均衡). The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages, often spoken by many people, while hot, wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 languages; the America about 1,000; Africa 2,400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number (中位数) of speakers is a mere 6,000, which means that half the world’s languages are spoken by fewer people than that.

Already well over 400 of the total of 6,800 languages and close to disappear, with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick, at random, Busuu in Cameroon(eight remaining speakers), Chiapaneco in Mexico(150), Lipan Apache in the United States (two or three) or Wadjigu in Australia(one, with a question-mark): none of these seems to have much chance of survival.

1. What can we infer about languages in hunter-gatherer times?
A.They developed very fast.B.They were large in number.
C.They had similar patterns.D.They were closely connected.
2. Which of the following best explains “dominant” underlined in Paragraph 2?
A.Difficult.B.Advanced.C.PowerfulD.Modern.
3. How many languages are spoken by less than 6,000 people at present?
A.About 6,800.B.About 3,400.C.About 2,400.D.About 1,200.
4. What is the main idea of the text?
A.New languages will be created.B.People’s lifestyles are reflected in languages.
C.Human development results in fewer languages.D.Geography determines language evolution.
【知识点】 语言与文化 说明文

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阅读理解-阅读单选(约370词) | 适中 (0.65)
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文章大意:这是一篇新闻报道,介绍了Meta公司宣布了研发适用于世界上所有人的翻译软件项目。

【推荐1】The Meta company has announced a research project to create translation software that works for everyone in the world. It’s part of a growing effort to serve almost 20 percent of the world’s population who do not speak languages covered by present translation systems. “Properly understanding one foreign language is hard enough, let alone so many different languages in the world,” said Scott Mann, the co-CEO of Flawless AI. “Nowadays, the only way to do translation has been to turn to human translators who have learned foreign languages and try to bridge language barriers (障碍)for different uses.”

Work on improving translation software has been underway for decades.

New technology has been developed to ensure accurate translations from one language to another. Meta is planning a long-term effort to build MT(machine translation) tools that will include most of the world’s languages.The company is building a new AI model called No Language Left Behind. It will learn from languages with examples and use them to enable expert quality translations in hundreds of languages.

“Breaking language barriers would be great, making it possible for billions of people to have information online in their native or preferred languages,” the Meta company said, “Advances in MT tools won’t just help those people who don’t speak one of the languages that are widely used on the Internet today; they’ll also change the way people in the world share ideas. Better translation software also make good business sense. When companies go global, it’s hard to have native-speaking support agents for every language. So if the translation software can help them chat with and email their customers, the efficiency(效率) can be immediately improved.”

But some experts say that Meta’s machine translation project faces great difficulties. “The industry is still in the research mode, and we’ve excited to be a part of that, but it’s not about presenting a product that eight billion people will start using tomorrow,” said Jesse Shemen, the CEO of the translation software company.

1. What do Scott Mann’s words mainly suggest?
A.The influence of present translation systems.
B.The necessity of developing translation software.
C.The importance of human translators nowadays.
D.The difficulty in learning different languages.
2. What is a feature of Meta’s new AI model?
A.It allows excellent translation in a variety of languages.
B.It adjusts its translation speed accordingly.
C.It is mainly designed for advanced language learners.
D.It is limited to common languages worldwide.
3. What does the Meta company say about MT tools?
A.They make language learning easy and interesting.
B.They quicken the development of language software.
C.They help people show good manners in communication.
D.They benefit both personal and business lives.
4. What is Jesse Shemen’s attitude toward the translation software?
A.CriticalB.PessimisticC.UncertainD.Negative
2022-10-28更新 | 111次组卷
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文章大意:本文是一篇说明文。文章介绍了越来越多的美国人会说两种语言即美国正在走向双语化。

【推荐2】In the US, speaking more than one language fluently is not very common — except in Los Angeles, California. The city has one of the largest populations in the US of young people between the ages of 18 and 34. More than half of them in Los Angeles are bilingual (会两种语言的), which means they speak more than one language.

Maria Elena Burgos, a mother of two American born daughters, is cooking a Mexican breakfast. She says making Mexican food is just one of the many traditions in her home. Another is speaking Spanish to her children. “We want to keep the Spanish somewhere in their learning too, not only at home.” She says being bilingual will give them more opportunities in the future. Knowing Spanish also means the children can talk with their relatives in Mexico.

Msburgos’ daughters both want to know their family’s culture. “We are doing this in order to go back to our roots because that’s part of who we are.” they say.

The US Census Bureau says more than half the adults in the Los Angeles area between 18 and 34 years old speak a language other than English at home. For the whole country, the number of bilingual adults is only 25 percent. The number of bilingual speakers has gone up since the 1990s.

“In the past, the children and grandchildren of immigrants (移民) did not continue to speak the parents’ native language. But now the opposite is true”, says University of California Los Angeles professor Raul Hinojosa.

More immigrant parents say they want their children to keep speaking their native language. Mr. Hinojosa calls their choice the “path of pride”. The decision to keep a native language is clear in Los Angeles now. And, as the number of minorities in the US continues to grow, he thinks bilingualism will spread to the rest of the country.

1. What does Paragraph I mainly talk about?
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D.To help them learn about Mexican food.
3. It can be inferred from the text that recently more people in the US ________.
A.speak English very fluently
B.are proud of their new country
C.are learning a second language
D.forget their parents’ native language
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A.the US is on the path to bilingualism
B.more people will immigrate to the US
C.the population of Los Angeles will drop
D.more minorities will be accepted by the US
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【推荐3】Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world. Similarly, music is a part of many people’s lives.     1     Here are some of their similarities.

Both language and music have a writing system

    2     Similarly, we use notes to keep a record of music. Just as you are reading this collection of letters on the paper and find meaning in it, musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music which we can hear. By reading pieces of text or music, we are able to share experiences through time. For example, we can read the ideas or hear the composition of someone who lived hundreds of years ago, which is really quite exciting.

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You can make a good guess at where someone is from by listening to the language they use. In the same way, we know that styles of music are different around the world, which gives us the opportunity to explore many different cultures through their music and providing us with music for every situation.

Both share emotion

How do you know that I am angry? Of course, you may be able to see it in my face, but you will know for sure through my words.     4     Music can show you exactly how the composer was or is feeling, and allows us to share that emotion. When you feel happy, you might want to sing and dance to a happy song.     5    

A.Both vary with culture.
B.Different culture makes different music.
C.Similarly, music can sound angry, sad or happy.
D.Both language and music play a huge role in our lives.
E.In English we record language using the alphabet, which is a collection of letters.
F.We use music to express emotions, combining it with language in form of lyrics.
G.In contrast, you have probably also listened to sad music when you feel down.
2023-03-18更新 | 198次组卷
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