1 . Throughout history, people have been interested in knowing how languages first began, but no one knows exactly where or how this happened. However, we do know a lot about languages, the languages of today and also the languages of earlier times. There are probably about 3,000 languages in the world today. Chinese is the language with the most speakers. English, Russian and Spanish are also spoken by many millions of people. On the other hand, some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.

There are several important families of languages in the world. For example, most of the languages of Europe are in one large family called Indo-European. The original (最初的) language of this family was spoken about 4,500 years ago. Many of the present day languages of Europe and India are modern forms of the language of 4,500 years ago.

Languages are always changing. The English of today is very different from the English of 500 years ago. In time some even died out completely. About 1,000 years ago, English was a little-known relative of German spoken on one of the borders of Europe.

If a language has a large number of speakers or if it is very old, there may be differences in the way it is spoken in different areas. That is, the language may have several dialects. Chinese is a good example of dialect differences. Chinese has been spoken for thousands of years by many millions of speakers. The differences between the dialects of Chinese are so great that speakers of Chinese from some parts of China can’t understand speakers from other parts.

1. The first paragraph mainly tells us that ____ .

A．most people in the world speak Chinese

B．there are thousands of languages in the world today

C．man has much knowledge about languages

D．some people know several languages

2. According to the passage, most European and Indian languages ____ .

A．will soon die out completely	B．were once a relative of English
C．are no longer spoken	D．come from the same family

3. According to the passage, ____ has the most speakers.

A．Chinese

B．English

C．Spanish

D．German

4. According to the passage, ____ seems to have changed a lot.

A．German

B．English

C．Spanish

D．Chinese

5. The underlined word dialect in the last paragraph probably means ____ .

A．a special language spoken by Chinese

B．the sign used by the Chinese people in a special area

C．the difference between the old and today’s Chinese

D．the form of a language used in one part of the country

2 . When we think of Hollywood, we think of films and famous film stars. They are part of Hollywood’s history. Today people make films in other places, too. Not all famous film stars live in Hollywood. But Hollywood is still a very special part in Los Angeles, California.

You can easily see where Hollywood is in Los Angeles. There is a big sign on the hills. It says “HOLLYWOOD”. The white letters are fifty feet tall. You can see the sign from far away. The Hollywood sign is a famous Hollywood landmark (标记) in Los Angeles. Many postcards show this famous Hollywood landmark.

In the hills of Hollywood, there is also the Hollywood Bowl. This is an open-air theatre. It is one of the biggest open-air theatres in the world. It has seventeen thousand seats and a very different stage (舞台). The designer (设计师) of the stage was a great American called Frank Lioyd Wright. You can listen to different kinds of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.

1. The best title for the article should be “____”.

A．The History of Hollywood	B．Hollywood
C．Famous Films and Film Stars	D．Famous Hollywood Sign

2. We learn from the reading that ____ .

A．Hollywood is one part of Los Angeles

B．Hollywood is now a place only for travelers

C．all the films are made in Hollywood

D．“HOLLYWOOD” can just be seen from far away

3. The word “special” in the last sentence of the first paragraph means ____ .

A．unusual	B．famous
C．old	D．new

4. At the Hollywood Bowl ____ .

A．all postcards are made	B．only 7000 people can get together
C．people can enjoy music	D．you can hardly listen to all kinds of concerts