首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1) Under the 1996 constitution, all 11 of South Africa’s official languages "must enjoy equality of esteem and be treated equ
(1) Under the 1996 constitution, all 11 of South Africa’s official languages "must enjoy equality of esteem and be treated equ
admin
2021-09-18
162
问题
(1) Under the 1996 constitution, all 11 of South Africa’s official languages "must enjoy equality of esteem and be treated equitably". In practice English, the mother tongue of just 8% of the people, increasingly dominates all the others. Its hegemony may even threaten the long-term survival of the country’s African languages, spoken as the mother tongue of 80% of South Africans, despite the government’s repeated promises to promote and protect indigenous languages and culture.
(2) Under apartheid, there were just two official languages, English and Afrikaans, a variant of Dutch with a dash of French, German, Khoisan (spoken by so-called Bushmen and Hottentots), Malay and Portuguese. Pre-colonial African languages were relegated to the black townships and tribal "homelands". Even there, English was often chosen as the medium of education in preference to the inhabitants’ mother tongues. Black South Africans increasingly rejected Afrikaans as the language of the main oppressor; English was a symbol of advancement and prestige.
(3) Today, 16 years after the advent of black-majority rule, English reigns supreme. Not only is it the medium of business, finance, science and the internet, but also of government, education, broadcasting, the press, advertising, street signs, consumer products and the music industry. For such things Afrikaans is also occasionally used, especially in the Western Cape province, but almost never an African tongue. The country’s Zulu-speaking president, Jacob Zuma, makes all his speeches in English. Parliamentary debates are in English. Even the instructions on bottles of prescription drugs come only in English or Afrikaans.
(4) Yet most black South Africans are not proficient in English. This is because most of their teachers give lessons in a language that is not their own. To give non-English-speaking children a leg-up, the government agreed last year that all pupils should be taught in their mother tongue for at least the first three years of primary school. But outside the rural areas, where one indigenous language prevails, this is neither financially nor logistically feasible.
(5) Some people suggest reducing the number of official languages to a more manageable three: English, Afrikaans and Zulu, the mother tongue of nearly a quarter of South Africans. But non-Zulus would object. Unless brought up on a farm, few whites speak an African language. For the school-leaving exam, proficiency in at least two languages is required. But most native English-speakers opt for Afrikaans, said to be easy to learn, rather than a useful but harder African tongue. At universities African-language departments are closing.
(6) Some effort is being made to protect African languages from this apparently inexorable decline. The Sunday Times, South Africa’s biggest-selling weekend paper, recently launched a Zulu edition. In September the Oxford University Press brought out the first isiZulu-English dictionary in more than 40 years.
(7) Many of the black elite, who send their children to English-speaking private schools or former white state schools, may accept English emerging as the sole national language. Many talk English to their children at home. Fluency in the language of Shakespeare is regarded as a sign of modernity, sophistication and power.
(8) Will South Africa’s black languages suffer the fate of the six languages brought by the country’s first Indian settlers 150 years ago? Maybe so, thinks Rajend Mesthrie at the University of Cape Town. For the first 100-odd years, he says, South Africa’s Indians taught and spoke to their children in their native tongues. But English is now increasingly seen as "the best way forward". Today most young Indians speak only English or are bilingual in English and Afrikaans, though they may continue to chat at home in a kind of pidgin English mixed with Indian and Zulu.
The decline of African languages is due to all the following EXCEPT ________.
选项
A、African languages are seldom used officially
B、The leaders use English rather than African languages
C、The dominance of English among the public
D、Most of the Africans are good at English
答案
D
解析
根据题干和选项可定位到第3段和第4段。第4段第1句指出虽然南非人大多说英语但并不精通。所以选项D符合题意。细节判断题,第3段第2句指出,英语最为盛行,是社会各个方面的语言媒介,第3句说南非荷兰语虽然偶尔也有人说,但基本上都不是出于非洲人之口,第4句话指出南非总统雅各布.祖马所有的演讲都用英语来讲,可知A、B、C都是造成非洲本族语没落的原因。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/2MIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
(1)Oneofthese,concerningwhichIhavesaidlittle,istheescapedconvict(囚犯)uponthemoor(沼泽).Thereisstrongreasonno
ImprovingYourMotivationforLearningEnglishI.TheimportanceofthetechniquesforimprovingmotivationA.Necessityforlea
(1)Theconcernthroughouttheworldin1988forthosethreewhalesthatwerelockedintheArcticicewasdramaticproofthatwh
A、ItiswritteninBengali.B、ItisaccomplishedbyChitraandherstudents.C、ItisChitra’slatestnovel.D、Itsmaincharacter
A、Byteachingwritershowtoimitate.B、Byidentifyingwriter’sstrengthandweakness.C、Bydevelopingwriter’spotential.D、By
HowInterpretersWork?I.UnderstandingA.Aboutwordsandexpressions—【T1】______wordsmaybeleftout:【T1】______—Ifnotknow
(1)Mostpeoplehaveexperiencedthefeeling,afterataxingmentalwork-out,thattheycannotbebotheredtomakeanymoredecis
AdviceforStudents:HowtoTalktoProfessorsI.IntroductionA.Professors:normalpeople,justlikeeveryoneelseB.Student
AdviceforStudents:HowtoTalktoProfessorsI.IntroductionA.Professors:normalpeople,justlikeeveryoneelseB.Student
Scientistsfindingoutthattheuniverseisevenlargerandmorecomplexthananyonehaseverimagined.
随机试题
某独立土石方开挖工程采用工程量清单计价方式。建设工程施工合同约定:合同估计工程量30万m3,单价35元/m3;完工后,按业主确认的工程量结算工程价款;当实际工程量超过估计工程量20%时,超过部分按30元/m3结算。为控制施工成本,施工项目经理部制订了一系列
下列各账户,年末应无余额的是()。
为保证会计账簿记录的正确性,会计人员编制记账凭证时必须依据()。
习近平总书记在十九大报告中强调,建设现代化经济体系必须把发展经济的着力点放在实体经济上,我国强调实体经济重要性的根本原因在于()。
演出艺术可称为表演艺术,指的是通过演员在舞台上的现场表演来完成艺术形象创造的艺术形式。下列不属于演出艺术的是:
森林与水血脉相依,森林作为陆地生态系统的主体和自然界功能最完善的资源库;具有调节气候、涵养水源、保持水土、防风固沙、改良土壤、减少污染等多种功能,对保护人类生态环境起着决定性和不可替代的作用。森林可以涵养水源。据专家研究,森林对降雨有着重新分配的作用,25
对长度为10的线性表进行冒泡排序,最坏情况下需要比较的次数为
A、应该早离开B、最好别离开C、跟经理学学B
EffectiveAssignmentsUsingLibraryandInternetResourcesFacultymemberscanfacilitatestudents’developmentasseekersa
Itisatruthuniversallyacknowledged,thatasinglemaninpossessionofagoodfortunemustbeinwantofawife.However
最新回复
(
0
)