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
考研
Typically, the death of a language is discussed in the same vein as the disappearance of moas and passenger pigeons. The problem
Typically, the death of a language is discussed in the same vein as the disappearance of moas and passenger pigeons. The problem
admin
2016-10-15
51
问题
Typically, the death of a language is discussed in the same vein as the disappearance of moas and passenger pigeons. The problem is actually more rampant than species
attrition
: A hundred years from now, today’s 6,000 languages will likely number only 600.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Now, to be clear, as someone who has taught himself languages as a hobby since childhood, I hardly rejoice when a language dies. Languages can put concepts together in ways more fascinatingly different from English than most of us are aware. Yet supposing that we could keep 6,000 languages alive is like supposing that we could stop, say, ice from getting soft under the sun.
As people speaking many indigenous languages migrate to cities, inevitably they learn globally dominant languages like English and use them with one another. Their children may use their parents’ indigenous languages at home. But they never knew the lifestyle that those languages were born to express, and will be more comfortable in the public language of the world in which they grow up. They will speak mostly the public one to their own children. This is how languages die.
Many hope that we can turn back the tide with programs to revive indigenous languages, but the sad fact is that this will almost never be seriously effective. I once taught a class of Native Americans their ancestral language in a summer program. This had the positive effect of helping them feel connected to their ancestors, but there was no possible way they were going to be able to converse in the language.
In any case, language death is actually a healthy outcome of diversity. If people speaking different languages truly come together, as the Beatles urged us, then they need to speak a common language. Then the age-old process begins: The first generation is more comfortable in the old language, the second uses it as an at-home language and the third knows only some words and phrases. But cultural diversity persists despite the common language.
When people use their distinct language down the generations, It’s usually bad, indicating discrimination or segregation—precisely what "diversity" fans would otherwise consider a scourge. Jews in shtetls spoke Yiddish at home and other languages elsewhere because they lived in Jewish ghettos, not because they delighted in being bilingual.
I hope that dying languages can be recorded and described, but their individual deaths are not something to be mourned. Indeed a single "world" language would not be in itself catastrophic.
According to the text, an indigenous language ______ if people speaking it are isolated in a small area.
选项
A、develops rapidly
B、perishes gradually
C、will eventually die
D、continues to be alive
答案
D
解析
根据倒数第二段中的“When people use their distinct language down the generations,…indicating discrimination or segregation…”,D应为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/HmoZ777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
TheRomanticMovementemphasizedthecreativeartistratherthanthenaturalworldastheoriginofbeauty.【F1】Accordingtothe
Don’ttalk:yourcellphonemaybeeavesdropping.Thankstorecentdevelopmentsin"spyphone"software,ado-it-yourselfspook
Don’ttalk:yourcellphonemaybeeavesdropping.Thankstorecentdevelopmentsin"spyphone"software,ado-it-yourselfspook
Iftheywerejustanotherproduct,themarketwouldworkitsusualmagic:supplywouldrespondtohighpricesandrisetomeets
IsitanywonderthatAmericaisalsoacountryofdangerouslyoverweightpeople?AccordingtoarecentstudybytheNationa
IsitanywonderthatAmericaisalsoacountryofdangerouslyoverweightpeople?AccordingtoarecentstudybytheNationa
Thetranslatormusthaveanexcellent,up-to-dateknowledgeofhissourcelanguages,full【C1】______inthehandlingofhistarget
Thetranslatormusthaveanexcellent,up-to-dateknowledgeofhissourcelanguages,full【C1】______inthehandlingofhistarget
Respectisyourabilitytoempathizewithanotherhumanbeing,despitecontrastingopinions,values,orlifestyles.Beingablet
随机试题
敏捷制造实施的三个层次中,属于合作的高级阶段是()
脾胃气虚的面色是()
女性,63岁,右下腹及脐周隐痛3年,渐渐清瘦,近2个月来常有低热,体格检查发现右下腹可触及一60cm×4cm大小的包块,较硬,尚可推动,压痛,锁骨上及腹股沟区来触及肿大淋巴结,结合其他检查结果,该患者被确诊为右侧结肠癌。该患者最可能同时伴有的症状是
某甲与某乙系夫妻,生子丙、女丁,收养一女戊。戊生性精明,小心侍候某甲夫妇。丙成家后对某甲夫妇置若罔闻。某甲夫妇甚为哀伤,遂自书遗嘱,将遗产分作两份,指定由丁、戊继承。戊见目的达到,遂对某甲夫妇不管不顾。丁承担了赡养某甲夫妇的责任。某甲夫妇深感日久见人心,某
根据《测绘生产质量管理规定》,对重大测绘项目的技术设计进行验证的方法是()。
若评价时间不够,河流一级评价至少应调查()。
预埋件和后置埋件的安装中,连接部位的混凝土强度等级不应低于( )。
下列选项中,不属于纳税人申请退还增量留抵税额所需满足的条件有()。
Howhighwillyou________heramongthesingersofthiscountry?
写出下列变为动词的不定式veuillez()
最新回复
(
0
)