2. 外语
  3. The number of residents whose native language is not English has risen 34% in the last ten years to approximately 53 million, ac

The number of residents whose native language is not English has risen 34% in the last ten years to approximately 53 million, ac

admin2019-03-27  57
问题
    The number of residents whose native language is not English has risen 34% in the last ten years to approximately 53 million, according to a recent Census Bureau report. Now about 18% of the total U. S. population speaks a language other than English at home.
    According to the Census Bureau report, there are 337 different languages spoken in U. S. homes. The most spoken language other than English is Spanish. Thirty-five million people, more than half of all the residents who speak a language other than English, speak Spanish. That is thirteen times as many as those who speak Chinese, the third most common language, used by 4. 9% of those who don’t use English at home. The others of the top five most common languages are Tagalong, 2. 8% , German, 2% and Italian, 1.5%.
    Almost 90% of those who speak a language other than English at home communicate in one of 20 most common of these 337 languages. Many of the 317 other languages are used by very small numbers of people in the United States.
    The number of speakers of each languages shows the changing pattern of immigration to the linked States over the last 100 years. Many European languages are becoming less common, as immigrants who came to the United States during the first half of the 1900s die. In the last ten years, the number of German speakers decreased a lot. The number of Italian speakers decreased 20% . Polish, the fifth most common foreign language ten years ago, dropped to the thirteenth most common.
    Language of new immigrants, on the other hand, are becoming more widely used in the United States. The number of Chinese speakers rose 98% to 2. 6 million. More than half of those who do not speak English at home live in just three states, California, New York, and Florida. However, there are non-native English speakers in all states. Often, speakers of particular foreign languages live mainly in just a few dates. For example, almost half of the United States’ 845, 000 Arabian speakers live in California, Michigan, and New York. French speakers are concentrated in Maine, New Hampshire, and Louisiana. A majority of the 731, 000 Portuguese speakers can be found in Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey.
    Most people age 5 or older who speak a foreign language at home also speak at least some English. Fifty-six percent, or 29. 7 million people say they speak English ’ very well’ , and 23% say the speak it ’well’. With the help of relatives or foreign-language Census forms, 15. 2% answer ’ not well’ , and 5. 8%—or some 3million people—say they don’t speak English at all.
Questions 66-70:
Answer the following questions with the information given in the passage.
Why are there fewer speakers of European languages in the U. S. now than fifty years ago?
选项
答案Because immigrants who came to the United States during the first half of the 1900s are gradual—ly dying．
解析 (第四段第二句指出“Many European languages are becoming less common，as immigrantswho came to the United States during the first half of the 1900s die”，可知随着20世纪初期来美国的欧洲移民逐渐去世，很多欧洲语言的使用就不那么普遍了。)
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本试题收录于： C类竞赛（非英语专业本科）题库大学生英语竞赛（NECCS）分类
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C类竞赛（非英语专业本科）

大学生英语竞赛（NECCS）

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