2018全国1卷

C

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 knit(联系) 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 become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalisation 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 of these languages is hugely uneven. 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 Americas 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 worlds languages are spoken by fewer people than that.

Already well over 400 of the total of 6,800 languages are close to extinction(消亡), 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.

28. 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 patters.D. They were closely connected

29. Which of the following best explains "dominant" underlined in paragraph 2?

A Complex. B. Advanced. C. Powerful. D. Modern.

30. 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.

31. What is the main idea of the text?

A. New languages will be created.

B. Peoples lifestyles are reflected in languages.

C. Human development results in fewer languages.

D. Geography determines language evolution.

答案解析：

28. B 根据第一段第二句 "small, tightly knit groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other" 可知，狩猎采集时期的小群体发展出了自己独立的语言模式，这表明当时语言的数量很多。选项A、C和D没有在文中提及。

29. C 第二段中提到的 "dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese" 是指这些语言在全球范围内占据主导地位，因此 "dominant" 的意思应该是 "强大的"。选项A、B和D的含义与上下文不符。

30. B 根据第三段最后一句 "The median number of speakers is a mere 6,000, which means that half the world's languages are spoken by fewer people than that" 可知，目前有大约3400种语言的说话者人数少于6000人。选项A、C和D的数字与文中信息不符。

31. C 文章主要讲述了随着时间的推移，由于农业、贸易、工业化、国家发展、全球化等因素，语言的数量在减少。因此，文章的主旨是人类的发展导致了语言的减少。选项A、B和D虽然与文章内容相关，但不是文章的主旨。