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 globalization 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 world’s languages are spoken by fewer people than that.
Already well over 400 0f 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? B
A.They developed very fast. B.They were large in number.
C.They had similar patterns. D.They were closely connected.
原始社会，部落彼此独立，语言繁多。故B
29.Which of the following best explains “dominant” underlined in paragraph 2? C
A. Complex. B.Advanced C.Powerful. D.Modern.
Dominant: 占统治地位的，优势的，近义词 powerful 强大的C
30.How many languages are spoken by less than 6,000 people at present. B
A.About 6,800. B.About 3,400. C.About 2,400. D.About 1,200.
少于6000人的语言占当今世界语言的一半，也就是3400种。这个题目考察的是学生的推断能力。没有现存的答案。
31.What is the main idea of the text? C
A.New languages will be created.
B.People’s lifestyles are reflected in languages.
C.Human development results in fewer languages.
D.Geography determines language evolution.
文章叙述了人类从原始社会到今天语言的减少，经济的发展和联系导致语言的融合和数量的减少。故答案C
D
We may think we‘re a culture that gets rid of our worn technology at the first sight of something shiny and new,but a new study shows that we keep using our old devices (装置) well after they go out of style,That’s bad news for environment – and our wallets – as these outdated devices consume much more energy than the newer ones that do the same things，
To figure out how much power these devices are using,Callie Babbitt and her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York tracked the environmental costs for each product throughout its life – form when its minerals are mined to when we stop using the device.This method provided a readout for how home energy use evolved since the early 1990s.Devices were grouped by generation. Desktop computers basic mobile phones,and box-set TVs defined 1992. Digital cameras arrived on the scene in 1997. And MP3 players, smart phones, and LCD TVs entered homes in 2002, before table ts and e-readers showed up in 2007.
As we accumulated more devices,however,we didn’t throw out our old ones.”The Living-room television is replaced and gets planted in the kid’s room ,and suddenly one day,you have a TV in every room of the house,said one researcher. The average number of electronic devices rose from four per household in 1992 to 13 in 2007.We’re not just keeping these old devices-we continue to use them. According to the analysis of Babbin’s team,old desktop monitors and box TV’s with cathode ray tubes are the worst devices with their energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions(排放) more than doubling during the 1992 to 2007 window.
So what’s the solution(解决方案)?The team’s data only went up to 2007,but the researchers also explored what would happen if consumers replaced old products with new electronics that serve more than one function ,such as table t for word processing and TV viewing. They found that more on demand entertainment viewing on table s instead of TVs and desktop computers could cut energy consumption by 44%.
32.What does the author think of new devices?(A)
A.They are environment-friendly. B.They are no better than the old.
C.They cost more to use at home. D.They go out of style quickly.
新设备新科技的节能环保，对能量的消耗有利。故A
33.Why did Babbin’s team conduct the research?(D)
A.To reduce the cost of minerals. B.To test the life cycle of a product.
C.To update consumers on new technology.
D.To find out electricity consumption of the devices.
巴宾的研究，证明旧电器的能耗非常高。D
34.Which of the following uses the least energy?(B)
A.The box-set TV. B.The table t. C.The LCD TV. D.The desktop computer.
T型桌，节能40%，最节能。
35.What does the text suggest people do about old electronic devices?(A)
A.Stop using them. B. Take them apart.
C.Upgrade them. D.Recycle them.
旧电器虽然经济，但是功能和环保性都比较差，所以呢停止使用。
