Module 4 Which English?

跟踪导练

阅读理解

A

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 about 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 of the total of 6，800 languages are close to extinction （消亡）， with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick， at random， Chiapaneco in Mexico （about 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.

1. 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 patterns.             D. They were closely connected.

2. What word can best explain the underlined word “dominant” in Paragraph 2？

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

3. 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.

4. What does the text mainly tell us？

A. New languages will be created.

B. Geography determines language evolution.

C. People's lifestyles are reflected in languages.

D. Human development results in fewer languages.

B

For the last five years， I have been fortunate enough to work on a large vocabulary research project for Cambridge English， the English Vocabulary Profile. Working with Carol Cassidy， we developed a database， containing the words and phrases that learners of English around the world typically know and use. We analyzed a 50-million-word collection of learners' writing from Cambridge English exams， but we also looked at the vocabulary taught in best-selling British and American English course books.

We have found that there are some words that are still characteristically British or American. British people have biscuits with their cup of tea or coffee， but Americans have cookies. We have cookies too in Britain， but they are a certain type of biscuits， such as chocolate chip cookies， where the original recipe is American. A British person goes on holiday， while an American takes a vacation; you visit a city center in Britain but go downtown in the US.

A few words have different meanings across the two varieties of English， which could cause some embarrassment： Americans who are wearing pants have their legs covered， but if a British person is dressed only in pants， they are in their underwear （clothes that you wear next to your body under your other clothes）！ And if you need to fill up your car with fuel， you can ask for gas in the US， but you need to buy petrol in Britain， as “gas” is not a liquid in British English.

Overall， though， our research shows that British and American English are still very close to each other. The 10 most common words （the， of， to， and， a， in， that， is， for and I） are the same in both countries， and most of the UK's 5，000 most common words are also in the USA's top 5，000.

5. What can we learn about the project the author worked on？

A. It offers vocabulary courses online.       B. It is based on powerful evidence.

C. It is a study on English exams.          D. It aims to collect new words.