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  3. Australia’s foreign language skills are in decline, Voice of America has reported. New figures show that only 13% of high school

Australia’s foreign language skills are in decline, Voice of America has reported. New figures show that only 13% of high school

admin2012-06-20  33
问题     Australia’s foreign language skills are in decline, Voice of America has reported. New figures show that only 13% of high school graduates can speak a foreign language. But four decades ago, 40 percent had foreign language skills.
    Professor Elise Tipton, from the University of Sydney, says increasingly students do not feel the need to learn another language to boost their career. She believes that Australia’s economic boom, which is driven by red-hot demand for its minerals, is helping mask serious deficiencies (缺陷) in its language skills.
    Australia does business very successfully in English with most of its trading partners. But as the world’s economic power shifts to emerging regions such as Asia, its language gap could soon be exposed. According to the new figures, less than 6.5 percent of high school graduates are proficient in an Asian language. Academics worry that this means Australia will increasingly be isolated from its economically important Asian neighbors. Dilip Dutta, from the economics and business faculty at Sydney University, says language skills can enhance trading opportunities. If Australians want to trade with Asian countries, it is very important for them to learn the language that will help them to get closer to the culture.
    But students have different opinions about Asian language learning. Pippa McCowage, a 22-year-old Australian student, says many young Australians have a half-hearted approach to foreign language, and the language curriculum is often weak. "While we’re encouraged in high school to learn another language, it’s not really apparent to me as a realistic expectation that you will have to speak it," said McCowage. "For example, I learned Japanese in high school. When I went on an exchange in Year 10, I found that the Japanese students of my age had a much greater proficiency in English than I did in Japanese. So in that sense, it almost discourages you."
    At present, about 70 percent of Australia’s major exports go to Asia and the Australian government has been keen on developing closer economic and diplomatic ties with Asia. Academics say that, as Asia becomes one of the world’s economic powerhouses (经济体), Australia needs to improve its language skills if it is to take full advantage of the business opportunities on its doorstep.
According to the passage, why is the Australian government interested in strengthening ties with Asia?
选项 A、Australia’s major imports come from Asia countries.
B、Asia is the destination of Australia’s major exports.
C、Many Australians go and spend their holidays in Asia.
D、Australia wants to play a bigger role in Asian affairs.
答案B
解析 根据题干中的ties with Asia将本题出处定位到末段首句。题干中的the Australian government interested in strengthening ties with Asia是对该句提到的the Australian government has been keen on developing closer economic and diplomatic ties with Asia的同义转述。该句前半句提到，澳大利亚大约70％的出口产品销往亚洲，由此可推断出，澳大利亚政府之所以热衷于和亚洲建立更密切联系是因为亚洲是澳大利亚的主要出口国，故答案为[B]。文章并未提及澳大利亚的主要进口地是哪里，故排除[A]。[C]和[D]的内容在文中未提及，是基于常识设的干扰项。
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