首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Typically, the death of a language is discussed in the same vein as the disappearance of moas and passenger pigeons. The problem
Typically, the death of a language is discussed in the same vein as the disappearance of moas and passenger pigeons. The problem
admin
2016-10-15
28
问题
Typically, the death of a language is discussed in the same vein as the disappearance of moas and passenger pigeons. The problem is actually more rampant than species
attrition
: A hundred years from now, today’s 6,000 languages will likely number only 600.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Now, to be clear, as someone who has taught himself languages as a hobby since childhood, I hardly rejoice when a language dies. Languages can put concepts together in ways more fascinatingly different from English than most of us are aware. Yet supposing that we could keep 6,000 languages alive is like supposing that we could stop, say, ice from getting soft under the sun.
As people speaking many indigenous languages migrate to cities, inevitably they learn globally dominant languages like English and use them with one another. Their children may use their parents’ indigenous languages at home. But they never knew the lifestyle that those languages were born to express, and will be more comfortable in the public language of the world in which they grow up. They will speak mostly the public one to their own children. This is how languages die.
Many hope that we can turn back the tide with programs to revive indigenous languages, but the sad fact is that this will almost never be seriously effective. I once taught a class of Native Americans their ancestral language in a summer program. This had the positive effect of helping them feel connected to their ancestors, but there was no possible way they were going to be able to converse in the language.
In any case, language death is actually a healthy outcome of diversity. If people speaking different languages truly come together, as the Beatles urged us, then they need to speak a common language. Then the age-old process begins: The first generation is more comfortable in the old language, the second uses it as an at-home language and the third knows only some words and phrases. But cultural diversity persists despite the common language.
When people use their distinct language down the generations, It’s usually bad, indicating discrimination or segregation—precisely what "diversity" fans would otherwise consider a scourge. Jews in shtetls spoke Yiddish at home and other languages elsewhere because they lived in Jewish ghettos, not because they delighted in being bilingual.
I hope that dying languages can be recorded and described, but their individual deaths are not something to be mourned. Indeed a single "world" language would not be in itself catastrophic.
The author argues that the death of a language is______.
选项
A、nothing special
B、something unusual
C、nothing regrettable
D、nothing but admirable
答案
C
解析
根据最后一段中的“…but their individual deaths are not something to be mourned”,C应为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/xgT7FFFM
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Iftheywerejustanotherproduct,themarketwouldworkitsusualmagic:supplywouldrespondtohighpricesandrisetomeets
Oneoftheleastappreciatedbutmostremarkabledevelopmentsofthepast60yearsistheextraordinarygrowthofAmericanagric
Videogamesgetabadpress.Manyareunquestionablyviolentand,ashasbeenthewaywithnewmediafromnovelstocomicbooks
Videogamesgetabadpress.Manyareunquestionablyviolentand,ashasbeenthewaywithnewmediafromnovelstocomicbooks
IsitanywonderthatAmericaisalsoacountryofdangerouslyoverweightpeople?AccordingtoarecentstudybytheNationa
Shortlybeforehediedoflymphoma,thegreatwriterandphysicianLewisThomas,whosebooksturnedscienceintoawayofapprec
Dieting,accordingtoanoldjoke,maynotactuallymakeyoulivelonger,butitsurefeelsthatway.Nevertheless,evidencehas
Dieting,accordingtoanoldjoke,maynotactuallymakeyoulivelonger,butitsurefeelsthatway.Nevertheless,evidencehas
Thetranslatormusthaveanexcellent,up-to-dateknowledgeofhissourcelanguages,full【C1】______inthehandlingofhistarget
Thetranslatormusthaveanexcellent,up-to-dateknowledgeofhissourcelanguages,full【C1】______inthehandlingofhistarget
随机试题
《庄子》散文的特点是()
主肺动脉窗层面不包括的解剖结构是
以下哪项不是小儿年龄阶段的划分依据
根据检算系数Z2计算桥梁荷载效应与抗力效应比值小于()时,应判定桥梁承载能力满足要求。
如果在搭接网络计划中出现EFj>(EFi+FTFi,j)的情况时,说明()。
安装在卫生间及厨房内的套管,其顶部应高出装饰地面()。
下列财产所有权的取得方式中,属原始取得的方式有()。
企业的下列会计档案中,保管期限为15年的有()。
企业在确定业务分部时应考虑的主要因素有()。
甲公司为一家大型国有集团公司,为增值税一般纳税人,2×15年度,甲公司发生的相关业务如下:(1)2×15年3月31日,甲公司与境外A公司的某股东签订股权收购协议,甲公司以110000万元的价格收购A公司80%股份。当日,A公司可辨认净资产的公允价值为12
最新回复
(
0
)