题型：任务型阅读 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
福建省三明第一中学2020届高三上学期英语期中考试试卷
It's reported that half of around 7,000 languages on the earth are in danger of disappearing by 2100.There are many reasons for such disappearance. Sometimes younger generations stop learning a language because parents want children to fit in modern society. For instance, native American children of the late-19th century were required to attend boarding schools where educators forbade them from speaking their native languages.
Endangered languages are ranked according to their risk level by the United Nations. A "critically endangered" language is one that even grandparents don't speak often. New York's Onondaga language is an example with only 50 speakers left. An "extinct" language has no speakers, which means it is gone forever. The last person who spoke it died in 2008. So this language doesn't exist any longer.
Various animals and plants benefit our environment. Saving these languages benefits our understanding of other cultures. Languages can show how a society looks at the world and what it values. The Endangered Language Alliance, a non-profit group, wants to save languages from disappearing. However, its efforts are limited. If an endangered language is going to make a real comeback, it'll probably get its start in schools. Now students in Hawaii can keep learning Hawaiian from elementary schools to college and beyond.
At least one did. In 1881, a Jewish linguist named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda brought the 3,000-year-old language Hebrew back to life. Today it is one of the official languages of the country of Israel, with more than 4 million speakers.
A. Alaska's Eyak language is one example.
B. Why should we save endangered languages?
C. With just five speakers left, it is absolutely endangered.
D. Can a language with zero native speakers come back to life?
E. Similarly, different languages contribute to cultural diversity.
F. Sometimes societies force minorities to give up their language.
G. The organization finds native speakers and records their stories.
UrbanizationUntil relatively recently, the vast majority of human being lived and died without ever seeing a city. The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}In fact, nearly everyone lived on farms or in tiny rural (乡村的) villages. It was not until the 20th century that Great Britain became the first urban society in history—a society in which the majority of people live in cities and do not farm for a living.Britain was only the beginning.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}．The process of urbanization—the migration (迁徙) of people from the countryside to the city—was the result of modernization, which has rapidly transformed how people live and where they live.In 1900, fewer than 40% of Americans lived in urban areas. Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Large cities were impossible until agriculture became industrialized. Even in advanced agricultural societies, it took about ninetyfive people on farms to feed five people in cities.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Until modern times, those living in cities were mainly the ruling elite (精英) and the servants, laborers and professionals who served them. Cities survived by taxing farmers and were limited in size by the amount of surplus（过剩）food that the rural population produced and by the ability to move this surplus from farm to city.Over the past two centuries, the Industrial Revolution has broken this balance between the city and the country.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Today, instead of needing ninetyfive farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred nonfarmers.
A. That kept cities very small. B. The rest live in small towns. C. The effects of urban living on people should be considered D. Soon many other industrial nations became urban societies. E. But even 200 years ago, only a few people could live in cities. F. Modernization drew people to the cities and made farmers more productive. G. Modern cities have destroyed social relations and the health of human beings. |
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