There are about 6,000 languages spoken around the world. But 43 percent of these languages are dying out.
This has many reasons. One is that some communities of native speakers of the languages are gone. These people sometimes leave their communities and move to cities or towns. What’s more, to get better education and jobs, young people have to focus their attention on learning more popular languages like English, French and Chinese rather than their own languages.
Once a language dies, it seldom comes back to life. Governments across the world are taking action to prevent this. In New Zealand, the government has said it wants more than 20 percent of the country’s population to be able to speak Maori by 2040. The country plans to provide Maori lessons in all New Zealand schools by 2025. China is also trying to protect its languages. In 2015, the government started a project to record about 130 languages spoken in China. Universities like Minzu University of China have created minority language majors for their students.
Some languages are in danger. It is just a fact. However, all languages are human heritage. When we lose a language, we lose the culture of the people who speak it. Language itself is often the only way to show a certain community’s history and culture, as well as its knowledge of things like math and geography.
根据材料内容选择最佳答案。【小题1】How many languages worldwide are dying out?
| A．About 6,000. | B．About 3,420. |
| C．About 4,300. | D．About 2,580. |
| A．the dying out of languages | B．recording languages |
| C．the learning of languages | D．saving languages |
| A．It’s not spoken in cities. | B．It is used less in daily life. |
| C．It is too difficult to learn. | D．It's not offered in schools. |
| A．态度 | B．权利 | C．标准 | D．遗产 |
| A．Save the languages in China. | B．What happened to languages? |
| C．Save the languages from dying out. | D．Which languages are dying out? |
