Question

The desire to use language as a sign of national identity (“If B, then A”) is a very natural one, and as a result language has played a large part in national movements. People have often felt the need to use their own language to show that they are different from others. This was true when the United States split off from Britain. At that time some patriots even suggested that the Americans should adopt Hebrew or Greek! In the end, as everyone knows, the two countries adopted the practical solution of carrying on with the same language they had used before. For 200 years Britain and the United States have shown the world that political independence and national identity can be complete without losing all the mutual advantages of a common language.

In other words, language is not necessarily the private property of those who use it. It is unreasonable to regard any language as the possession of a particular nation, and with no language is it more unreasonable than with English. This is not to say that English is used by a greater number of speakers than any other language, for it is easily outnumbered in this respect by Chinese. But it is the most international of languages. A Dane and a Dutch person meeting in Rome will almost automatically find themselves speaking to each other in English. The pilots of a Russian plane approaching Cairo will use English to ask for landing instructions. Malaysian lecturers use English when addressing their Malaysian students in Kuala Lumpur. To people in Africa, Asia, and South America, English is an important foreign language to master, not merely because it is the language of Britain or the United States, but because it provides ready access to world scholarship and world trade, it is understood more widely than any other language.

　　  1. People prefer to speak their own mother tongue or dialect in order to——.

　　　　   A. make it difficult for others to understand their talk

　　　　   B. show off their ability to use different linguistic systems

　　　　   C. show that they are of the same nation or race

　　　　   D. practice as much as possible

　　  2. It was suggested that Americans speak Hebrew or Greek when the nation had just won independence. This was——cause.

　　　　　　 A. these two languages were thought to be more useful

　　　　　　 B. Britain didn't permit Americans to continue to use English

　　　　　　 C. English was not widely used then

　　　　　　 D. some Americans hoped to show their political independence by speaking a language other than English.

      3. Which of the following is true?

　　　　　　 A. Chinese has the largest number of native speakers.

　　　　　　 B. Chinese is the most widely-used language.

　　　　　　 C. English is spoken in a few countries.

　　　　　　 D. English belongs to a particular country.

　　  4. The word "address" in the second paragraph means——here.

　　　　　　 A. to write to　　　　　　  B. to blame

　　　　　　 C. to deal with　　　　　　 D. to speak to

 

Answer 1

答案：C;D;A;D
解析：

1．C。细节题。本文开始讲，语言是一个国家的身份。人们用母语表明自己与其他国家或民族的不同。据此，选项C正确。其他三项均不合本意。     2．D。推断题。本文第一段讲，有人在美国获得独立时讲，美国人应当讲希伯来语或希腊语，但最终还是选择了英语。这种行为表明，政治独立和国家身份可以不用在丧失语言的情况下来完成。由此推断，不讲英语的原因应是为了表示政治上的独立。据此，选项D正确。     3．A。细节题。本文第二段第三句讲，这并不是说讲英语的人数比讲其他语言的人数多，因为在这方面，讲汉语的人数就超过了英语。显然，选项A符合题意。     4．D。语义题。第二段倒数第三句的意思是：马来西亚的教师在给学生讲课时用的是英语。由此判断，选项D正确。其他三项不符合题意。

提示：