Canada, the second largest country in the world, lies in the north of America. The population of Canada is about 29 million and the capital is Ottawa. The country covers about 9,980,000 square kilometers and six of the world’s 24 time areas (时区) as well.

There are two official languages spoken in Canada: French and English. Many people can speak both English and French. More than 60% of Canadians speak English as their language. About 25% of the Canadians speak French. In one province of Canada where French is the common language, the programmes on TV and radios as well as the teaching in schools are all in French. Today, Chinese has become the first inofficial(非官方的) language in Canada.

Canada’s climate is not as cold all year around as some may believe. In winter, temperatures fall below freezing point throughout most of Canada. In summer, the southern provinces often experience high levels of temperatures that can reach over 30℃ regularly. The weather in Canada is just like the weather in China. It is rather cold in the north while it is fairly warm in the south. Winters in the north last long with snow for half a year. As the cold northern climate, only one-fifth of the land is suitable for farming.

As it is known to all, Canada has one-third of the world’s supply of fresh water. It has many great lakes. There are five great lakes in the south. And there are many others, especially in the north. It is also rich in natural resources, such as coal, oil, natural gas of which Canadians make use to produce energy.

People of northern Canada are called Inuit (因纽特人), who came from Asia and settled in Canada about 4,000 years ago. They used to travel around from place to place with teams of dogs which pulled their baggage. Now, they seldom move. There are about 2,500 Inuit in all. The government has started a new school project in which Inuit teach their own young children. So it is hoped that the way of Inuit life will be kept alive for more centuries.

1.How many people are there living in Canada?

A．About 24 million.                       B．About 29 million.

C．About 25 million.                        D．About 9,980,000.

2.Today, most Canadians speak _________ as their first language.

A．French           B．Chinese           C．English            D．Japanese

3.Only ________ of the land is fit for farming because of the cold northern climate.

A．15%             B．20%              C．30%              D．50%

4.Which statement about Inuit is NOT right?

A．They settled in Canada about 4,000 years ago.

B．Dogs could help them pull their baggage when they had to travel years ago.

C．They can teach their own young children according to the new school project.

D．They way of Inuit life may disappear in the future.

5.From the passage we can know _________.

A．Canada lies in the south of America

B．Canada has many different kinds of natural resources.

C．the weather in Canada is so cold the whole year as some people think

D．the Canadians government pays little attention to Inuit’s education.

Throughout history, people have been interested in knowing how language first began, but no one knows exactly where or how this happened. However, we do know a lot about languages, the language of today and also the languages of earlier times. There are probably about three thousand languages in the world today. Chinese is the language with the most speakers. English, Russian and Spanish are also spoken by millions of people. On the other hand, some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.
There are several important families of languages in the world. For example, most of the languages of Europe are in one large family called Indo-European. The original language of this family was spoken about 4,500 years ago. Many of the present-day languages of Europe and India are modern forms of the language of 4,500 years ago.
Languages are always changing. The English of today is very different from the English of 500 years ago. In time, some even die out completely. About 1,000 years ago, English was a little known relative of German spoken on one of the borders of Europe.
If a language has a number of speakers, or if it is very old, there may be differences in the way it is spoken in different areas. That is, the language may have several dialects. Chinese is a good example of dialect differences. Chinese has been spoken for thousands of years by many millions of people. The differences between the dialects of Chinese are so great that speakers of Chinese from some parts of China can’t understand speakers from other parts.
【小题1】The first paragraph mainly tells us that_______.

Today Chinese          by more and more people around the world.

Today Chinese          by more and more people around the world.

A．speak            B．spoke            C．is spoken          D．was spoken