Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 1 to 8.
The world is losing languages at an alarming rate. Michael Krauss suggested that of the approximately 6,000 human languages alive today, only 350 to 500 are safe from extinction. Some linguists estimate that a language dies every two weeks or so. At the current rate, by 2100, about 2,500 native languages could disappear.
Languages become extinct for many reasons. Through imperialism, colonizers impose their languages on colonies. Some politicians believe multilingualism will fragment national interests. Thus they prohibit education in all but the national language. Another reason for language death is the spread of more powerful languages. In the world today, several languages, including English, are so dominant in commerce, science, and education, that languages with fewer speakers have trouble competing.
Although in the past, governments have been one of the primary causes of language death, many have now become champions of preserving endangered languages and have had some significant successes. Two outstanding examples are the revival of Hebrew and Irish. Hebrew was considered a dead language, like Latin, but is now the national language of Israel. Irish was not dead, but severely threatened by English when the government of Ireland began its rescue immediately after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. All students in public schools must now take some classes in Irish and there are Irish programs in major media, such as television and radio. According to the Irish government, approximately 37% of the population of Ireland now speaks Irish.
One of the largest programs to revive languages, Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL), is being conducted by three U.S. government agencies: the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Museum of Natural History. Researchers funded by these agencies are recording interviews with the mostly elderly people who still speak the languages. Analyses of these interviews will help linguists publish dictionaries and grammars of the languages. Eventually, linguists hope to establish language-training programs where younger people can learn the languages, carrying them on into the future.
The linguists participating in DEL defend spending millions of dollars to preserve dying languages. They point out that when a language dies, humanity loses all of the knowledge of the world that that culture held. Traditional healers in rural areas have given scientists important leads in finding new medicines; aspirin is an example of these. But one of the most common reasons given by these researchers is that studying languages gives us insight into the radically different way humans organize their world. David Lightfoot, an official at the National Science foundation, gives the example of Guguyimadjir, and Australian aboriginal language, in which there are no words for “right” or left,” only for “north,” “south,” “east,” and “west.”
Many researchers are optimistic that the efforts to save dying languages will succeed, at least in part. Bruce L. Cole, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, said, “Not only is this a time of great potential loss, it is also a moment for enormous potential gain. In this modern age of computers and our growing technological capabilities, we can preserve, assemble, analyze, and understand unprecedented riches of linguistic and cultural information.”
Question:David Lightfoot gives the example of Guguyimadjir in order to ______.
A. protest against spending millions of dollars to preserve dying languages
B. describe how humanity loses all of the knowledge of the world through dead languages
C. prove that languages give us insight into different ways humans organize their world
D. show how language preservation helps traditional healers in rural areas find new medicines
Đáp án C
Kiến thức: Đọc hiểu
Giải thích:
David Lightfoot đưa ra ví dụ về Guguyimadjir để ______.
A. phản đối việc chi hàng triệu đô la để bảo vệ các ngôn ngữ chết
B. mô tả cách thức con người mất tất cả kiến thức về thế giới thông qua các ngôn ngữ chết
C. chứng minh rằng ngôn ngữ cho chúng ta cái nhìn sâu sắc về những cách khác nhau mà con người tổ chức thế giới của họ
D. chỉ ra bảo vệ ngôn ngữ giúp những người chữa bệnh truyền thống ở nông thôn tìm thuốc mới như thế nào
Thông tin: But one of the most common reasons given by these researchers is that studying languages gives us
insight into the radically different way humans organize their world.