Like many languages spoken by people, Ayapaneco is dying. Only two people in the world still speak it, and they won't talk to each other.
Spoken in Mexico for centuries, Ayapaneco is one of 68 surviving languages in the mainly Spanish-speaking nation. The two speakers are Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez. Though they live only 500 meters from each other in the village, the two men seldom talk to each other. Daniel, an American expert, who is working to make a dictionary of Ayapaneco, says the two men “don’t have a lot in common,” and that Segovia can be “active” while Velasquez tends to mind his own business and stay at home.
While Segovia still speaks to his wife and son in Ayapaneco, neither of them can manage more than a few words. Velasquez hardly speaks his native tongue any more. Daniel is working to preserve the language in dictionary form before its last surviving speakers pass away. According to Daniel, Ayapaneco and the other languages began dying out with the introduction of public Spanish education in the mid-20th century. For decades, local children weren’t allowed to speak anything else. Many people to cities, starting in the 1970s, also helped the dying out of native languages.
Ayapaneco is the name given to the language; Segovia and Velazquez call it “Nuumte Oote”, which means “true voice”. Neither man, however, speaks the same language. The dictionary will contain two versions(版本) of the language when it comes out later this year. Those behind the dictionary aren’t the only ones trying to save Ayapaneco. The National Language Institute plans to hold classes so that Segovia and Velasquez can pass on what they know to children.
It is thought that there are about 6,000 languages spoken on earth and that about half will disappear over the next 100 years. Let’s hope the “true voice” isn’t one of them.
1.Which are the main reasons why the language Ayapaneco started dying out?
a. No teacher liked to teach it.
b. Local children had to speak Spanish.
c. many villagers went to live in cities.
d. The surviving speakers didn’t like to use it.
A．a, b B．a, c C．b, d D．b, c
2.How does the National Language Institute try to save Ayapaneco?
A．Write a dictionary of Ayapaneco.
B．Let Ayapaneco be taught at school.
C．Introduce a public Ayapaneco education.
D．Ask villagers to speak Ayapaneco.
3.From the text we learn that the author____________________.
A．agrees that it is natural that Ayapaneco should die out
B．thinks Daniel’s effort to preserve Ayapaneco won’t work
C．thinks highly of Ayapaneco and wants people to learn it
D．hopes that Ayapaneco will not die out in the future
One summer day my father sent me to buy wire for our farm. At 16，I liked ____ better than driving our truck，____ this time I was not happy. My father had told me I’d have to ask for credit(赊账) at the store.
Sixteen is a ____age，when a young man wants respect，not charity. It was 1976，and the ugly ___ of racial discrimination was ____ a fact of life. I’d seen my friends ask for credit and then stand，head down，while the store owner ___ whether they were “good for it.” I knew black youths just like me who were ___ like thieves by the store clerk each time they went into a grocery.
My family was ___.We paid our debts. But before harvest，cash was short. Would the store owner ____ us?
At Davis’s store，Buck Davis stood behind the cash desk，talking to a farmer. I nodded ____ I passed him on my way to the hardware shelves. When I brought my ____ to the cash desk，I said ____，“I need to put this on credit.”
The farmer gave me an amused，distrustful ___.But Buck’s face didn’t change. “Sure，” he said ___.“Your daddy is ___ good for it.” He ___ to the other man. “This here is one of James Williams’s sons.”
The farmer nodded in a neighborly __.I was filled with pride. James Williams’s son. Those three words had opened a door to an adult’s respect and trust.
That day I discovered that the good name my parents had ____ brought our whole family the respect of our neighbors. Everyone knew what to ___ from a Williams: a decent person who kept his word and respected himself ____ much to do wrong.
1.A. somethingB．nothingC．anythingD．everything
2.A. andB．soC．butD．for
3.A. pridefulB．wonderfulC．respectfulD．colorful
4.A. intentionB．shadowC．habitD．faith
5.A. thusB．justC．stillD．ever
6.A. guessedB．suspectedC．questionedD．figured
7.A. watchedB．caughtC．dismissedD．accused
8.A. generousB．honestC．friendlyD．modest
9.A. blameB．excuseC．chargeD．trust
10.A. untilB．asC．onceD．since
11.A. purchasesB．salesC．ordersD．favorites
12.A. casuallyB．confidentlyC．cheerfullyD．carefully
13.A. lookB．stareC．responseD．comment
14.A. patientlyB．eagerlyC．easilyD．proudly
15.A. generallyB．neverC．sometimesD．always
16.A. pointedB．repliedC．turnedD．introduced
17.A. senseB．wayC．degreeD．mood
18.A. earnedB．deservedC．givenD．used
19.A .receiveB．expectC．collectD．require
20.A. veryB．soC．howD．too
_______ snacks and drinks，but they also brought cards for entertainment when they had
a picnic in the forest.
A．Not only they brought B．Not only did they bring
C．Not only brought they D．Not only they did bring
—I have signed up for the Oral English Competition.
—What a________idea. You even don’t know how to introduce yourself in English.
A．typical B．fragile C．superb D．ridiculous
These volunteers are raising________money for the AIDS patients.
A．a great many B．a great deal of C．a lots of D．amount of
It rained that day and ________ the basketball game was called off.
A．however B．still C．though D．consequently
