IELTS Reading 練習 5 語言滅絕（含題目+詳解）

Language Extinction

Of the roughly seven thousand languages spoken today, linguists estimate that at least half are likely to disappear before the end of the twenty-first century. A language is typically judged endangered when children in its speech community stop learning it as a mother tongue. Once transmission to the next generation ceases, the language survives only among ageing speakers, and its extinction becomes a matter of decades rather than centuries.

The forces driving this decline are usually economic rather than intentional. Governments in many countries promote a single national language in schools and official documents, associating it with opportunity and modernity. Parents, hoping to give their children access to wider employment, choose to raise them in the dominant language rather than the local one. Mass media, migration to cities and the global reach of English reinforce this preference. Within three generations, a healthy minority language may collapse.

The consequences extend beyond sentiment. Languages encode specialised knowledge of local ecosystems, medicinal plants, weather patterns and navigation that is rarely preserved in translation. When the last fluent speaker of Eyak, an Alaskan language, died in 2008, detailed terminology for river ice conditions — vital for safe travel — was lost almost overnight. Similar losses have been recorded across Australia, the Amazon and the Pacific.

Revitalisation efforts have produced mixed results. The best-known success is Hebrew, which was revived as a spoken language in Palestine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after nearly two millennia of use solely in religious contexts. On a smaller scale, Welsh, Maori and Hawaiian have stabilised or modestly grown through immersion schooling and government support. Yet most endangered languages lack the institutional backing, written corpus or speaker numbers that such programmes require. Linguists increasingly prioritise detailed documentation — audio recordings, grammars, dictionaries — so that even languages that cannot be saved may remain accessible to future scholars and descendant communities.

1. More than half of the world's languages are expected to survive into the twenty-second century.
2. The decline of minority languages is usually the result of deliberate suppression.
3. Detailed knowledge about river ice was lost when the last Eyak speaker died.

1. According to the passage, a language is considered endangered when:

- A. it is spoken by fewer than one thousand people - B. children no longer learn it from birth - C. it is not taught in schools - D. its speakers migrate to cities

1. The example of Hebrew is used to illustrate:

- A. a typical case of language decline - B. an unusually successful revival - C. the role of government schools - D. the limits of documentation

1. The writer's main purpose in the final paragraph is to:

- A. criticise revitalisation programmes - B. argue that all languages can be saved - C. explain why documentation has become a priority - D. compare Maori with Welsh

Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

1. Parents often switch their children to a dominant language in the hope of improved ______.
2. Minority languages often contain specialised terms for local ______ and plants with medicinal uses.
3. Programmes like those for Maori and Hawaiian typically rely on ______ combined with government support.

1. FALSE Supporting sentence: "at least half are likely to disappear before the end of the twenty-first century". If half disappear this century, less than half survive into the next — contradicts the statement.

2. FALSE Supporting sentence: "The forces driving this decline are usually economic rather than intentional". "Intentional" = "deliberate suppression". The passage explicitly denies this.

3. TRUE Supporting sentence: "When the last fluent speaker of Eyak, an Alaskan language, died in 2008, detailed terminology for river ice conditions — vital for safe travel — was lost almost overnight". Direct paraphrase.

4. B — children no longer learn it from birth Supporting sentence: "A language is typically judged endangered when children in its speech community stop learning it as a mother tongue". "Mother tongue" = "learn from birth". The other options (numbers, schools, migration) are mentioned elsewhere but are not the definition.

5. B — an unusually successful revival Supporting sentence: "The best-known success is Hebrew, which was revived as a spoken language ... after nearly two millennia of use solely in religious contexts". "Best-known success" = "unusually successful".

6. C — explain why documentation has become a priority Supporting sentence: "Linguists increasingly prioritise detailed documentation ... so that even languages that cannot be saved may remain accessible to future scholars". The paragraph ends with the rationale for documentation.

7. (wider) employment Supporting sentence: "Parents, hoping to give their children access to wider employment, choose to raise them in the dominant language". One or two words — "employment" alone is safer; "wider employment" also acceptable.

8. ecosystems Supporting sentence: "Languages encode specialised knowledge of local ecosystems, medicinal plants, weather patterns and navigation". Single word, exactly matches sentence structure.

9. immersion schooling Supporting sentence: "Welsh, Maori and Hawaiian have stabilised or modestly grown through immersion schooling and government support". Two words, directly matches the sentence's structure ("______ combined with government support").