D
One of the main challenges facing many countries is how to maintain their identity in the face of globalization and the growing multi-language trend. “One of the main reasons for economic failure in many African countries is the fact that, with a few important exceptions, mother-tongue education is not practiced in any of the independent African states.” said Neville Alexander, Director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa at the University of Cape Town.
In response to the spread of English and the increased multi-language trends arising from immigration, many countries have introduced language laws in the laws in the last decade. In some, the use of languages other than the national language is banned in public spaces such as advertising posters. One of the first such legal provisions was the 1994 “Toubon law” in France, but the idea has been copied in many countries since then. Such efforts to govern language use are often dismissed as
futile by language experts, who are well aware of the difficulty in controlling fashions in speech and know from research that language switching among bilinguals is a natural process.
It is especially difficult for native speakers of English to understand the desire to maintain the “purity” of a language by law. Since the time of Shakespeare, English has continually absorbed foreign words into its own language. English is one of the most mixed and rapidly changing languages in the world, but there has not been a barrier to acquiring prestige and power. Another reason for the failure of many native English speakers to understand the role of state regulation is that it has never been the Anglo-Saxon way of doing things. English has never had a state-controlled authority for the language, similar, for example, to the Academic Francaise in France.
The need to protect national languages is, for most western Europeans, a recent phenomenon—especially the need to ensure that English does not unnecessarily take over too many fields. Public communication, education and new modes of communication promoted by technology, may be key fields to defend.
小题1:Neville Alexander believes that
.
| A．mother-tongue education is not practiced in all African countries |
| B．lack of mother-tongue education can lead to economic failure |
| C．globalization has led to the rise of multi-language trends |
| D．globalization has resulted in the economic failure of Africa |
小题2:The underlined word “futile” (in paragraph 2) most probably means “
“.
| A．useless | B．practical | C．workable | D．unnecessary |
小题3:Why do many English-speaking countries not support the language protection efforts described in the passage?
| A．They think language protection laws are ineffective. |
| B．They want their language to spread to other countries. |
| C．They have a long history of taking words from other languages. |
| D．It reduces a language’s ability to acquire international importance. |
小题4:What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．English has taken over fields like public communication and education. |
| B．Europeans have long realized the need to protect their national languages. |
| C．Most language experts believe it is important to promote a national language. |
| D．Many aspects of national culture are threatened by the spread of English. |
小题5:The main idea of the passage is
.
| A．Fighting against the rule of English |
| B．Globalization and multi-language trends |
| C．Protecting local languages and identities |
| D．To maintain the purity of language by law |