阅读理解 English as a Foreign Language Who taught you to speak English? Your parents, while you were a young child Your teachers at school? Perhaps even the BBC as a grown-up. Whoever it was, somehow you 题目和参考答案——青夏教育精英家教网—

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阅读理解

English as a Foreign Language

　　Who taught you to speak English? Your parents, while you were a young child Your teachers at school? Perhaps even the BBC as a grown－up. Whoever it was, somehow you have developed an understanding of what is rapidly becoming a truly global language.

　　There are now about 376 million people who speak English as their first language, and about the same number who have learnt it in addition to their mother tongue. There are said to be one billion people learning English now and about 80% of the information on the Internet is in English.

　　Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Should we celebrate the fact that more and more of us can communicate, using a common language, across countries and cultures(文化)? Or should we worry about the dangers of “mono－culturalism”, a world in which we all speak the same language, eat the same food and listen to the same music?

　　Does it matter if an increasing number of people speak the same language? On the contrary (相反), I would have thought－although I have never accepted the argument that if only we all understood each other better, there would be fewer wars. Ask the people Of India (where many of them speak at least some English) and Pakistan (the same situation with India)…

　　If we all speak English, will we then all start eating McDonalds burgers? Surely not. If English becomes more dominant(占主导地位的), it will kill other languages? I doubt it. When I travel in Africa or Asia, I am always surprised by how many people can speak not only their own language but often one or more other related languages, as well as English and perhaps some French or German as well.

　　When we discussed this on Talking Point a couple of years ago, we received a wonderfully poetic e－mail from a listener in Ireland. “The English language is a beautiful language. Maybe it's like a rose,” he said. “But who would ever want their garden just full of roses?”

　　Well, I love roses, and I think they make a beautiful addition to any garden. But the way I see it, just by planting a few roses, you don't necessarily need to pull out everything else. If more and more people want to plant English roses, that's fine by me.

1．By saying “Ask the people of India… and Pakistan” (in Paragraph 4), the author is trying to show that ________.

[　　]

A．speaking the same language doesn't necessarily bring peace

B．wars can destroy the relationship between two countries

C．English doesn't kill other languages

D．English is widely used in the world

2．What does “garden” in the last two paragraphs stand for?

[　　]

A．Language.

B．Family.

C．The world.

D．The Earth.

3．The author would probably agree that ________.

[　　]

A．it's very hard to plant many kinds of flowers in a garden

B．it's good for people from other countries to learn English

C．more and more people like to plant roses in their gardens

D．English is easier to learn than other languages

4．This passage is mainly about ________.

[　　]

A．why English has become a global language

B．how many people in the world speak English

C．how people in the world learn English as a foreign language

D．whether we need to worry about English being a world language

答案：A;C;B;D

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　　Two year s ago, Wendy Ha snip, 47，experienced a brain injury that left her speechle s s for two week s．When she finally recovered, she found her self talking with what seemed to be a French accent．“I phoned a friend the other day, and she spent the fir st ten minute s laughing, ” Ha snip said at the time, “while I have nothing again st the French．”

　　Ha snip suffered from foreign accent syndrome(外国口音综合症), a rare condition in which people find them selve s speaking their own language like someone from a foreign country．The condition u sually occur s in people who have experienced a head injury or a stroke-a sudden lo s s of con sciou sne s s, sen sation, or movement cau sed by a blocked or broken blood ve s selin the brain．

　　The condition wa s fir st identified during the Second World War in a Norwegian woman who se head wa s injured during an attack by the German military．The woman recovered but wa s left with a German-sounding accent, to the horror of fellow villager s who avoided her after that．

　　Re searcher s have di scovered that the combined effect of the damage to several part s of the brain make s victim s lengthen certain syllable, mi spronounce sound s, and change the normal pitch(音高)of their voice．Tho se change s in speech add up to what sound s like a foreign accent．

　　Another re searcher, a phonetician, say s victim s of the syndrome don't acquire a true foreign accent．Their strangely changed speech only re semble s the foreign accent with which it ha s a few sound s in common．

　　When an Engli sh woman named Annie recently developed foreign accent syndrome after a stroke, she spoke with what seemed to be a Scotti sh accent．However, Annie' s Scotti sh coworker s said she didn't sound at all like a Scot．

(1)

According to the pa s sage, people ________ may have foreign accent syndrome．
[　　]
A．	who se parent ha s experienced a head injury
B．	who have lived in a foreign country for a long time
C．	who have lo st their con sciou sne s s owing to a stroke
D．	who have learned foreign language from their coworker s

(2)

If a per son suffer s foreign accent syndrome, ________．
[　　]
A．	hi s coworker s will be afraid of him and avoid contacting with him
B．	he ha s more chance of suffering stroke again
C．	he will speak a fluent foreign language like native speaker s
D．	hi s speech only ha s a few sound s in common with the foreign accent

(3)

Writing thi s pa s sage, the writer' s main purpo se i s to ________．
[　　]
A．	introduce foreign accent syndrome and some related information
B．	warn people not to be at the ri sk of experiencing a stroke
C．	make it clear that foreign accent syndrome can be cured
D．	tell a story of an injured woman during the Second World War

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