必修一 Ｕｎｉｔ ２ Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ ａｒｏｕｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｗｏｒｌｄ

唐立新

一、完形填空

阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从1~10各题所给的A、B、C和D项中,选出最佳选项。

According to a new study by Graddol, the percentage of the global population that grew up speaking English as its first language is declining. In the future, the Mandarin form of ___1___will probably be the next must-learn language.

In fact, the relative___2___of English is continuing. In the mid-20th century, nearly 9 percent of the worlds population spoke English as their first language. In 2050, the number is___3___ to be 5 percent.

Today, Mandarin Chinese is well established as the worlds largest language in terms of___4___speakers.

Graddol predicts that 90 percent of the roughly 6,000 existing languages may be doomed to extinction, with much of this loss happening in the ___5 ___century. One language may be lost every day. The major influence of English will be in___6___new generations of bilingual and multilingual speakers around the world. Businesses whose employees are not multilingual will find themselves at ___7 ___. In the next decade, the new___ 8___ language is likely to be Mandarin.

“When the Chinese economy has overtaken that of the United States, no one will be able to ignore its global power,”Graddol said. “We know from the past that great languages of science can be___9___. Latin was preeminent(超群的) when modern science began in the 17th century.”

In the future, the study predicts, most people will speak more than one language and will switch between languages for routine tasks. Monolingual English speakers may find it___10___ to fully participate in a multilingual society.

1. A. Chinese B. English

C. British D. Japanese

2. A. increase B. decrease

C. rise D. decline

3. A. estimated B. expected

C. suspected D. foretold

4. A. foreign B. academic

C. native D. language

5. A. coming B. last

C. On-going D. past

6. A. establishing B. originating

C. creating D. constructing

7. A. a disadvantage B. a loss

C. an advantage D. crossing

8. A. first B. must-learn

C. scientific D. working

9. A. defeated B. stopped dead

C. ignored D. overtaken

10. A. easy B. superior

C. difficult D. shameful

二、语法填空

阅读下面短文,按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求,在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。

How did the World Englishes develop? How do the various___11___ (vary) of English differ? Is there any one form of English that is‘better ___12___the others?

Countries using English as either a___13___ or a second language are located on all five continents, and the total population of these countries amounts to about 49% of the worlds population.

Whereas the English-speaking world was___14___(former)understood as a hierarchy(层级)of parent and___15___ (child), it is now seen rather as a family of varieties. The English of England, the___16___ (origin) source of all the World Englishes, is now seen___17___one of the‘familyof world English varieties, with its own peculiarities(特性) and its own distinctive vocabulary.

This awareness ___18___English consists of a family of different varieties is not a new phenomenon(现象), but goes back to the early 19th century; English Dictionary documented not___19___British English words, but also words from the varieties of English___20___ (find) in Australasia, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and North America.

三、阅读理解

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中,选出最佳选项。

If you get tongue-tied when trying to learn a new language, your genes may be to blame, a new study suggests.

While there is no gene yet found that is responsible for preprogramming a person with a given language, there does appear to be a link between types of two genes and the languages people speak.

The new findings could be the first sign of a subtle(微妙的) effect in which peoples DNA could influence them toward learning a particular set of languages. These genes play a role in brain development and appear to still be evolving in humans .

In tonal languages, the same word can have widely different meanings depending on the inflection of the speaker.

While they didnt prove theres a direct link, they did reveal a strong connection between the versions of the two genes that people had and whether their native language was tonal or nontonal.

About half of all existing languages are tonal. In Mandarin Chinese, for example, the syllable “ma” can take on several unique meanings. When its pronounced with a single high-pitched tone, “ma” means “mother.” But when it has a low-pitched lilt in the middle, it means “horse”—making it a word you dont want to mispronounce.

The other half of all languages are nontonal, meaning they use pitch only for things like marking a question.

If your ancestors were from Southeast Asia or sub-Saharan Africa, where the native languages are nearly all tonal, you probably have the older versions of both genes.

If your ancestors were all from Europe, where people mostly speak nontonal languages, you probably have the new version and have a 50-50 chance of carrying the new gene.

The effects of these genetic markers might not be obvious in babies learning their native tongues. As far as anyone has been able to tell, babies can learn any language on Earth equally easily, as long as they are exposed to it from a very early age. But the differences could show up more strongly in adults struggling to learn a foreign language. Also, small differences created as children learn languages can add up over time to transform the way societies communicate.

21. From the text we can infer that the reason why Shakespeares English is different from todays is that_________.

A. children dont have quite the same language that their parents have

B. genes could not play a role in this phenomenon

C. children have the same language that their parents have

D. modern English is different from old English

22. What does the word“tongue-tied”in the sentence“If you get tongue-tied when trying to learn a new language, your genes may be to blame.”mean?

A. too shy or embarrassed not to open your mouth

B. your tongue is tied with your genes

C. remain silent

D. not able to speak because you are shy or nervous

23. According to the text, people learning English as a second or foreign language, they probably ______.

A. acquired the Language, Not Genes, From it

B. acquired genes, not the language from it

C. acquired both genes and the language from it

D. either acquired the language or genes from it

24. If there was really a gene for tone, you would expect______ .

A. even native speakers of a tone language to vary greatly in terms of their abilities to perceive (认知)or use tones in their languages

B. even non-native speakers of a tone language to vary greatly in terms of their abilities to perceive or use tones in their languages

C. even native speakers of a tone language to differ slightly in terms of their abilities to perceive or use tones in their languages

D. even non-native speakers of a tone language to differ slightly in terms of their abilities to perceive or use tones in their languages

25.The best headline of the passage might be______.

A. Genes May Influence Language Learning

B. There appears to be a link between genes and the languages people speak

C. Genes will play a very important role in language learning

D. Tonal languages and nontonal languages

四、信息匹配

阅读下列应用文及相关信息,并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。

首先请阅读下列有关英语背景知识的基本信息。

A.“English has borrowed words from over 350 other languages, and over three-quarters of the English lexicon is actually Classical or Romance in origin. Plainly, the view that to borrow words leads to a languages decline is absurd, given that English has borrowed more words than most.”

B. First-language speakers: 375 million

Second-language speakers: 375 million

Foreign-language speakers: 750 million

C.“English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language——in over 100 countries, such as China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt, and Brazil——and in most of these countries it is emerging as the chief foreign language to be encountered in schools, often displacing another language in the process.”

D.“The form OK or okay is probably the most intensively and widely used (and borrowed) word in the history of the language. Its many would-be etymologists have traced it variously to Cockney, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Norwegian, Scots, several African languages, and the Native American language Choctaw, as well as a number of personal names. All are imaginative feats without documentary support.”

E. This is a complicated question, as the definition of‘first language differs from place to place, according to each countrys history and local circumstances. “In all, English has official or special status in at least 75 countries (with a combined population of two billion people). It is estimated that one out of four people worldwide speak English with some degree of competence.”

F.“Today there are about six thousand languages in the world, and half of the worlds population speaks only ten of them. English is the single most dominant of these ten. British colonialism initiated the spread of English across the globe; it has been spoken nearly everywhere and has become even more prevalent since World War II, with the global reach of American power.”

请阅读以下几个问题,然后与上面的信息进行匹配。

26. In how many countries is English taught as a foreign language?

27. From how many other languages has English borrowed words?

28. What is the most widely used English word?

29. How many countries in the world have English as their first language?

30. How many people in the world today speak English?

五、基础写作

最近你刚学完第二单元的内容,校报记者就“你在本单元所学到的英语背景知识”对你进行了一次采访,以下是你回答的概要。

[写作内容]

请根据以上情况写一篇英语短文。

[写作要求]

只能使用5个句子表达全部内容。

[评分标准]

句子结构准确,信息内容完整,篇章结构连贯。

六、读写任务

阅读下面的短文,然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

President Barack Obama had a tough-love message for fellow African-Americans on Thursday, urging black parents to push their children to think beyond dreams of being sports stars or rap music performers.

Obama said parents need to force their children to set aside the video games and get to bed at a reasonable hour, and push them to set their sights beyond such iconic figures as NBA star LeBron James and rap singer Lil Wayne.

“Our kids cant all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States,”he said.

Obama noted that his own life could have taken a different path, had it not been for his mothers urgings.

“That mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education,”he said.“She took no lip and taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.”

[写作内容]

1. 以约30个词概括这段短文的内容;

2. 然后以约120个词就“Should Parents push their Children to Succeed?”进行议论,内容包括:

(1)以你的切身经历,谈谈父母在孩子成长过程中所起到的作用。

(2)就“push”与“success”的关系,发表自己的看法。

(3)父母该不该push,怎样做才能收到预期的效果,你的建议。

[写作要求]

1. 在作文中可以使用自己亲身的经历或虚构的故事,也可以参照阅读材料的内容但不得直接引用原文中的句子;

2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。

[评分标准]

概括准确,语言规范,内容合适,篇章连贯。

答案与解析

一、完形填空

本文主要讲英语逐渐失去主导地位,汉语将成为第二大主要语言。未来人类朝着bilingual或multilingual的社会发展。

1. A。根据Mandarin和Asia,还有上下文讲汉语是第二必学语言可知,此处应为Chinese。

2. D。根据第一段和本段的后半部分可知,把英语作为第一语言的人数是在“衰落,下降”。decrease是指数目的减少,此处的被修饰词是English。

3. B。答案是expected,意思是“预料,预期”。而estimated 是“估计,估算”的意思,一般以数据为依据。suspected 意思是“怀疑” ,foretold是“预言”之意。

4. C。世界上以汉语为本族语或母语的人数排第一。外来的和外国的都不符合上下文意思。

5. A。根据上下文,last和past都是过去,on-going是持续的。只有coming“即将到来的”符合。

6. C。Create是创造。Establish是建立,construct是建造,originate是发源。此处是“创造”新的一代人。

7. A。根据上下文,此处应该是处于“不利的,劣势的地位”的意思。

8. B。Must-learn合成词,意思是“必学的”的意思。

9. D。打败,终止,忽略都不符合上下文意思。此处应该是“赶上,超过且压倒”的意思。overtake最合适。

10. C。只讲英语的人应该感到“难”以充分融进多语言的社会环境,肯定不“易”,更不会有“出众,高傲的”的感觉。当然,也不至于感到“可耻的”。

二、语法填空

该文主要讲述英语的发展。

11. varieties。此处用名词,varieties意思是种类,多样性。

12. than。better后当然用than表示比较。

13. first。根据逻辑关系,后边是second,前边该是first。

14. formerly。根据下文的now可知,对应的former位置该用副词,所以,填formerly。

15. children。由英国和所属殖民地的关系,可以想到parent(父母)对应的肯定是子女,按世界各地讲英语的国家看,child不只一个,child的复数是children。

16. original。根据语法逻辑和构词法知识,此处用形容词,origin的形容词是original。

17. as。表示“被看作是……”,用be seen as。

18. that。引导同位语从句。

19. just/only。根据语法常识,“not only/just”是和“but also”构成一个“不仅……而且……”的句型的。还有上一句的not...but句型也形成了对应关系。

20. found。过去分词做后置定语。

三、阅读理解

该文讲述了一项研究表明,基因可能影响语言的学习。

21. A。推理判断题。从文章可以推测,莎士比亚时代的英语和现代英语不同的原因。古英语和现代英语不同的选项是废话,但干扰性很大。

22. D。词义猜测题。选项A语法错误,容易受干扰,因为去掉not,解释也对。

23. A。事实细节题。根据上下文,也可以说是根据常识,把语言当外语或第二语言来学只是学到表面的,内在的所谓gene是native speakers靠继承得来的。只有nativespeakers才可能acquire语言的genes。题干的理解是关键,second和foreign是核心词汇。

24. A。逻辑推理题。就拿身边的人来看,都讲汉语,差别咋就那么大呢?跟认知能力有关。汉语是典型的tonal language,“妈马骂麻”有几个分得清?

25. A。主旨大意题。该题要注意问的是最佳标题。如果问main idea答案可能就是别的了。但肯定不是C。D也是标题的表达式,但与文章主旨不符。Tone和non-tone只是拿来说明主题的。一般主旨题的判断第一段是核心点。

四、信息匹配

26—30CADEB

五、基础写作(one possible version)

English is spoken as a first language by more than 300 million people throughout the world, while many million more use it as a second language. One in five of the worlds population speaks English with a good level of competence, and within the next few years the number of people speaking English as a second language will exceed the number of native speakers, which could have a dramatic effect on the evolution of the language. In the process of being absorbed by new cultures, English develops to take account of local language needs, giving rise not just to new vocabulary but also to new forms of grammar and pronunciation. The main regional standards of English nowadays are British, US and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian. Within each of these regional varieties a number of highly differentiated local dialects may be found. At the same time, however, a standardized‘global English is spread by the media and the Internet.

六、读写任务(one possible version)

We can learn from the above passage that education is the path to a better future while parents play an important role. Parents are responsible to teach their children how to be and push them to achieve success so they can make the most of life.

No one can deny that fact that parents are the first and best teacher for their children. Take me as an example, My parents taught me from the first moment I came to this world. They are the most important and influential teacher for me.

How far should parents push children to succeed? In my personal point of view, parents should view themselves more as enablers to the child, rather than push the child, parents should concentrate on opening doors to give the child options in life.

Just as Obama said, kids can't all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne, parents should push their children to think beyond dreams of being sports stars or rap music performers. Parents should be realistic about what the goal for success is. If the measurement of success is that a child receives a full ride scholarship to Beijing University when the child is in kindergarten, the push is not realistic.

Parents should limit the amount of pushing of their child to achieve success. High expectations are one thing; making the children think that parental approval will only be given when certain goals are met is another. Encourage your children to do their best not your unrealistic dreams.

责任编校蒋小青