ARGENTINAREAD THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE AND MARK THE LETTER A, B, C, OR D ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET TO INDICATETHE CORRECT ANSWER TO EACH OF THE QUESTIONS FROM 23 TO 29
Câu 22 (NB):
A.
metropolitan
B.
existential
C.
colonialist
D.
Argentina
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate
the correct answer to each of the questions from 23 to 29.
In our connected globalized world, the languages which dominate communications and business,
Mandarin, Hindi, English, Spanish and Russian amongst others, are placing small languages
spoken in remote places under increasing pressure. Fewer and fewer people speak languages
such as Liki, Taushiro and Dumi as their children shift away from the language of their
ancestors towards languages which promise education, success and the chance of a better life.
While to many parents, this may appear a reasonable choice, giving their offspring the
opportunity to achieve the sort of prosperity they see on television, the children themselves
often lose touch with their roots. However, in many places the more reasonable option of
bilingualism, where children learn to speak both a local and a national language, is being
promoted.
This
gives hope that many endangered languages will survive, allowing people to
combine their links to local tradition with access to wider world culture.
While individuals are free to choose if they wish to speak a minority language, national
governments should be under no obligation to provide education in an economically
unproductive language, especially in times of budget
constraints. It is generally accepted that
national languages unite and help to create wealth while minority regional languages divide.
Furthermore, governments have a duty to ensure that young people can fulfill their full potential,
meaning that state education must provide them with the ability to speak and work in their
national language and so equip them to participate responsibly in national affairs. People whose
language competence does not extend beyond the use of a regional tongue have limited
prospects. This means that while many people may feel a sentimental attachment to their local
language,
their government's position should be one of benign neglect, allowing people to
speak the language, but not acting to prevent its eventual disappearance.
Many PhD students studying minority languages lack the resources to develop their language
skills, with the result that they have to rely on interpreters and translators to communicate with
speakers of the language they are studying. This has a detrimental effect on the quality of their
research. At the same time, they have to struggle against the frequently expressed opinion that
minority languages serve no useful purpose and should be allowed to die a natural death. Such a
view fails to take into account the fact that a unique body of knowledge and culture, built up
over thousands of years, is contained in a language and that language extinction and species
extinction are different
facets
of the same process. They are part of an impending global
catastrophe which is beginning to look unavoidable.
(Adapted from Complete Advanced by Guy Brook - Hart and Simon Haines)