Like many languages spoken by people, Ayapaneco is dying. Only two people in the world still speak it, and they won't talk to each other.
Spoken in Mexico for centuries, Ayapaneco is one of 68 surviving languages in the mainly Spanish-speaking nation. The two speakers are Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez. Though they live only 500 meters from each other in the village, the two men seldom talk to each other. Daniel, an American expert, who is working to make a dictionary of Ayapaneco, says the two men “don’t have a lot in common,” and that Segovia can be “active” while Velasquez tends to mind his own business and stay at home.
While Segovia still speaks to his wife and son in Ayapaneco, neither of them can manage more than a few words. Velasquez hardly speaks his native tongue any more. Daniel is working to preserve the language in dictionary form before its last surviving speakers pass away. According to Daniel, Ayapaneco and the other languages began dying out with the introduction of public Spanish education in the mid-20th century. For decades, local children weren’t allowed to speak anything else. Many people to cities, starting in the 1970s, also helped the dying out of native languages.
Ayapaneco is the name given to the language; Segovia and Velazquez call it “Nuumte Oote”, which means “true voice”. Neither man, however, speaks the same language. The dictionary will contain two versions(版本) of the language when it comes out later this year. Those behind the dictionary aren’t the only ones trying to save Ayapaneco. The National Language Institute plans to hold classes so that Segovia and Velasquez can pass on what they know to children.
It is thought that there are about 6,000 languages spoken on earth and that about half will disappear over the next 100 years. Let’s hope the “true voice” isn’t one of them.
小题1:Segovia and Velasquez seldom talk to each other in Ayapaneco because they___________________.
A．both dislike the language
B．don’t get along well with each other
C．are too busy to talk to each other
D．don’t share the same interests小题2:Which are the main reasons why the language Ayapaneco started dying out?
a. No teacher liked to teach it. b. Local children had to speak Spanish.
c. many villagers went to live in cities. d. The surviving speakers didn’t like to use it.
A．a, b
B．a, c
C．b, d
D．b, c小题3:How does the National Language Institute try to save Ayapaneco?
A．Write a dictionary of Ayapaneco.
B．Let Ayapaneco be taught at school.
C．Introduce a public Ayapaneco education.
D．Ask villagers to speak Ayapaneco.小题4:From the text we learn that the author____________________.
A．agrees that it is natural that Ayapaneco should die out
B．thinks Daniel’s effort to preserve Ayapaneco won’t work
C．thinks highly of Ayapaneco and wants people to learn it
D．hopes that Ayapaneco will not die out in the future
