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1、SupplementaryReadingMaterialsIELTSReadingPassage1Youshouldspendabout20minutesonquestions28-40whicharebasedonPassage3below.SavingLanguageForthefirsttime,linguistshaveputapriceonlanguage.Tosavealanguagefromextinctionisn'tcheap-butmoreandmorepeoplearearguingthatt
2、healternativeisthedeathofcommunities.Thereisnothingunusualaboutasinglelanguagedying.Communitieshavecomeandgonethroughouthistory,andwiththemtheirlanguage.Butwhatishappeningtodayisextraordinary,judgedbythestandardsofthepast.Itislanguageextinctiononamassivescale.
3、Accordingtothebestestimates,therearesome6,000languagesintheworld.Ofthese,abouthalfaregoingtodieoutinthecourseofthenextcentury:that's3,000languagesin1,200months.Onaverage,thereisalanguagedyingoutsomewhereintheworldeverytwoweeksorso.Howdoweknow?Inthecourseofthep
4、asttwoorthreedecades,linguistsallovertheworldhavebeengatheringcomparativedata.Iftheyfindalanguagewithjustafewspeakersleft,andnobodyisbotheringtopassthelanguageontothechildren,theyconcludethatlanguageisboundtodieoutsoon.Andwehavetodrawthesameconclusionifalangua
5、gehaslessthan100speakers.Itisnotlikelytolastlong.A1999surveyshowsthat97percentoftheworld'slanguagesarespokenbyjustfourpercentofthepeople.Itistoolatetodoanythingtohelpmanylanguages,wherethespeakersaretoofewortooold,andwherethecommunityistoobusyjusttryingtosurvi
6、vetocareabouttheirlanguage.Butmanylanguagesarenotinsuchaseriousposition.Often,wherelanguagesareseriouslyendangered,therearethingsthatcanbedonetogivenewlifetothem.Itiscalledrevitalisation.Onceacommunityrealisesthatitslanguageisindanger,itcanstarttointroducemeas
7、ureswhichcangenuinelyrevitalise.Thecommunityitselfmustwanttosaveitslanguage.Thecultureofwhichitisapartmustneedtohavearespectforminoritylanguages.Thereneedstobefunding,tosupportcourses,materials,andteachers.Andthereneedtobelinguists,togetonwiththebasictaskofput
8、tingthelanguagedownonpaper.That'sthebottomline:gettingthelanguagedocumented-recorded,analysed,writtendown.Peoplemustbeabletoreadandwriteiftheyandtheirlanguagearetohaveafutureinanin
