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A Debate on the English Language A measure declaring English the national l...

admin2020-12-24  26
问题 A Debate on the English Language
A measure declaring English the national language is under intense debate in the United States .The U.S. Senate passed two declarations last week . One calls English the nation’s official language and the other says it is the “common and unifying (统一的）” tongue. But Americans found themselves divided on the issue.
Since people worldwide know that most Americans speak only English，many can’t understand why the issue is so controversial（有争议的）.
  "The discussion is related to fears of immigration issues,” says Dick Tucker, a social scientist at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. "It’s related to a worry about the changing demography(人口统计）of the U.S..It's a worry about who will continue to have political and economic influence."
In fact,the notion of protecting the language has been kicked around almost since the nation's founding.John Adams lobbied (游说)in 1780 for the creation of a national academy to correct and improve the English language .But his proposal died ,since lawmakers saw it as a royalist(保皇主义者)attempt to define personal behavior.
Since then ,the country hasn't had a national language ,but the idea of recognizing the special status of English lived on.
The emotions surrounding language resurface (再次浮现)not because people feel comfortable with English .It is more about the discomfort many Americans feel with the new languages,says Walt Wolfram,a professor at North Carolina State University.
"Language is never about language ," he says.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau report ,of 209 million Americans over 18 years 172 million speak only English at home.About 37 million speak languages other than English .Among them,6.5 million speak poor English and 3.1 million don't speak English at all.

Who suggested in the 18th century that English should be protected?
选项 A. Walt Wofram.
B. John Adams.
C. Royalists.
D. Dick Tucker.
答案B
解析问题是:谁在18世纪就建议英语应该得到保护？第四段第二句"John Adams lobbied in 1780 for the creation of a national academy to correct and improve the English language. ”，1780年John Adams曾游说建立一个国家研究院，致力于纠正并修改英语。可见正确的选 择应该是B项。
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