Imagine the solitude felt by Marie Smith before she died earlier this year in her native Alaska, at 89. She was the last person who knew the language of the Eyak people as a mother-tongue. Or imagine Ned Mandrell, who died in 1974—he was the last native speaker of Manx. In remote parts of the world, dozens more people are on the point of taking to their graves a system of communication that will never be recorded or reconstructed. Should anyone lose sleep over the fact that many tongues are in danger of suffering a similar fate? Compared with groups who advocate saving animals or trees, campaigners who advocate preserving languages are themselves a rare breed. But they are trying both to impede and publicize an alarming acceleration in the rate at which languages are vanishing. Of some 6, 900 tongues spoken in the world today, some 50% to 90% could be gone by the end of the century. In Africa, at least 300 languages are in near-term danger, and 200 more have died recently or are on the verge of death. Some 145 languages are threatened in East and South-east Asia. Some languages even face a threat in the shape of political power bent on imposing a majority tongue. A youngster in any part of France soon realized that whatever you spoke at home, mastering French was the key to success. Nor did English reach its present global status without ruthless tactics. In years past, Americans, Canadians and Australians took native children away from their families to be raised at boarding schools where English rules. The result is a growing list of tongues spoken only by white-haired elders. For instance, Njerep, one of 31 endangered languages in Cameroon, reportedly has only four speakers left, all over 60. The valleys of the Cauncansus used to be a paradise for linguists in search of unusual syntax, but Ubykh, one of the region's mysterious tongues, officially expired in 1992.

单选题 What led to Marie Smith's solitude?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干关键词Marie Smith’s solitude定位至第一段。由本段前两句“Imaginethe solitude felt，by Marie Smith before she died earlier this year in her native Alaska，at 89．She was the last personwho knew the language of the Eyak people as a mother一tongue．”可知Marie Smith感到孤独是由于除了她之外没有掌握埃亚克人母语的人了，故D正确。A文中未提及；B干扰最大，文中讲到她是最后一位掌握埃亚克人母语的人，但并不意味着没人懂她的语言，而且由后文可知她和周围人是可以交流的，故排除；C文中未提及。

单选题 What do campaigners in Paragraph 2 strive to do?

单选题 From Paragraph 3, we can know that______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：推断题。根据题干可明确定位至第三段。第三段的首句“Some languages even face athreat in the shape of political power bent on imposing a majority tongue．”即是本段的主题句，指出一些语言受政治权力的影响，接下来的几句话是具体举例说明这种情况，由此可知C正确。

单选题 The last paragraph implies that in the future the number of languages will ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：推断题。最后一段第一句话“The result is a growing list of tongues spoken only by white-haired elders．”意为结果是越来越多的语言只有白发苍苍的老人在讲，接下来用具体数字举例说明很多语言受到大众语言的影响，濒临消失，所以将来的语种会继续减少。故选D。