单选题 Generally speaking, after 4 000 years, on the average, the percentage of the 200 original words which remained in use was ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】由文章第三段知，每隔一千年原有词汇的81%会保留下来，而文中指出3000年后53% of the original number仍然在使用，故4000年后应该是53%乘以81%等于43%。故选项C正确。