To save as much language diversity as possible in the face of its rapidly dying out, researchers suggest using “evolutionary trees”, a tool from conservation biology.
One of the world’s 7,000 languages disappears every other week, and half might not survive the 21st century, experts say.
When setting conservation goals, ecologists use evolutionary trees—diagrams that show how biological species are related to one another—to identify species that have few close relatives. Such species are said to be evolutionarily distinct. Similarly, recent advances in the construction of language trees make it possible to measure how unique a language is.
“Evolutionary trees have transformed our understanding of how life has evolved and helped us to decide which species most need conserving,” says Jonathan Davies, senior author of the new study.
“The rapid rate of language loss, as well as limited resources for preservation（保护）, means that we must choose carefully where to focus our efforts,” adds Max Farrell, a PhD student in Davies’ lab. “The more isolated (孤立的) a language in its family tree, the more unique information it contains and eventually contributes to language diversity.”
As a case study, they used this approach to rank 350 Austronesian languages, spoken in islands spread across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
For each of these languages, the researchers combined measures of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) and global endangerment (GE) to produce an “EDGE” score. The language with the highest score, which means it is extremely distinct（不同的） yet nearly dying out, was Kavalan, a language native to Tai Wan. The next-highest scores went to Tanibili, an endangered language in the Solomon Islands.
By building trees for other language groups, language specialists could target preservation efforts and help reduce the loss of language diversity in the future, the researchers say.
1.What can an evolutionary tree show in biology?
A. The relation among species.
B. The concept of each species.
C. The conservation measures of each species.
D. The different uses of different species.
2.Why do researchers build language trees?
A. To increase the variety of languages.
B. To make languages easier for new learners.
C. To aim their effort at endangered languages.
D. To choose the best way to study languages.
3.What does it mean if a language gets the highest EDGE score?
A. It is unique to a special area. B. It is widely used in the world.
C. It is similar to other languages. D. It is in danger of dying out.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. Evolutionary Trees, Symbols of Languages
B. Evolutionary Trees, Tools to Record Species
C. To Save Dying Languages, Use Evolutionary Trees
D. To Show Language Diversity, Choose Evolutionary Trees
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题
To save as much language diversity as possible in the face of its rapidly dying out, researchers suggest using “evolutionary trees”, a tool from conservation biology.
One of the world’s 7,000 languages disappears every other week, and half might not survive the 21st century, experts say.
When setting conservation goals, ecologists use evolutionary trees—diagrams that show how biological species are related to one another—to identify species that have few close relatives. Such species are said to be evolutionarily distinct. Similarly, recent advances in the construction of language trees make it possible to measure how unique a language is.
“Evolutionary trees have transformed our understanding of how life has evolved and helped us to decide which species most need conserving,” says Jonathan Davies, senior author of the new study.
“The rapid rate of language loss, as well as limited resources for preservation（保护）, means that we must choose carefully where to focus our efforts,” adds Max Farrell, a PhD student in Davies’ lab. “The more isolated (孤立的) a language in its family tree, the more unique information it contains and eventually contributes to language diversity.”
As a case study, they used this approach to rank 350 Austronesian languages, spoken in islands spread across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
For each of these languages, the researchers combined measures of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) and global endangerment (GE) to produce an “EDGE” score. The language with the highest score, which means it is extremely distinct（不同的） yet nearly dying out, was Kavalan, a language native to Tai Wan. The next-highest scores went to Tanibili, an endangered language in the Solomon Islands.
By building trees for other language groups, language specialists could target preservation efforts and help reduce the loss of language diversity in the future, the researchers say.
1.What can an evolutionary tree show in biology?
A. The relation among species.
B. The concept of each species.
C. The conservation measures of each species.
D. The different uses of different species.
2.Why do researchers build language trees?
A. To increase the variety of languages.
B. To make languages easier for new learners.
C. To aim their effort at endangered languages.
D. To choose the best way to study languages.
3.What does it mean if a language gets the highest EDGE score?
A. It is unique to a special area. B. It is widely used in the world.
C. It is similar to other languages. D. It is in danger of dying out.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. Evolutionary Trees, Symbols of Languages
B. Evolutionary Trees, Tools to Record Species
C. To Save Dying Languages, Use Evolutionary Trees
D. To Show Language Diversity, Choose Evolutionary Trees
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The unquestioned role of a student is to learn as much as possible through whatever means it takes to acquire knowledge. Teachers and professors are human beings and are therefore not perfect. No one knows the correct answer to every question even when you limit the questions to a certain field of study. Having certain skepticism (质疑) about what they are being taught can help students to make the teachers even better by correcting mistakes and misinformation.
Students certainly have a huge role in their own abilities to learn. Teachers should act more as guides along the way rather than try to force each student to learn. The best teachers in the world cannot teach an unmotivated student. If the teacher, for whatever reason, cannot motivate the student, then the student must somehow find a way to motivate himself or herself.
One method of doing this is by becoming an active rather than a passive student. The more the student involves himself or herself in the act of studying, the better he or she can learn. One of the best ways to become more active is simply to ask the teacher or professor questions. Students who passively sit in a classroom and take everything that the teacher says for granted are not fully using their mental capacities to learn.
Better education comes from teachers who are able to get their students to think about a subject rather than merely absorb a certain amount of information. Having a healthy skepticism can improve a student's ability to both think and absorb knowledge in a learning situation.
Teachers are human beings and no one is one hundred percent right all of the time, even in a classroom situation. Perhaps a teacher would simply unconsciously say the wrong word or pass on some misinformation that the teacher truly believed was correct. A student's question could prevent an entire classroom from becoming confused or misinformed.
There is of course a fine balance between a student having a healthy skepticism and just being a downright skeptic. But with the proper attitude toward learning and a little skepticism, both the students and teachers can improve upon the learning process and maximize learning efficiency.
1.Which of the following is the author's main argument?
A.Passive learning results from passive teaching in class.
B.A student's ability plays a huge role in the learning process.
C.A healthy skepticism fully depends on students' motivation and ability.
D.A healthy skepticism and proper attitude contribute to effective learning.
2.Being passive learners, the students ________.
A.use little of their mental ability while studying
B.seldom involve themselves completely in learning
C.can hardly tell the right from the wrong in class
D.simply ask their teachers questions without thinking
3.According to the passage, a good teacher should ________.
A.help the unmotivated students patiently
B.instruct students in the learning process
C.make no mistakes in the teaching process
D.answer all the questions raised by students
4.The author will most probably agree that ________.
A.keeping skepticism to a certain degree is important
B.having a good attitude can ensure the learning process
C.taking everything for granted makes a student learn nothing
D.a teacher's ability can be improved by encouraging doubts
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The unquestioned role of a student is to learn as much as possible through whatever means it takes to acquire knowledge. Teachers and professors are human beings and are therefore not perfect. No one knows the correct answer to every question even when you limit the questions to a certain field of study. Having certain skepticism (质疑) about what they are being taught can help students to make the teachers even better by correcting mistakes and misinformation.
Students certainly have a huge role in their own abilities to learn. Teachers should act more as guides along the way rather than try to force each student to learn. The best teachers in the world cannot teach an unmotivated student. If the teacher, for whatever reason, cannot motivate the student, then the student must somehow find a way to motivate himself or herself.
One method of doing this is by becoming an active rather than a passive student. The more the student involves himself or herself in the act of studying, the better he or she can learn. One of the best ways to become more active is simply to ask the teacher or professor questions. Students who passively sit in a classroom and take everything that the teacher says for granted are not fully using their mental capacities(能力) to learn.
Better education comes from teachers who are able to get their students to think about a subject rather than merely absorb a certain amount of information. Having a healthy skepticism can improve a student’s ability to both think and absorb knowledge in a learning situation.
Teachers are human beings and no one is one hundred percent right all of the time, even in a classroom situation. Perhaps a teacher would simply unconsciously say the wrong word or pass on some misinformation that the teacher truly believed was correct. A student’s question could prevent an entire classroom from becoming confused or misinformed.
There is of course a fine balance between a student having a healthy skepticism, and just
being a downright(令人不快的) skeptic. But with the proper attitude toward learning and a little skepticism, both the students and teachers can improve upon the learning process and maximize learning efficiency.
64. Which of the following is the author’s main argument?
A. Passive learning results from passive teaching in class.
B. A student’s ability plays a huge role in the learning process.
C. A healthy skepticism fully depends on students’ motivation and ability.
D. A healthy skepticism and proper attitude contribute to effective learning.
65. Being passive learners, the students ________.
A. use little of their mental ability while studying
B. seldom involve themselves completely in learning
C. can hardly tell the right from the wrong in class
D. simply ask their teachers questions without thinking
66. According to the passage, a good teacher should ________.
A. help the unmotivated students patiently
B. instruct students in the learning process
C. make no mistakes in the teaching process
D. answer all the questions raised by students
高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
In order to develop the city, the government tries to beautify it as soon as possible. Several new special projects are ______.
| A．under construct | B．under building | C．under way | D．under repair |
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
I don’t think _________ is possible to master a foreign language without much memory work.
A. this B. that C. it D. its
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
I don’t think _________ possible to master a foreign language without much memory work.
A. this B. that C. its D. it
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
This is John’s photo. We miss him very much. He ________ trying to save a girl in the earthquake.
A. is killed B. was killed
C. has been killed D. had been killed
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
In human, there is a possibility of ____ such as fever and headaches if there is exposure to the virus.
A．symptoms B．circumstances C．consequences D．exhibitions
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
as much memory work as possible is fundamental to ________our English.
A. Doing, improving B. To do, improve C. Do, improving D. Doing, improve
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
I hope you will study hard and master as much knowledge as possible; otherwise you will have to live a hard life_______.
A. as a result of B. in a word
C. as a consequence D. now and then
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析