1、雅思44阅读汇总中英文对照Reading : 英文原文 中文对照Lost for words无言以对In the Native American Navajo nation which sprawls across four states in the American south-west, the native language is dying. 对于美洲土著纳瓦霍人（其居住在美国西南四州）而言，他们的土著语正遭受灭顶之灾。Most of its speakers are middle-age or elderly. 讲土著语的大都是中年或老年人。Although many studen
2、ts take classes in Navajo, the schools are run in English. 尽管很多学生仍然在学校中学习纳瓦霍语，但是学校的官方语言却是英语。Street sign, supermarket goods and even their own newspaper are all in English. 路牌、超市商品、甚至他们自己的报纸都是使用英语的。Not surprisingly, linguists doubt that any native speakers of Navajo will remain in a hundred years tim
3、e. 不足为奇的是，语言学家已经开始猜测一百年后到底还会不会有讲纳瓦霍语的土著人存在。Navajo is far from alone. 并非只有纳瓦霍语才如此。Half the worlds 6,800 languages are likely to vanish within two generations - thats one language lost every ten days. 全世界6800种语言当中，有一半很可能在两代人之后彻底消失，这相当于每十年就有一种语言消亡。Never before has the planets linguistic diversity shrun
4、k at such a pace.世界语言多样性的萎缩速度从未如此之快。 “At the moment, we are heading for about three or four languages dominating the world”, says Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading. “Its a mass extinction, and whether we will ever rebound from the lost is difficult to know.“当前，我们正进入一
5、个由3-4种语言主导的世界”，雷丁大学的生物进化学家M. P.这样说道，“这是一场大规模的消亡，而且我们人类是否能从中恢复过来还不得而知。”Isolation breeds linguistic diversity as a result, 与外界的隔绝带来了语言的多样性，the world is peppered with languages spoken by only a few people. 这导致世界上有很多语言只有很少数量的人会讲。Only 250 language have more than a million speaker, 使用者超过一百万的语言只有250种，and a
6、t least 3,000 have fewer than 2,500. 而使用者不超过2500人的语言却至少有3000种。It is not necessarily these small languages that are about to disappear. 但不是语种小才导致其消失Navajo is considered endangered despite having 150,000 speakers. -纳瓦霍语拥有15万的使用者，但仍然被认为是濒危语种。What makes a language endangered is not that the number of sp
7、eakers, but how old they are.导致语种濒临灭亡的不仅仅是其使用者的多少，还包括使用者的年龄。 If it is spoken by children it is relatively safe. 如果这种语言的使用者很年轻，那么该语言也相对安全。The critically endangered languages are those that are only spoken by the elderly, according to Michael Krauss, director of the Alassk Native Language Center, in F
8、airblanks.那些只有老年人才会讲的语言则已接近灭亡边缘。来自ANLC的M.K.给出了以上提法。Why do people reject the language of their parent? 为什么会有人抛弃父辈的语言呢？It begins with a crisis of confidence, 这种情况始于自信的缺乏。when a small community find itself alongside a larger, wealthier society, says Nicholas Ostler of Britains Foundation for Endangered
9、 Languages, in Bath. People lose faith in their culture he say. When the next generation reaches their teens, they might not want to be induced into the old tradition.来自BFEL的N.O.说，当一个小群体发现他们紧邻一个庞大的富有群体时，“小群体中的人们就会对自己的文化失去信心，当新一代人到了十几岁的时候，他们可能已经不想再接受老的传统。”The change is not always voluntary.这种变化并不总是自发
10、的。 Quite often, governments try to kill off a minority language by banning its use in public or discouraging its use in school, all to promote national unity. 政府经常通过在公共场所或学校内禁止使用这些语言来试图扼杀少数民族语言，这些做法都是为了提升国家的凝聚力。The former US policy of running Indian reservation in English, for example, effectively p
11、ut languages such as Navajo on the danger list. 例如，美国早前的一项政策要求在印第安保留地学校以英语授课，这种做法最终导致纳瓦霍语濒临灭亡。But Salikoko Mufwene, who chairs the Linguistics Department at the University of Chicago, argues that the deadliest weapon is not government policy but economic globalisation. 但是S.M.（UC大学语言学系主任）提出，最致命的威胁并不是
12、政府政策，而是经济全球化。Native Americans have not lost pride in their language, but they have had to adapt to socioeconomic pressures he say. They cannot refuse to speak English if most commercial activity is in English.“土著美国人并没失去对自己语言的自豪感，但是他们不得不强迫自己适应社会经济压力。如果大部分商业行为都使用英语，他们也就只能使用英语。 But are languages worth
13、saving? “但是语言值得我们去挽救吗？At the very least, there is a loss of data for the study of languages and their evolution, which relies on comparisons between languages, both living and dead. 至少，对于语言及其进化的研究而言，我们的数据变少了，因为这种研究依赖于语言间的对比，不论这种语言是否已经消亡。When an unwritten and unrecorded language disappears, it is los
14、t to science.当一种没有文字或者没有录音的语言消失时，我们就永远无法再去研究它了。Language is also intimately bond up with culture, 语言与文化的联系也是密不可分的，so it may be difficult to reserve one without the other. 所以只保留二者之一是很难做到的。If a person shifts from Navajo to English, they lose something Mufwene says. M.说，“如果一个人放弃纳瓦霍语改讲英语，他失去的不仅是本民族语言”。Mo
15、reover, the loss of diversity may also deprive us of different ways of looking at the world say Pagel. P说，“更有甚者，语言多样性的降低也可能剥夺我们认识世界的很多途径”。There is mounting evidence that learning a language produces physiological changes in brain. 越来越多的证据表明，学习语言会带来大脑的一些生理变化。Your brain and mine are difference from th
16、e brain of someone, who speaks French, for instance Pagel says, “你我的大脑与讲法语的人的大脑是不同的”，P.说，and this could affect our thoughts and perceptions. 这种不同会影响我们的思维和看法。The patterns and connections we make among various concepts may be structured by the linguistic habits of our community.“我们在各种概念之间建立起的模式和联系很可能是
17、由自身的语言习惯构筑成的”。So despite linguists best efforts, many languages will disappear over the next century. 所以，无论语言学家如何努力，很多语言都会在一百年内消失。But a growing interest in cultural identity may prevent the direst predictions from coming true.但是人们对文化认同的兴趣越来越浓厚，这也许能防止那些最耸人听闻的预言变成现实。 The key to fostering diversity is
18、for people to learn their ancestral tongue, as well as the dominant language says Doug Whalen, founder and president of the Endangered Language Fund in New Haven, Connecticut.“提升多样性的关键就在于，人们要学习长辈的语言，同时也要学习主流语言。”位于NHC的ELF机构的奠基人兼主席D.W.说， Most of these languages will not survive without a large degree
19、of bilingualism he says. “如果这些语言脱离了双语环境，很多就无法存在下去。”In New Zealand, classes for children have slowed the erosion of Maori and rekindled interest in the language. 在新西兰，儿童教育减缓了毛利语的消亡，并且重新燃起了人们对毛利语的兴趣。A similar approach in Hawaii has produce about 8000 new speakers of Polynesian languages in the past fe
20、w years. 夏威夷也采用了同样的方法，使得波利尼西亚语的使用者在过去的几年里增加了8000人。In California, apprentice programmes have provided life support to several indigenous languages.在加州，“学徒”计划为某些土著语提供了生存支持。 Volunteer apprentices pair up with one of the last living speakers of Native American tongue to learn traditional skill such as b
21、asket weaving, with instruction exclusively in the endangered language.志愿者“学徒”与某些土著语仅存的使用者组对，学习编框等传统技能，而整个教学过程只能使用土著语。 After about 300 hours of training they are generally sufficiently fluent to transmit the language to next generation. 在300小时的学习之后，他们大都可以足够流利的把自己的语言传递给下一代。But Mufwene says that preve
22、nting a language dying out is not the same as giving it new life by using every day. 但是M.提出，防止语言消亡和通过日常使用赋予其新生并不能相互等同。Preserving a language is more likely preserving fruits in a jar he says.他说，“保存语言更像用罐子保存水果”。However, preservation can bring a language back from the dead. 然而，保存语言的确可以让语言起死回生。There are
23、 examples of languages that have survived in written form and then been revived by latter generations. 一些语言通过书面形式幸存下来，继而被后人赋予新的生命，这样的例子不止一个。But a written form is essential for this, 但是这种做法的关键是要有书面形式的保存，so the mere possibility of revival has led many speakers of endangered languages to develop systems of writing where none existed before. 所以，这仅存的可能性使得很多濒危语种的使用者开始研究书写系统，因为这些系统过去并不存在。
