Question

[Dương Minh]

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

In our connected globalized world, the languages which dominate communications and business, Mandarin, Hindi, English, Spanish and Russian amongst others, are placing small languages spoken in remote places under increasing pressure. Fewer and fewer people speak languages such as Liki, Taushiro and Dumi as their children shift away from the language of their ancestors towards languages which promise education, success and the chance of a better life. While to many parents, this may appear a reasonable choice, giving their offspring the opportunity to achieve the sort of prosperity they see on television, the children themselves often lose touch with their roots. However, in many places the more reasonable option of bilingualism, where children learn to speak both a local and a national language, is being promoted. This gives hope that many endangered languages will survive, allowing people to combine their links to local tradition with access to wider world culture.

While individuals are free to choose if they wish to speak a minority language, national governments should be under no obligation to provide education in an economically unproductive language, especially in times of budget constraints. It is generally accepted that national languages unite and help to create wealth while minority regional languages divide. Furthermore, governments have a duty to ensure that young people can fulfil their full potential, meaning that state education must provide them with the ability to speak and work in their national language and so equip them to participate responsibly in national affairs. People whose language competence does not extend beyond the use of a regional tongue have limited prospects. This means that while many people may feel a sentimental attachment to their local language, their government’s position should be one of benign neglect, allowing people to speak the language, but not acting to prevent its eventual disappearance.

Many PhD students studying minority languages lack the resources to develop their language skills, with the result that they have to rely on interpreters and translators to communicate with speakers of the language they are studying. This has a detrimental effect on the quality of their research. At the same time, they have to struggle against the frequently expressed opinion that minority languages serve no useful purpose and should be allowed to die a natural death. Such a view fails to take into account the fact that a unique body of knowledge and culture, built up over thousands of years, is contained in a language and that language extinction and species extinction are different facets of the same process. They are part of an impending global catastrophe which is beginning to look unavoidable.

(Adapted from Complete Advanced by Guy Brook – Hart and Simon Haines)

Which of the following could best serve as the main topic of the passage?

A.The threat to minority languages in different parts of the world.

B.The domination of business languages all over the world.

C.The shift from regional to national languages in many countries.

D.The benefits of national languages in modern world.

Answer 1

[Nguyen Hoang Hai]

Đáp án A

Ý nào trong các ý sau thể hiện tốt nhất chủ đề chính của đoạn văn?

A.Nguy cơ của các ngôn ngữ thiểu số ở các vùng khác nhau trên thế giới.

B.Sự nổi trội của các ngôn ngữ kinh doanh trên khắp thế giới.

C.Sự chuyển đổi từ ngôn ngữ điạ phương sang ngôn ngữ quốc gia ở nhiều nước.

D.Những lợi ích của ngôn ngữ quốc gia trong xã hội hiện đại.

Căc cứ thông tin đoạn 1:

In our connected globalised world, the languages which dominate communications and business, Mandarin, Hindi, English, Spanish and Russian amongst others, are placing small languages spoken in remote places under increasing pressure.

(Trong thế giới được kết nối toàn cầu của chúng ta, những ngôn ngữ mà chi phối được giao tiếp và kinh doanh, tiếng Trung, tiếng Hindi (Ấn Độ), tiếng Anh, tiếng Tây Ban Nha và tiếng Nga là những tiếng  trong số các ngôn ngữ lớn đó, đang đặt các ngôn ngữ nhỏ chỉ được nói ở vùng sâu vùng xa dưới áp lực ngày càng lớn).

Như vậy, chủ đề chính nói về những áp lực ngày càng tăng hay nói cách khác là nguy cơ của các ngôn ngữ thiểu số.