CInafarawayareainnorthernMexicotherelivesanativeIndiangroupcalledtheTarahumaras(塔拉乌马拉族).BesidesowningsomecookingtoolsandfarmingequipmenttheT

Question

                                 C 

             In a faraway area in northern Mexico there lives a native Indian group called the Tarahumaras (塔拉乌马拉族) .Besides owning some cooking tools and farming equipment the Tarahumaras exist much as they did before the Spanish _sarrived in the 1600s. They live in caves or in small houses made of stone and wood and they eat what little they can grow on the dry land.

             Ten years ago linguist(语言学家) James Copeland entered the world of the Tarahumaras to study their language and culture. Since then he has been visiting the Tarahumaras three or four times a year. Tafahumara is not a written language so part of Copeiand^，s project was to learn to speak Tarahumara so that he could deal directly with the people. “There are no language police ” Copeland says. “Children are seldom corrected by their parents. They learn by observation of speech in conversations and by imitation."

             Copeland learned the language through his frequent exposure to it and by analyzing the grammar. His linguistic skills and mastery of German Spanish French and Russian plus a partial knowledge of some twenty other languages also helped. Drawing on his research Copeland plans to produce a Tarahumara grammar book in j English and perhaps one in Spanish.

             The idea to study the Tarahumaras came to Copeland in 1984 when he discovered that very!little research had been done on their language. He got in touch with a Tarahumara Indian called Lomezo Gonzalez through a social worker who worked with the Tarahumaras in the border town of Juarez Mexico. At first Gonzalez was very reluctant to cooperate. He told Copeland that no amount of money could buy his language. But after Copeland explained to him what he intended to do with his research and how it would benefit the Tarahumaras Gonzalez agreed to help and took Copeland to his village. ^uOver a period of a year our relationship became closer and warmer/' says Copeland. “Thanks to him the Tarahumaras started trusting us and understood what we were doing."

28. What can we learn about the Tarahumaras?

   A. They have a strict education system.

   B. They live a very simple and hard life.

   C. They arrived in Mexico with the Spanish.

   D. They are good at agriculture and architecture.

29. According to Copeland learning Tarahumara.

   A. is no easy task

   B. is a waste of time

   C. is very interesting

   D. is useful for learning Spanish

30. Before Copeland learned Tarahumara he had.

   A. fully researched this language

   B. read a Tarahumara grammar book

   C. visited the Tarahumaras three times

   D. asked a Tarahumara Indian for help

31. The underlined word “reluctant” in the last paragraph probably means .

   A. ready     B. anxious

   C. pleased   D. unwilling

Answer 1

28. B 29. A 30. D 31. D