The time may soon come when we say goodbye to most of the world's languages. Today humans express themselves in over 6,000 different languages. But that is quickly changing. Many scientists say that over half of these languages will disappear within the next 50 years. After 100 years, the languages used in the world will not be more than 20. Why? It is because people from different cultures live and work together much more often than before. This brings changes. The languages of the world's main culture are replacing the languages of the smaller cultures. Most international trade takes place in world languages such as English. People respect their own cultures and traditions, but when it comes to getting a job, knowing a world language is often necessary. It may mean the difference between success and failure. Technology works on the change of languages in an even more amazing way. Modern media such as radio and television give young people in developing countries much knowledge about the world. But this knowledge doesn't come in words from the mouths of their parents or the elders in their neighborhood. It usually comes in the language of a different culture. People in different cultures think it good for them to share a popular language. They can quickly share ideas and work together. Knowing the same language means easier communication and is a basis for trust. Is the death of a small local language such a terrible thing? The answer is maybe. Many cultures may have words for many useful things we know nothing about. If their languages die, their valuable wisdom may be lost forever. The future of the world's language depends on our actions now. Will we protect endangered languages or allow them to quietly disappear? Time will have the last word. We can know that if nobody spoke the languages of smaller cultures,   _  . A) people would find working together was difficult. B) knowledge would come from the mouths of the elders C) many of the words for things we do not know would be lost D) there would be no smaller cultures in the world
C

I have two kids, a boy and a girl. I don't worry about my girl; I'm sure she'll be well trained in mixed martial arts. I worry about my son. I'm pretty sure he's going to be feminine  . Sorry to say that, but let's face it. No dad wants his son to go feminine. At the rate we're moving in a couple of years you won't be able to tell the difference between boys and girls. Sound extreme? Think about this. In every movie where advanced time-traveling beings come to our planet, there's one constant: You can't tell the male aliens from the female aliens! But that's the future. Kids today are soft and fat. People ask why. Is it junk food? No. Junk food has been around for fifty years. Is it video games? No. Video games have been around for thirty years. None of the kids playing them back in the day were terribly obese. We're all scratching our heads trying to figure out what we've introduced to society to ruin our kids. But it's not anything we've added that has ruined our kids. It's stuff we've gotten rid of. Take the gym rope for example. Remember that thing that stretched from the floor to the ceiling in your gym class that you could never climb? Most of the kids couldn't make it to the top. But that wasn't the point; the point was you had to try while some middle-aged guy who couldn't make it up a flight of stairs shouted at you. We should have put our son on that rope, and given him a head start. But we didn't want to shame the boy, so we took it down. Taking down the rope would be a good idea if there were no ropes in life. But they're everywhere. You just can't see them. They're in every goal unrealized and expectation not met. The point everyone missed about the rope is you weren't supposed to make it to the top. It was there to create a fire that burned in the oversize belly of every kid. How does the author find teenagers today? A) They have too much dignity. B) They are overprotected. C) They are less independent. D) They are thought too highly of.
B

Londoners are great readers. They buy vast numbers of newspapers and magazines and of books -- especially paperbacks , which are still comparatively cheap in spite of ever-increasing rises in the costs of printing.  They still continue to buy "proper" books, too, printed on good paper and bound between hard covers. There are many streets in London containing shops which specialize in book-selling.  Perhaps the best known of these is Charring Cross Road in the very heart of London. Here bookshops of all sorts and sizes are to be found, from the celebrated one which boasts of being "the biggest bookshop in the world" to the tiny, dusty little places which seem to have been left over from Dickens' time. Some of these shops stock , or will obtain, any kind of book, but many of them specialize in second-hand books, in art books, in foreign books, in books on philosophy, politics or any other of the myriad subjects about which books may be written. One shop in this area specializes only in books about ballet! Although it may be the most convenient place for Londoners to buy books, Charring Cross Road is not the cheapest. For the really cheap second-hand volumes, the collector must venture  off the beaten track, to Farringdon Road, for example, in the East Central district of London. Here there is nothing so impressive as bookshops. Instead, the booksellers come along each morning and pour out their sacks of books onto small barrows  which line the gutters . And the collectors, some professionals and some amateurs , have been waiting for them. In places like this one can still, occasionally, pick up for a few pence an old volume that may be worth many pounds. The best topic for this passage is "  _  ". A) Bookshops in London B) The biggest bookshop in the world C) Charring Cross Road D) Buying books in London
D

A week ago, I had the great pleasure of reading an e-book, When Money Talks, Listen! by Rich Ezzo. It took only about an hour to read. When I first received a copy, I thought it was a Get Rich Quick type of publication. Nothing is wrong with Get Rich Quick, but my mind just doesn't run after dreams of wealth. I think that if God ever wants me to be rich, he knows where to find my purse. When I began reading When Money Talks, Listen!, I was overjoyed to find that Rich Ezzo isn't money hungry either. He, too, is hungry for more important than money. Since I love this e-book so much, why wait a week to write the review? Simple. I wanted to see if the effect it had on me was a keeper. After reading the last word of the e-book, I totally agreed with the subtitle   which promised to forever change the way we thought about money. I had so many thoughts running around my mind that I had to install   a stoplight to stop some while others made their way into the picture, then I yielded   them as a few ones arrived in town. I had a mental traffic jam, which only goes to show how slow the traffic usually is. It has been a week and the effect is the same. I truly do look at money differently and have even done a few things differently this week. This is an e-book you 'll want to read, I promise. I often recommend books to my daughter, and this is one that I didn't just "suggest"----I left it open at the bottom of the compute and told each one ,"Read it, you'll love it ". I would never point someone in a direction I wouldn't go myself. I strongly advise you to visit the author's website, Myster Money, and to download the e-book. You won't regret it. Why didn't the author write the review as soon as he finished reading the book? A) Because he was not sure whether he did well. B) Because he was too excited to write anything. C) Because he had to wait for Rich Ezzo's permission. D) Because he wondered if it would have a long influence on him.

D