Question

【題目】Can you imagine a world without a writing system for your language? It may be hard to picture it now, but a man named Sequoyah lived in such a world. Sequoyah was a member of a native American tribe, the Cherokee. Cherokee people speak their own language, but for hundreds of years they did not have a system of writing. Without a writing system, the Cherokee had no newspapers or books before 1809.

Sequoyah was probably born around the year 1770 and lived with his mother in a small village in the mountains of Tennessee. When he grew up, he became a blacksmith. When he was doing business with those “English-speaking people”, he noticed that they used paper with marks to record their thoughts and ideas. Sequoyah called these pieces of paper with marks “talking leaves”. He began to wonder why people who spoke Cherokee did not have a way to write down their words.

In 1809, Sequoyah decided to give the Cherokee their own “talking leaves”. At first he tried to make a different symbol for every word in the Cherokee language. But in that case, there would be so many symbols and too hard for people to remember, so he decided to make a picture for each syllable (音節(jié)). After much hard work, Sequoyah invented 85 symbols. In order to see whether it would work, he helped his six-year-old daughter Ayoka learn each symbol and found she could learn to read and write very quickly. Sequoyah’s invention was a success!

Before long, Sequoyah’s writing system had spread far and wide. Cherokee people living in all different parts of the country learned to read and write. In 1825, Sequoyah’s system was made the official written language for Cherokee people. To this day, Cherokee speakers still use Sequoyah’s writing system. In some parts of the United States, you can see street signs and billboards written in both English and Cherokee. Sequoyah will always be remembered for his important contribution to Cherokee people.

【1】Did the Cherokee have newspapers before 1809?

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【2】What did Sequoyah call the pieces of paper with marks?

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【3】How many symbols did Sequoyah invent in the Cherokee language?

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【4】When was Sequoyah’s system made the official written language?

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【5】Why will Sequoyah always be remembered?

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Answer 1

【答案】

【1】No.

【2】Talking leaves.

【3】85.

【4】In 1825.

【5】Because of/For his important contribution to Cherokee people. / Because he created the writing system for Cherokee language. / Because he made the official written language for Cherokee people.

【解析】本文是一篇說明文，文中主要介紹了塞闊雅（Sequoyah）對切諾基語的發(fā)展所做出的巨大貢獻。

【1】題意：在1809年之前，切諾基人有報紙嗎？細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段最后一句“Without a writing system, the Cherokee had no newspapers or books before 1809.”可知沒有報紙，答案No.。

【2】題意：Sequoyah把帶有符號的紙張稱為什么？細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段倒數(shù)第二句“Sequoyah called these pieces of paper with marks ‘talking leaves’.”可知，他把這些帶有符號的紙張稱為“說話的樹葉”。答案為Talking leaves.

【3】題意：在切諾基語中，Sequoyah發(fā)明了多少符號？細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段第四句中“After much hard work, Sequoyah invented 85 symbols.”可知，Sequoyah發(fā)明了85個符號�？芍�答案是85.

【4】題意：Sequoyah的書寫系統(tǒng)什么時候成為了官方的書面語？細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段第三句“In 1825, Sequoyah’s system was made the official written language for Cherokee people.”可知，Sequoyah的書寫系統(tǒng)在1825年成為了官方的書面語�？芍�答案是In 1825.

【5】題意：Sequoyah為什么會被人們永遠紀念?閱讀短文可知，Sequoyah為切諾基人的語言發(fā)展做出了巨大的貢獻，據(jù)此表述即可，答案不唯一。Because of/For his important contribution to Cherokee people. / Because he created the writing system for Cherokee language. / Because he made the official written language for Cherokee people.