OntheSpanishislandofLaGomera，kidsareallowedtowhistle（吹口哨）inclass．Infact，whistlingisrequired．ThestudentsarelearninganancientlanguagecalledSilboGomerothatuseswhistlesinsteadofspokenwords．It'susedonly
OntheSpanishislandofLaGomera，kidsareallowedtowhistle（吹口哨）inclass．Infact，whistlingisrequired．ThestudentsarelearninganancientlanguagecalledSilboGomerothatuseswhistlesinsteadofspokenwords．It'susedonlyonLaGomera，whichisoneoftheCanaryIslands．
ThepeopleofLaGonmerahaveusedSilboGomeroforcenturies．Foralongtime，itwasthebestwaytocommunicateacrosstheisland'srockyhillsandvalleys．Anislander'swhistlescanbeheardfromabout2milesaway．
Butinthelate20thcentury，SilboGomerowasindangerofdyingout．Manyofthespeakershadmovedfromtheisland，andSpanishhadbecomethemainlanguage．Cellphoneshadmadeiteasierforislanderstocommunicateoverlongdistances．Avaluablepieceoftheisland'sculturewasindangerofbeinglostforever．
In1999，tokeepthelanguagealive，thelocalgovernmentmadeitamandatorysubject（必修学科）inschools．Nownearlyalloftheisland's22，000inhabitantsuseSilboGomeroaswellasSpanish．
ThoughSilboGomerohasbeenbroughtbackintouse，manyotherlittle-knownlanguagesaroundtheworldfaceadifferentsituation．
Therearemorethan7，100languagesintheworld．Abouthalfofthemareindangerofdisappearingwithinthenextcentury．Alanguagedisappearswhenthelastpersontospeakitdies．Manylanguagesdisappearbecausemostchildrenlearnonlythemostimportantone．ThisistrueevenintheU．S，whereNativeAmericanlanguagesaredyingbecausemostkidsaretaughtonlyEnglish．
Manydyinglanguageshaveneverbeenwrittendown．Someresearchersaretravellingtheglobetorecordpeoplespeakingtheselanguagesinthehopeofsavingthemfromgoingsilent．
25．OnLaGomera，studentsareallowedtowhistleinclass___．
A．whentheyareindanger
B．iftheywanttohavesomefun
C．becausetheyarelearningalanguage
D．sincetheyhavedifficultyinspeaking
26．HowdidpeopleonLaGomeramainlycommunicateoverlongdistancesinthelate20thcentury？___
A．Theyusedcellphones．
B．TheyusedSilboGomero．
C．Theyusedbodylanguage．
D．Theyshoutedateachother．
27．LaGomerasuccessfullypreventedSilboGomerofromdyingoutmainlyby__
