填空题
The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is
quickly made by all who travel, study, govern or sell. Whether the activity is
tourism, research, government or business, the lack of a common language can
21 hinder progress or can halt it
altogether.
22
communication problems of this kind must happen thousands of times each day,
very few become public knowledge. Publicity comes only when a failure to
communicate has major 23 , such as
strikes, lost orders, legal problems, or fatal accidents—even, at times of war.
One reported instance of communication failure took place in 1970, when
24 Americans ate a species of poisonous
mushroom. No remedy was known, and two of the people
25 within days. A radio report of the case was heard by a
chemist who knew of a treatment that had been 26
used in 1959 and published in 1963. Why had the American doctors
not heard of it seven years later Presumably because the report of the
treatment had been published only in 27
written in European languages other than English.
The
language barrier presents itself to firms who 28
to market their products in other countries. British industry, in
particular, had in recent decades often been criticized for its
29 insularity—for its assumption that foreign
buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and that awareness of other
language is not therefore a priority.
The criticism and
publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly
30 the situation. It is now much more readily
appreciated that marketing efforts can be delayed, damaged, or disrupted by a
failure to take account of the linguistic needs of the customer.
The changes in awareness have been most marked in English-speaking
countries, where the realization has gradually dawned that by no means everyone
in the world knows English well enough to negotiate in it.
A.
journals B.
native C.
magazines
D. improved
E. reduced
F. wish
G. linguistic
H. died
I. successfully
J. several
K. severely
L. although
M.
consequences N. medical
O. separately