63. The Dying Languages
第63课 调零的语言
Today, more people than ever before are speaking to each other through satellite television, cellular telephones and computers.
现在通过恒星电视、移动电话和计算机来交谈的人要比以往来得多。
This means that people from different parts of the world need to be able to communicate in the same language.
这表示来自世界不同角落的人必须能够使用一种语言来沟通。
That language happens to be English.
而那种语言正好是英语。
Because of this, experts have predicted that more than half of the world's 6,000 languages may die out in the next century.
由于这个缘故，专家们预测世界上的六千种语言当中，可能会有一半以上于下个世纪相继消失。
Already almost all Californian Native American languages are in danger of extinction.
几乎所有加州当地的美洲土语已有消失之虞。
They are being swallowed up by English and other language.
它们正受到英语和其他语言的吞噬。
It is a pity, but that is one of the prices of modernization.
这真是令人异常遗憾，但却是现代化所要付出的代价之一。