Read the text Near-Extinct Language Returns. Complete the sentences using hints (meanings) in brackets
Juan Cabello takes 1. (the beliefthat you are better or more important than other
people) in not using a mobile phone or the internet to communicate. Instead, he whistles.
Cabello is a silbador. He knows 'Silbo Gomero', a language that is whistled, not spoken, and can
be heard more than two miles away. This 2. (different from others ofthe same type in a way
that is surprising, interesting, or attractive) way of communicating is said to have arrived with
early African settlers 2,500 years ago. Now, educators are working hard to save it from
extinction by making schoolchildren study the language up to the age of fourteen.
Silbo 3. (a typical quality, or important part ofsonething) four'vowels' and four
'consonants' that can be used to form more than 4,000 words. 'I use it for everything. ' Cabello
says. In fact, he makes a living from Silbo, performing daily exhibitions at a restaurant on this
island of 220 square kilometres and 19,000 people.
People throughout La Gomera are known to have used Silbo in the past as a way of
communicating over long distances.
A strong whistle saved farmers from trekking over the hills to give messages or news to
neighbours. Then came the phone. In 1999, it was introduced as a compulsory subject in La
Gomera's primary schools, in an effort to prevent the language from becoming extinct. Now
3,000 students are studying it, but only a few people are believed to be able to communicate fully
in the whistling language. 'Silbo is said to be the most important cultural 4… (the buildings,
paintings, customs, etc. that are important in a culture or society because they have existed for a
long time) we have, said Moises Plasencia, the director of the Canary Islands' government's
historical heritage department.
It might seem appropriate for a language that sounds like birdsong to exist in the Canary
Islands, but there is thought to be no connection between the islands' name and the birdsong-like
way of communicating.
In fact, little is known about Silbo's origins. One study is looking for signs of Silbo in
Venezuela, Cuba and Texas, all places to which Gomerans have emigrated in the past during
hard economic times.
Now, Plasencia is heading an effort to get UNESCO to declare it a 'cultural heritage' and to
5. (to agree with and give encouragemento someone or something) efforts to save it.
Cabello also explains, 'It's good for just about anything except for romance: everyone on the
island could hear what you're saying!'
Но
Объяснениеіжжезсғдзсбғщбснзь