【正确答案】The distinction between them lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. Prescriptivism is to lay down rules for the correct use of language and settle the disputes over usage once and for all. Some usages were prescribed to be learned by heart, followed accurately or avoided altogether. It was a matter of black or white, fight or wrong.
"To say that linguistics is a descriptive (i.e. non-normative) science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other (i.e. extraneous) rules, or norms, of correctness." (Lyons, 1981:47)

【答案解析】[解析] 此题考查的是考生对语言学中的规定式和描写式的理解。这两者之间的区别在于，前者说明事情应该如何，而后者描述事情本是怎样。规定式是指语法学家尝试为正确使用语言定下各种规则，一劳永逸地解决用法上的争议。一些被规定为需要记住的用法要么被严格接受要么被一致反对。因为在规定式看来，这是黑与白、对与错的问题。“把语言学说成描述性(即非标准化)的科学是说语言学家试图发现和记录同一语言共同体的成员所遵循的规则，并不是强加给他们其他(即外来的)规则或正确的标准。”(Lvons，1981:47)。