单选题 Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of language and Music and Why We Should Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter—culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.
Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education. Mr. McWhorter's academic specialty is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.
But the cult of the authentic and the personal, "doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.
Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china". A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.

单选题 According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English ______.

A. is inevitable in radical education reforms
B. is but all too natural in language development
C. has caused the controversy over the counter-culture
D. brought about changes m public attitudes in the 1960s

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 观点态度根据题干该题定位到文章在第二段末he sees the gradual disappearance of“whom”，for example, to be natural and no more regettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English. 他说“whom”一词的逐渐消失是自然的，并不比古英语中词格的消失更让人惋惜，由这句我们可以看出，正式英语的退化是一种自然趋势，故答案为B。该题针对第二段内容命题，属于作者观点态度考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般要在原文准确定位到作者本人观点态度所在句。...sees是评价某人观点或看法的语篇标志，其所在句往往是段落中心句或考查的核心信息。B选项中is but all too natural是该句to be natural no more regrettable的同义置换。根据题干中的两个关键词，专有人名McWhorter和the decline of formal English定位到文章第二段末：sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English. 由此可首先排除C和D选项。C与D选项将原因与结果倒置。排除A选项是因为从原文中无法推断出正式英语与教育改革之间有任何必要的联系。

单选题 The word "talking" (Line 5, Paragraph 3) denotes ______.

A. modesty
B. personality
C. liveliness
D. informality

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 词义推测根据题干可以定位到文章第三段第四句In both oral and written English，talking is triumphing over speaking，spontaneity over crafty，显然这里talking is triumphing over speaking和spontaneity over crafty是同义置换，结合文章谈到的正式英语与非正式英语的内容，显然这里crafty指代正式英语，而spontaneity指代非正式英语，同理推断talking指非正式英语，speaking指正式英语，故答案为D项。该题针对第三段内容命题，属于词义推测考查类题目。解题的关键在于理解该词汇所在句的上下义关系。段首主旨句But the cult of the authentic and the personal, "doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. 段末句In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking; spontaneity over craft. 其中craft，speaking指代的是formal English; spontaneity，talking指代的是informal English。其他选项是利用第三段出现的词语modesty，personal和liveliness设置干扰。

单选题 To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree?

A. Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.
B. Black English can be more expressive than standard English.
C. Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.
D. Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断从题干定位到文章在第四段第三句As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. 麦克沃特对这两者的看法——人类语言(包括类似黑人英语的非标准语言)都具有很强的表现力，世界上不存在不能表达复杂思想的语言与方言。和其他许多人不同，麦克沃特并不认为不规范的说话方式会影响我们清楚地思考，这说明说话方式和思维没有关系。故本题答案为A。该题针对第四段内容命题，属于段落中心信息考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般首先要确定文章中表达本人观点或态度的句子。acknowledge...是表明某人观点或看法的语篇标志，其所在句往往是段落中心句或考查的核心信息。选项A是该核心句的同义置换。 B和D将文中的同级分别改为比较级和最高级，与原文信息不符，可以排除。C项将比较内容由expressive偷换成entertaining，故也可排除。

单选题 The description of Russians' love of memorizing poetry shows the author's ______.

A. interest in their language
B. appreciation of their efforts
C. admiration for their memory
D. contempt for their old-fashionedness

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 观点态度根据题干的关键词Russians' love of memorizing poetry定位到末段第二句Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. 麦克沃特先生认为正式语言并非不可或缺，也没有提出要进行彻底的教育改革——他其实只是为那些美好事物而不实用的东西的消逝而哀叹。作者通过麦克沃特的观点来表明自己的观点：对正式语言消失的惋惜，这反过来说明作者对那些保留自己民族文化中富有美感的东西的赞赏，故本题答案为B项。该题针对最后一段内容命题，属于作者观点态度考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般首先要确定文章中表达作者本人观点或态度的句子。acknowledge...是表明某人观点或看法的语篇标志，其所在句往往是段落中心句或考查的核心信息，这里作者引用麦克沃特的观点来表明自己的观点，故答案为B项。选项A和C利用举例中的细节设置干扰。根据选项D的内容定位到文章第五段he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. 这里暗示出作者对抛弃正式英语做法的遗憾以及对俄国人保持正式语言所做的努力赞赏。D属于断章取义。

单选题 According to the last paragraph, "paper plates" is to "china" as ______.

A. "temporary" is to "permanent"
B. "radical" is to "conservative"
C. "functional" is to "artistic"
D. "humble" is to "noble"

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 词义句意根据题干可以定位到文章最后一段第三句We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”从文中内容可以看出，文中“beautiful”对应“china”，“useful”对应“paper plates”，而“useful”对应与选项中“functional”，“beautiful”对应于“artistic”，由此，可判断出答案为C项。该题针对末段内容命题，属于词义句意推理考查类题目。此类题目的正确答案一般根据该词所在句的上下义跟文章的中心句来回答。本段第三句通过比喻，用具体的事物把第二句中的抽象道理形象地表达出来，plate和china分别对应useful和beautiful. 选项C中functional和artistic为这两个形容词的同义词。其他选项在文中均未提到，可以排除。