填空题 A. savage B. superiority C. conceive D. transfer E. identification
F. grammatical G. reflect H. reveals I. Numerous J. independently
K. exclusive L. casts M. sense N. confidentially O. possess
Culture is the sum total of all the traditions, customs, beliefs, and ways of life of a given group of human beings. In this 21 , every group has a culture, however savage, undeveloped, or uncivilized it may seem to us.
To the professional anthropologist (人类学家), there is no intrinsic 22 of one culture over another, just as to the professional linguist there is no intrinsic hierarchy (等级制度) among languages.
People once thought of the languages of backward groups as 23 and undeveloped forms of speech, consisting largely of grunts and groans. While it is possible that language in general began as a series of grunts and groans, it is a fact established by the study of "backward" languages that no spoken tongue answers that description today. Most languages of uncivilized groups are, by our most severe standards, extremely complex, delicate, and ingenious pieces of machinery for the 24 of ideas. They fall behind our Western languages not in their sound patterns or 25 structures, which usually are fully adequate for all language needs, but only in their vocabularies, which 26 the objects and activities known to their speakers. Even in this department, however, two things are to be noted: 1. All languages seem to 27 the machinery for vocabulary expansion, either by putting together words already in existence or by borrowing them from other languages and adapting them to their own system. The objects and activities requiring names and distinctions in "backward" languages, while different from ours, are often surprisingly 28 and complicated.
This study of language, in turn, 29 a new light upon the claim of the anthropologists that all cultures are to be viewed 30 , and without ideas of rank or hierarchy.