【正确答案】Metaphorically, language is regarded as a mirror of society, through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better. Functionally, society provides language with a suitable context of use, in which we can enjoy aspects of language vividly and truthfully.
Language as a means of communication, it is used to maintain social relationship. One does not need to be very observant to find that certain linguistic phenomena cannot be accounted for unless they are placed in the general context of society. In other words, social factors cannot be excluded from our description of language and language use.
There are many indications of the interrelationship between language and society. One of them is that while language is principally used to communicate meaning, it is also used to establish and maintain social relationships. This social function of language is embodied in the use of such utterances as "Good morning!", "Hi!", "How is your family?", "Nice day today, isn't it?". Another indication is that user of the same language in a sense all speak differently: The kind of language each of them chooses to use is in part determined by his social background. And language, in its turn, reveals information about its speaker. When we speak, we cannot avoid giving clues to our listeners about ourselves.
Then to some extent, language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society.
As a social phenomenon language is closely related to the structure of the society in which it is used, and the evaluation of a linguistic form is entirely social. Any appropriate language use in any social interaction not only has something to do with structural rules, but also involves some socially institutionalized norms in usage. Among the factors that are believed to influence our language behavior in a social context are: class, gender, age, ethnic, identity, education background, occupation, and religious belief. Therefore, language is a mirror of society.

【答案解析】[解析] 此题考查的是考生对语言与文化关系的理解。