Many things about language are a
mystery, and many will always remain so. But some things we do know.
First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort. There
is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language, no set
of speech sounds by which the people communicate with one mother. Furthermore,
in historical times, there has never been a race of men without a
language. Second, there is no such thing as a primitive
language. There are many people whose cultures are undeveloped, who are, as we
say, uncivilized, but the languages they speak are not primitive. In all known
languages we can see complexities that must have been tens of thousands of years
in developing. This has not always been well understood;
indeed, the direct contrary has often been stated. Popular ideas of the language
of the American Indians will illustrate. Many people have supposed that the
Indians communicated in a very primitive system of noises. Study has proved this
to be nonsense. There are, or were, hundreds of American Indian languages, and
all of them turn out to be very complicated and very old. They are certainly
different from the languages that most of us are familiar with, hut they are no
more primitive than English and Greek. A third thing we know
about language is that all languages are perfectly adequate. That is, each one
is a perfect means of expressing the culture of the people who speak the
language. Finally, we know that language changes. It is natural
and normal for language to change; the only languages which do not change are
the dead ones. This is easy to understand if we look backward in time. Change
goes on in all aspects of language. Grammatical features change as do speech
sounds, and changes in vocabulary are sometimes very extensive and may occur
very rapidly. Vocabulary is the least stable part of any language.
单选题
In the second paragraph the author thinks that ______.
A. some backward race doesn't have a language of its own
B. some race in history didn't possess a language of its own
C. any human race, whether backward or not, has a language
D. some races on earth call communicate without language
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 作者在第二段中认为，任何人种不管落后与否都有自己的语言。文中的原句是：“There is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language...”故选C。
单选题
According to the author, people of undeveloped cultures can have ______
languages.
A. complicated
B. uncivilized
C. primitive
D. well-known
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 此题的答案来自第三段第二句，故选A。
单选题
The author has used American Indian languages as an example to show
that they are ______.
A. just as old as some well-known languages
B. just as sophisticated as some well-known languages
C. more developed than some well-known languages
D. more complex than some well-known languages
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 作者例举美国印第安人的语言的目的是证明这些语言和一些众所周知的语言一样先进。原句是：“They are certainly different from the languages that most of us are familiar with, but they are no more primitive than English and Greek.”故选B。
单选题
Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A. A language is a means of expressing a particular culture.
B. All languages can well express their respective cultures.
C. American Indian languages are as sophisticated as English.
D. Some languages are better than other languages.