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, but 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 ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 作者观点题。第二段第二句话表明了作者的观点There is no race of men anywhere on earth SO backward that it has no language...任何人种不管落后与否都有语言。对比选项，只有C项符合此意，故答案为C。
单选题
According to the author, people of undeveloped cultures can have ______ languages.
单选题
The author has used American Indian languages as an example to show that they are ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 含有例证的作者观点题。参见原文第四段They are certainly different from the languages that most of US are familiar with, but they are no more primitive than English and Greek.作者举例的目的是证明这些语言和一些著名的语言一样先进。故答案为B。
单选题
Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?