复合题

Passage Three

Culture is the sum total of all the tradition, customs, beliefs, and ways of life of a given group of human being. In this sense, every group has a culture, however savage, undeveloped, or uncivilized it may seem to us. To the professional anthropologists, there is no intrinsic superiority of one culture over another, just as to the professional linguist there is no intrinsic hierarchy among languages. 

People once thought of the languages of backward groups as savage, undeveloped forms of speech, consisted 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 the description today. Most languages of uncivilized groups are, by our most severe standards, extremely complex, delicate, and ingenious pieces of machinery for the transfer of ideas. They fall behind our western language not in their sound patterns or grammatical structure, which usually are fully adequate for all language needs, but only in their vocabularies, which reflect the objects and activities known to their speakers. Even in this department, however, two things are to be noted: 1. All languages seem to possess 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. 2. The objects and activities requiring names and distinctions in “backward” languages, while different from ours, are often surprisingly numerous and complicated. A western language distinguished merely between two degrees of remoteness (“this” and “that”); some languages of the American Indians distinguish between what is close to the speaker, or to the person addressed, or removed from both, or out of sight, or in the past, or in the future. 

This study of language, in turn casts a new light upon the claim of the anthropologists that all cultures are to be viewed independently, and without ideas of rank or hierarchy. 

单选题 The languages of uncivilized groups as compared to western language are limited in _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据第二段第四句“They fall behind our western language not in their sound patterns or grammatical structure, which usually are fully adequate for all language needs, but only in their vocabularies,”可知， 不文明群体和西方群体的区别在于词汇。 因此正确答案选择A。
单选题 The statement that “every group has a culture” grows out of the author’s _____.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据第一段第一句“Culture is the sum total of all the tradition, customs, beliefs, and ways of life of a given group of human being.”可知， 每个民族都有文化这个陈述是从文化的定义而来的。 因此正确答案选D。
单选题 According to the author, anthropologists would have all culture viewed _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】根据最后一段第一句“...the claim of the anthropologists that all cultures are to be viewed independently…”可知， 对于人类学家来说， 所有文化应该独立看待。 因此正确答案选B。
单选题 According to the author, language whether “civilized or not” have _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据第二段第五句“All languages seem to possess the machinery for vocabulary expansion,”看似所有语言都拥有词汇扩展的机制， 因此正确答案选A。
单选题 Which of the following is implied but not stated in the passage?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】根据最后一段“This study of language, in turn casts a new light upon the claim of the anthropologists that all cultures are to be viewed independently, and without ideas of rank or hierarchy.”该研究加强了人类学家关于文化是没有等级之分的观点， 选项A两者研究不是相同的， 选项C文中没有提该研究给人类学家蒙羞， 选项D和原句一样， 与题目不符合， 因此正确答案选B。