首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
A World Without Time or Number The Pirahci are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter—gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian
A World Without Time or Number The Pirahci are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter—gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian
admin
2019-08-28
77
问题
A World Without Time or Number
The Pirahci are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter—gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian rainforest. The tribe has survived for centuries, although there are now only around 200 people left. The Piraha, who communicate mainly through hums and whistles, have fascinated ethnologists for years, mainly because they have almost no words for numbers. They use only three words to count: one, two, and many.
We know about the Piraha thanks to Dan Everett, a Professor of Phonetics, who spent seven years with the tribe in the 1970s and 1980s. Everett discovered a world without numbers, without time, without words for colours, without subordinate clauses and without a past tense. Their language, he found, was not just simple grammatically; it was restricted in its range of sounds and differed between the sexes. For the men, it has just eight consonants and three vowels; for the women, who have the smallest number of speech sounds in the world, to seven consonants and three vowels. To the untutored ear, the language sounds more like humming than speech. The Piraha can also whistle their language, which is how men communicate when hunting.
Their culture is similarly constrained. The Piraha can ’ t write, have little collective memory, and no concept of decorative art. In 1980 Everett tried to teach them to count: he explained basic arithmetic to an enthusiastic group keen to learn the skills needed to trade with other tribes. After eight months, not one could count to ten; even one plus one was beyond them. The experiment seemed to confirm Everett’ s theory: the tribe just couldn’ t conceive the concept of number.
The Piraha’ s inability to count is important because it seems to disprove Noam Chomsky’ s influential Theory of Universal Grammar, which holds that the human mind has a natural capacity for language, and that all languages share a basic rule structure, which enables children to understand abstract concepts such as number.
Questions 71—75
Complete the summary with words from the passage, changing the form where necessary with no more than three words for each blank.
The Piraha is a tribe who has lived in the Brazilian rainforest for hundreds of years. They communicate just:with 【R1】______. This has made many ethnologists interested in them. Their language is very special, not only because it is simple 【R2】______, but also because it is different 【R3】______the sexes. Men and women acquire different 【R4】______. Although a professor of phonetics has tried to teach them 【R5】______, he failed. This seems to disprove Noam Chomsky’ s influential Theory of Universal Grammar.
【R1】
选项
答案
hums and whistles
解析
由第一段第三句“The Piraha,who communicate mainly through hums and whistles…”可知,此处应填hums and whistles。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/0ZNK777K
本试题收录于:
C类竞赛(非英语专业本科)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
C类竞赛(非英语专业本科)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
Shewasvery______becauseshemadea______of£10,000onthesaleofherhouse.
Inthe1970s,manypeoplebecameconcernedaboutenergy.Peopleindevelopedcountrieshadtofaceuptothefactthattheyused
Publicholidaysandfestivalsareanimportantpartofacountry’slife.Theygiveeveryoneabreakfromroutineandtheyformp
TheLifeofJackieChanOneofthemostpopularfilmpersonalitiesintheworld,JackieChancamefromapoverty-strickenHo
HowHealthyAreYou?Goodhealthisnotsomethingyouareabletobuyatthedrugstore,andyoucan’tdependongettingitb
Jessewasastraight-Astudent—aresultofcountlesshoursspentstudyingduringcollege.Shegraduatedatthetopofherclass
Ihada【16】d______timelastyearwithmyhealth.ForseveralmonthsI【17】su______fromperiodicheadachesandalmostconstantn
消防员没有多考虑个人的安危,像平常一样将困在大火中的人员援救出来。(thinklittleof)
TheWaiWaiareatribeofabout250peoplewholiveintheAmazonjungle.Thistribehashadlittlecontactwiththemodernwor
Lazinessisasin,everyoneknowsthat.Wehaveprobablyallhadlecturespointingoutthatlazinessisimmoral,thatitiswast
随机试题
为落实我国的教育目的,应正确处理哪些关系?
老年人运动自我监护最简便的监测方法是以运动后___________作为衡量指标。
乳腺摄影专用正色胶片的特点不包括
属于抗过敏平喘药的是()。
仲裁代理人有如下特点:()。
2005年4月2日,王某因涉嫌偷税被立案侦查。同年5月29日、6月7日辽中县税检室将从王某处收缴的税款113681元,以及交税的科目缴给辽中县税务局。2010年10月7日,司法机关认为王某不构成偷税犯罪,撤销了该案。2019年7月5日,王某向辽中县税务局
若目前10年期政府债券的市场回报率为3%,甲公司为A级企业,拟发行10年期债券,目前市场上交易的A级企业债券有一家E公司,其债券的利率为7%,具有同样到期日的国债利率为3.5%,则按照风险调整法甲公司债券的税前资本成本应为()。
成员已有共同目标的活动,但活动还只有个人意义的群体是()。
Readthetextbelowaboutlaborshortage.Foreachquestion(31-40),writeonewordinCAPITALLETTERSonyourAnswerSheet.The
A、Shecanfindtherightpersontohelptheman.B、Shecanhelpthemanout.C、She’salsoinneedofatextbook.D、Shepickedup
最新回复
(
0
)