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
考研
Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift.
Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift.
admin
2019-06-11
25
问题
Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counterculture as responsible for the decline of formal English.
Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education. Mr. McWhorter’ s academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.
But the cult of the authentic and the personal, "doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English,
talking
is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.
Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including nonstandard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china". A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.
To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree?
选项
A、Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.
B、Black English can be more expressive than standard English.
C、Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.
D、Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas.
答案
A
解析
细节题。根据第四段最后一句可知,麦荷特先生认为我们尽管说话不规范,但这不一定 就会让我们的思考变得不准确,也就是,他认为逻辑思维和说话方式不是有必然联系的。所以 选A项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/6B9Z777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Itamazesmewhenpeopleproclaimthattheyarebored.Actually,itamazesmethatIameverbored,orthatanyofusare.With
RunningfortheofficeofthePresidentoftheUnitedStatesisexceptionallyarduousandshouldnotbeundertakenbythe【C1】___
Formanypeople,emotionsareascarything.【C1】______oftheproblemisthatwejustdon’tknowwhattodowiththem,according
"Nanny","tyrant"—thesewereamongthechargeshurledatMichaelBloomberg,NewYork’smayor,whenheproposedabanonbigfizz
"IfCongresswon’tactsoontoprotectfuturegenerations,Iwill,"BarackObamasaidlastmonthinhisstate-of-the-unionspeec
Inthepast35years,hundredsofmillionsofChinesehavefoundproductive,ifoftenexhausting,workinthecountry’sgrowing
Inthepast35years,hundredsofmillionsofChinesehavefoundproductive,ifoftenexhausting,workinthecountry’sgrowing
Itishardtomakemoneypeddlingsocialmediaanywhere.Duringtheirfirstfewyearsinbusiness,FacebookandTwitterlostpot
Inthelate1960’s,manypeopleinNorthAmericaturnedtheirattentiontoenvironmentalproblems,andnewsteel-and-glassskysc
GooglealreadyhasawindowintooursoulsthroughourInternetsearchesanditnowhasinsightintoourailingbodiestoo.The
随机试题
某基层医疗机构要转型为社区卫生服务中心。该社区卫生服务中心要实施WHO西太区提出的“健康新地平线”的预防策略,针对人生的三个不同阶段是
肝硬化并发肝肾综合征是
对曾应用环丙沙星短期治疗疑诊伤寒的患者,用哪种培养为优
背景中兴安装公司承包某工厂厂区洁净空调工程,空调工程设备材料:双工况冷水机组、蓄冰槽、江水源热泵机组、燃气锅炉、低噪声冷却塔、板式热交换机、水泵、空调箱、新风机组、各类阀门、空调水管、风管、风阀及配件等主要设备均由中兴安装公司采购。中兴
甲公司经批准于2013年1月1日以11000万元的价格(不考虑相关税费)发行面值总额为10000万元的可转换公司债券。该可转换公司债券期限为5年,每年1月1日付息、票面年利率为4%,实际年利率为6%。利率为6%、期数为5期的普通年金现值系数为4.2124,
简述学习的内部动机和外部动机的关系。
某校六年级举行语文和数学竞赛,参赛人数占全年级总人数的40%,参加语文竞赛的占参赛人数的40%,参加数学竞赛的占参赛人数的75%,已知两项都参加的有12人,问该校六年级共有多少人?( )
下列不属于教育研究方法基本原则的是()
计算积分
Readthearticlebelowaboutpackagingandlabeling.ChoosethecorrectwordtofilleachgapfromA,B,CorD.Foreachquesti
最新回复
(
0
)