2. 外语
  3. Culture is the sum total of all the tradition, customs, beliefs, and ways to life of a given group of human being. In this sense

Culture is the sum total of all the tradition, customs, beliefs, and ways to life of a given group of human being. In this sense

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问题     Culture is the sum total of all the tradition, customs, beliefs, and ways to 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(等级制度) 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, Tile 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.
According to the author, languages whether "civilized or not" have ___________.
选项 A、the same way to transfer ideas
B、the potential for increasing sound patterns
C、the potential for expanding vocabulary
D、the same grammatical structures
答案C
解析 事实细节题。原文说Most languages of uncivilized groups are．．．extremely complex，delicate，and ingenious pieces of machinery for the transfer of ideas，既然它们传播思想的方式很复杂、微妙和有独创性，那么他们的方式就应该是不同的，排除A。原文只说他们在sound patterns和grammatical structure方面不落后于西方语言，并且十分丰富，但没有说它们有增加sound patterns和grammatical structure的潜力，排除B和D。原文第三段说All languages seem to possess the machinery for vocabulary expansion．C是对此的同义转述。
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