2. 外语
  3. In every cultivated language there are two great classes of words which, taken together, comprise the whole vocabulary. First, t

In every cultivated language there are two great classes of words which, taken together, comprise the whole vocabulary. First, t

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问题      In every cultivated language there are two great classes of words which, taken together, comprise the whole vocabulary. First, there are those words with which we become acquainted in ordinary conversation, which we learn, that is to say, from the members of our own family and from our familiar associates, and which we should know and use even if we could not read or write. They concern the common things of life, and are the stock in trade of all who speak the language. Such words may be called "popular" since they belong to the people at large and are not the exclusive possession of a limited class.
     On the other hand, our language includes a multitude of words which are comparatively seldom used in ordinary conversation. Their meanings are known to every educated person, but there is little occasion to employ them at home or in the market-place. Our first acquaintance with them comes not from our mother’s lips or from the talk of our schoolmates, but from books that we read, lectures that we hear, or the more formal conversation of highly educated speakers, who are discussing some particular topic in a style appropriately elevated above the habitual level of everyday life. Such words are called "learned", and the distinction between them and "popular" words is of great importance to a right understanding of the linguistic process.
     The difference between popular and learned words may be easily seen in a few examples. We may describe a girl as "lively" or as "vivacious". In the first case, we are using a native English formation from the familiar noun life. In the latter, we are using a Latin derivative which has precisely the same meaning. Yet the atmosphere of the two words is quite different. No one ever got the adjective lively out of a book. It is a part of everybody’s vocabulary. We cannot remember a time when we did not know it, and we feel sure that we learned it long before we were able to read. On the other hand, we must have passed several years of our lives before learning the word vivacious. We may even remember the first time that we saw it in print or heard it from some grown-up friend who was talking over our childish heads. Both lively and vivacious are good English words, but lively is "popular" and vivacious is "learned".
The main idea of the passage is that ______.
选项 A、the two kinds of words, popular and learned words, are both important in a cultivated language
B、it is easy to learn popular words in a language
C、we must make great efforts to learn learned words
D、learned words are more important than popular words
答案A
解析 最后一句话表明popular words和learned words都是好英语，因此都重要。故选A。
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