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
26
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.
【R2】
选项
答案
grammatically
解析
由第二段第三句“Their language,he found,was not just simple grammatically;it was restricted in its range of sounds and differed between the sexes.”可知,此处应填grammatically。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/MZNK777K
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
Manyculturesfollowspecialcustomswhenachild’sbabyteethfallout.Manyofthesecustomsincludestoriesandbeliefsrelat
Manyculturesfollowspecialcustomswhenachild’sbabyteethfallout.Manyofthesecustomsincludestoriesandbeliefsrelat
InternetentrepreneurCarlChurchilldescribeshimselfas"anormal19-year-old",exceptthathisInternettechnologycompanyi
Wenowtakephotographyverymuchforgranted.Wecanhardlyimaginenewspapers,magazinesandbookswithoutphotographs.Scient
Therewere12runnersinamarathon.Theylinedupasfollows.Whatnumbershouldthe12thrunnerhave?854465261769946
Whatnumbershouldreplacethequestionmark?
CyclingthroughEuropewasconsideredtobeoneofJenny’sfantastictips.
Graffiti—adangerouswayoflifeScrawlinggraffitiisseenasacrimeintheUK,yetintheUSithasbecomearecognizedartf
Ihada【16】d______timelastyearwithmyhealth.ForseveralmonthsI【17】su______fromperiodicheadachesandalmostconstantn
Ihada【16】d______timelastyearwithmyhealth.ForseveralmonthsI【17】su______fromperiodicheadachesandalmostconstantn
随机试题
A.病程超过2周B.病程超过1个月C.病程超过2个月D.病程超过半年E.病程超过1年慢性肝炎
治疗虚火灼肺型肺痨应首选()
大华公司会计部门2012年开出和收到的票据情况如下:(1)2月5日,收到A公司的开户银行开出的银行汇票一张,注明的出票日期为2012年2月4日,金额10万元。(2)2月10日,大华公司向客户B企业开出一张支票,由于B企业的名称全称和金额不确定,
根据2008年3月10日《第一财经日报》的报道:目前我国的新增劳动力城乡加起来每年超过2000万人,就城镇而言,每年在城镇要求就业的,包括当年新增的城镇劳动力和上一年结转下来未能就业的人还有2400万人。但是,每年只能提供城镇就业岗位1200多万个。再加上
对编制预算外收支计划说法正确的是()。
群众性活动一般由学校和校外教育机构组织领导,面向多数或全体学生,以集体为单位进行,其常见的活动形式有()。
学习了负数之后,学生对数的理解发生了变化,这属于
在发生硬件故障、无输入或用户误操作时,软件系统能指出适当响应的能力叫做系统的______。
下面的叙述中,不正确的是()。
说明:请以王丽的名义用下面所提供的信息写一份简历。内容:1.女性;2.出生于1990年6月15日;3.家庭地址:山东省济南市市中区87号;4.联系电话:136××××53585.2007~2011年在山东大学英语学院主修商务英语专
最新回复
(
0
)