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 Piraha are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter-gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian
A World Without Time or Number The Piraha are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter-gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian
admin
2019-08-04
34
问题
A World Without Time or Number
The Piraha 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 a maximum of three words from the passage.
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
(文章第一段第三句提到“The Piraha,who communicate mainly through hums and whistles…”,即Piraha人主要通过哼哼和吹口哨来交流。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/QvjK777K
本试题收录于:
D类竞赛(专科)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
D类竞赛(专科)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
A.decreasingB.underlinesC.deliveredD.missionsE.becauseF.putoffG.demand
A.equippingB.exploreC.presentD.realisticE.noticeablyF.growingupG.interacting
A.annoyingB.counterpartsC.becauseD.movingE.inheritedF.narrowedG.debated
Cancerofthelungisstilltheleadingcauseofcancerdeathinmenandwomenworldwide,andalthoughitsincidenceinmenmay
(1)Myjobistoproviderelevant,factuallyaccurateinformationthatisinteresting,usefulandentertainingtomyreaders,be
InafewweeksresearcherswillbeginscouringtheFloridaseafloorfora177-year-oldshipwreck—andtherestingplaceofdozens
Informationistheprimarycommodityinmoreandmoreindustriestoday.By2005,83%ofAmericanmanagementpersonnelwillb
(1)Muchoftheinformationwehavetodayaboutchimpanzeescomesfromthegroundbreaking,long-termresearchofthegreatconse
Formanyyearslargesupermarketshavebeenencouragingustospendmoneybypumpingthesmelloffreshly-bakedbreadintotheir
随机试题
已知随机变量X满足E(X2)=8,D(X)=4,则E(X)=【】
有关皮层诱发电位的叙述错误的是()
肛管内面有哪些结构?
支气管扩张伴厌氧菌感染患者痰的特点是
A.煮沸消毒B.干烤灭菌C.压力蒸汽灭菌D.紫外线消毒E.电离辐射灭菌玻璃器皿的灭菌可采用
男性,48岁,反复发热40余天。体检:无贫血貌,皮肤黏膜无出血点,无黄染,双颌下、颈旁、腋下淋巴结肿大,无触痛,胸骨无压痛,肝脾肋下未触及;血红蛋白128g/L,白细胞6.8×109/L,血小板118×109/L,外周血涂片白细胞分类正常。为明确诊断,
固定资产投资不包括( )。
建设工程监理应当依照法律、行政法规及有关的技术标准、设计文件和建筑工程承包合同,对承包单位在()等方面,代表建设单位实施监督。
关于税务规章,下列说法中正确的是()。
材料:小林进入初中以后发生了很大的变化。小学时她经常把“这是老师说的”挂在嘴边,现在她经常和同学们一起讨论书本以及老师的一些观点,觉得书本上和老师的很多观点不合理,经常以独立批判的态度对待老师和家长给出的建议,有时候会为了一个观点同老师争得面红耳
最新回复
(
0
)