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
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
2011-04-26
72
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 counter-culture 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 specialty is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more regreuable 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, per- formative 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 quietist of his subtitle, Why We Should, Like, Care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey comp]ex ideas, lie is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk properly.
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.
According to the last paragraph, "paper plates" is to "china" as ______.
选项
A、temporary is to "permanent"
B、radical is to "conservative"
C、functional is to "artistic"
D、humble is to "noble"
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/TOBO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Lookatthelistbelow.ItshowsthecontentsofaWeb.Forquestions6-10,decidewhichpart(A-H)eachpersonshouldvisit.F
Lookatthechartsbelow.Itshowsroadaccidentfiguresindifferentcountriesfrom1972to1979.Whichfiguredoeseachsenten
•ReadthearticlebelowaboutMcDonald’shamburgerandAustralianeconomy.•Choosethecorrectwordtofilleachgap,fromA
FORSALELargebuildingwithhugefloorareaNotdividedintosmallerunitsQuietsurroundingsandsmallcarparkElectricitybu
•Readthefollowingletter.•Arethesentences(16-22)"Right"or"Wrong"?Ifthereisn’tenoughinformationtoanswer"Right"
Send$30forcatalog.Refundableagainstpurchase.
Forfinancialreasons,employeestravelingtotheUSAwillflyovernighttoBaltimoreratherthanWashington.Employeesflyingt
ItispossibleforstudentstoobtainadvanceddegreesinEnglishwhileknowinglittleornothingabouttraditionalscholarlyme
Thepricewepayforthissalutarychangeis,nodoubt,great.Weassemblethousandsofoperativeinthefactory,andinthemin
Imust______youfarewellrightnow,butonsomefutureoccasion,Ihopetoseeyouagain.
随机试题
一COPD病人,突然呼吸困难,临床高度怀疑气胸,为明确诊断首选的检查方法是()
患者男性,50岁,倦怠,四肢无力,食欲减退、腹胀、消化不良、便秘,查血钙2.8mmol/L(正常2.1~2.6mmol/L),PTH25pmol/L(正常1~10pmol/L)。该患者考虑诊断为
A、受体阻断药B、β受体阻断药C、α,β受体阻断药D、α1受体阻断药E、β1受体阻断药阿替洛尔属于
依照我国《行政复议法》的规定,对( )等实行垂直领导的行政机关和国家安全机关的具体行政行为不服的,向上一级主管部门申请行政复议。
资源税类包括资源税和城镇土地使用税,这些税种对()征收
2×15年1月1日,为奖励并激励高管,A上市公司与其管理层成员签署股份支付协议,规定如果管理层成员自当日起在A公司连续服务3年,并且公司股价每年提高10%以上,管理层成员即可获得与1万股股票同等公允价值的现金。同时作为协议的补充,公司把全体管理层成员的年薪
下列关于通缉的说法错误的是()。
如图,在图1中,互不重叠的三角形共有4个,在图2中,互不重叠的三角形共有7个,在图3中,互不重叠的三角形共有10个,则在第29个图形中,互不重叠的三角形共有几个?
Singletons,referringtothosewholivealone,arebeingcomfortedbywell-meaningfriendsandfamilyandtoldthatnothavinga
Afterdecadesofstaringatapes,FransdeWaalhaswrittenabookaboutwhathumansseewhentheywatchchimpanzees.Thesecrea
最新回复
(
0
)