2. 外语
  3. We know that it is impossible to set up a limited number of types that would do full justice to the peculiarities of thousands o

We know that it is impossible to set up a limited number of types that would do full justice to the peculiarities of thousands o

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问题     We know that it is impossible to set up a limited number of
types that would do full justice to the peculiarities of thousands of【S1】______
languages and dialects spoken on the surface of the earth. Like all
human institutions, speech is too variable and too elusive to be quite
safely ticketed. Even if we operate with a minutely subdivided scale
of types, we may be quite certain that many of our languages will
need trim before they fit. To get them into the scheme at all it will【S2】______
be necessary to underestimate the significance of this or that feature【S3】______
or to ignore, for the time being, certain contradictions in their
mechanism. It would be too easy to relieve ourselves from the
burden of constructional thinking and to take the standpoint that【S4】______
each language has its unique history, therefore its unique structure.
Such a standpoint expresses only a half truth. Just as similar social,
economic, and religious institutions have grown up in different parts
of the world from distinct historical antecedents, so also languages,
travel along different roads, have tended to converge toward similar【S5】______
forms. Moreover, the historical study of language has proven to us
beyond all doubt that a language changes not only gradually but
consistently, that it moves unconsciously from one type towards
others, and that analogous trends are observable in remote quarters【S6】______
of the globe. From this it follows that broadly similar study must not【S7】______
have been reached by unrelated languages, independently and
frequently. In assuming the existence of comparable types, however,【S8】______
we are not denying the individuality of all historical processes; we
are merely affirming that back of the face of history is powerful drifts【S9】______
that move language, like other social products, to balance patterns.【S10】______
【S3】
选项
答案underestimate—overestimate
解析 语义错误。or一般连接两个感情色彩相反的成分，or之后是ignore，前面所表达的意思则应该与“忽视”相反。因此应该将underestimate改为overestimate。由上下文可知，此处要表达的意思是“要使一切步入正轨，我们要么必须高估语言的种种特性，要么就忽略这个有机体中的某些矛盾。”
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