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
41
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.
【R4】
选项
答案
consonants and vowels
解析
由第二段第四句“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.”可知,此处应填consonants and vowels。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/rZNK777K
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
When______economygetsstronger,morepeopleimprovetheirlooksas______waytoshowofftheirmoney.
Whilesomepeoplearecontent______acupofcoffeeandtoast,othersremainfaithful______theeighteenth-centurybreakfast.
Itwasawonderthat______littlefoodsaved______manylivesduringthewar.
Inthe1970s,manypeoplebecameconcernedaboutenergy.Peopleindevelopedcountrieshadtofaceuptothefactthattheyused
Manyculturesfollowspecialcustomswhenachild’sbabyteethfallout.Manyofthesecustomsincludestoriesandbeliefsrelat
TheLifeofJackieChanOneofthemostpopularfilmpersonalitiesintheworld,JackieChancamefromapoverty-strickenHo
TheLifeofJackieChanOneofthemostpopularfilmpersonalitiesintheworld,JackieChancamefromapoverty-strickenHo
Aftermymotherpassedaway,mydadtriedevenhardertostayhealthyandactive.Everymorning,untiltheweatherturnedtooco
What’stheweatherlikewhereyouare?Chancesarethere’sacloudsomewhereonyourhorizon—acollectionofmillionsofmicrosc
随机试题
记曲线y=(x2+1)/2与直线y=2所围成的平面图形为D.①求D的面积S(图1-3-3中阴影部分所示);②求D绕y轴旋转一周所得旋转体的体积Vy.
何药对耐青霉素酶的金葡菌感染无效:
下列关于尿糖的说明中,哪一项是正确的
A.腹胀B.腹痛C.呕吐D.进行性黄疸E.血尿淀粉酶升高胰头痛最主要的临床表现是()
女,16岁,上下前牙拥挤,牙龈乳头明显红肿,探诊出血此时应进行的处理是
A.中性或碱性物质B.酮体C.对氨基苯甲酸D.亚硫酸盐和可溶性淀粉E.其他生物碱下列药物的杂质检查项目是盐酸普鲁卡因注射液
当设计无具体要求时,对一、二级抗震等级的框架结构,其纵向受力钢筋检测所得的强度实测值应符合“钢筋抗拉强度实测值与屈服强度实测值的比值不应大于1.25,屈服强度实测值与强度标准值的比值不应小于1.3”的规定。()
某公司因资金紧张,需向银行贷款3000万元,总经理要求财务处处长王某对公司提供给银行的会计报表进行技术处理。王某很清楚公司财务正处于困境,偿债能力较差,有些犹豫不决,但是如果不按总经理的意见去办,自己以后在公司不好立足,于是编制了一份经过技术处理后“漂亮”
孙中山建立的兴中会的纲领是()。
给定资料3作为电商的最后一块肥肉,农产品电商的热度近两年一直有增无减。不过,在“2016中国农产品电子商务高层研讨会”上,某工商大学B教授表示,我国农产品电商已经进入转型的关键期。值得关注的是,2015年农产品电商不断增长,相关电商平台已超过4000家
最新回复
(
0
)