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
2015-05-29
83
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 Mc Whorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, see 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.Mc Whorter’s academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more regrettable 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 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.Mc Whorter documents is unmistakable.But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle: Why We Should, Like, Care.As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including nonstandard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive-there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas.He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English speakers.Mr.Mc Whorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical educational 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.
To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree?
选项
A、Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.
B、Black English can be more expressive than standard English.
C、Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.
D、Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas.
答案
A
解析
本题可参照文章的文章第4段。从中可知,通过大量来自于高雅和粗俗文化的有趣例子,McWhorter先生证实的趋势一目了然。但是,对其新书副标题中的问题——我们为什么应当喜欢和在乎,则不那么清楚。作为一名语言学家,他认为,所有类型的人类语言,包括像黑人英语那样的不标准语言,都可以极具表现力——世界上还不存在不能表达复杂思想的语言或方言。如许多人一样,他不是在争论,说因为无法恰当地交谈,而使我们不能有条理地思考。据此可知,McWhorter认为,人们的思维方式与人们的交谈方式没有多大关系。A项与文章的意思相符。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/vYLO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Inthecaseofmobilephones,changeiseverything.Recentresearchindicatesthatthemobilephoneischangingnotonlyourcul
Computersarepermeatingalmosteveryaspectofourlives,includingmanyareaspreviouslyuntouchedbytechnology.1.Butunlik
Comparisonsweredrawnbetweenthedevelopmentoftelevisioninthe20thcenturyandthediffusionofprintinginthe15thand1
Aninvisibleborderdividesthosearguingforcomputersintheclassroomonthebehalfofstudents’careerprospectsandthosea
Mostofustellonetwoliesaday,accordingtoscientistswhostudythesethings.Andwerarelygetcaught,becausetheliesw
Whowouldhavethoughtwewouldbecomeaplanetof"ologies"?There’sbiology,psychology,herpetology,etymology,andgeologyj
Thefull______ofchangesincomputertechnologywillbefeltwithinthenextfewyears.
DoingaPhDiscertainlynotforeverybody,andIdonotrecommenditformostpeople.However,IamreallygladIgotmyPhDra
意识到我们的文化差异可以帮助我们更有效地相互交流,了解我们不同的交流方式可以丰富我们的文化生活。不同的交流风格体现了我们深层的哲学观及世界观,这些深层的哲学观及世界观正是我们各自的文化基础。明白了这些深层哲学我们就会获得这个世界展示给我们的更加宽广的景象。
随机试题
“小说看完了”的主语语义类型属于()
35~110kV变电所设计中,屋外变电站实体围墙不应低于下列哪项数值?()
(2008年)已知矩阵则A的秩r(A)等于()。
非证券金融市场包括()。Ⅰ.外汇市场Ⅱ.融资租赁市场Ⅲ.股权投资市场Ⅳ.证券衍生品市场
下列关于增值税专用发票填开的时间表述正确的有()。
关于消费税的有关规定,下列表述不正确的有()。
一天,一位年轻的妈妈心急如焚地来找心理医生。心理医生招呼她坐下,她急不可待地对医生说:“医生,我的孩子4岁半了,近来表现一反常态。前几天,有位同学来到我家,问他:‘爸爸喜欢你还是妈妈喜欢你?’他说:‘爸爸喜欢你。’弄得这位尚未结婚的朋友(女)满脸尴尬。”“
加拿大《汉和防务评论》杂志刊登题为“从国际装备展览看中国崛起”的文章。该刊主编平可夫结合切身体会,______了20年来中国代表团参加国际防务展的情况及外国同行对其的观感。这位以“中国通”______,也经常受到非议的军事观察家认为,中国军工实力快速提升,
为了使操作系统容易在不同的硬件平台上进行移植,一些嵌入式操作系统使用了HAL技术,它的中文名称是【71】,其原理是取消了操作系统对【72】的直接访问,使操作系统在HAL基础上运行,从而隐藏了硬件平台的差异。
•Lookattheguidelinesbelowaboutstaffappraisal.•Choosethebestwordfromtheoppositepagetofilleachgap.•Foreachqu
最新回复
(
0
)