Question

When one looks back upon the fifteen hundred years that are the life span of the English language, he should be able to notice a number of significant truths. The history of our language has always been a history of constant change—at times a slow, almost imperceptible change, at other times a violent collision between two languages. Our language has always been a living growing organism, it has never been static. Another significant truth that emerges from such a study is that language at all times has been the possession not of one class or group but of many. At one extreme it has been the property of the common, ignorant folk, who have used it in the daily business of their living, much as they have used their animals or the kitchen pots and pans.         At the other extreme it has been the treasure of those who have respected it as an instrument and a sign of civilization, and who have struggled by writing it down to give it some permanence, order, dignity, and if possible, a little beauty. 

As we consider our changing language, we should note here two developments that are of special and immediate importance to us. One is that since the time of the Anglo-Saxons there has been an almost complete reversal of the different devices for showing the relationship of words in a sentence. Anglo-Saxon (old English) was a language of many inflections. Modern English has few inflections. We must now depend largely on word order and function words to convey the meanings that the older language did by means of changes in the forms of words. Function words, you should understand, are words such as prepositions, conjunctions, and a few others that are used primarily to show relationships among other words. A few inflections, however, have survived. And when some word inflections come into conflict with word order, there may be trouble for the users of the language, as we shall see later when we turn our attention to such maters as WHO or WHOM and ME or I. The second fact we must consider is that as language itself changes, our attitudes toward language forms change also. The eighteenth century, for example, produced from various sources a tendency to fix the language into patterns not always set in and grew, until at the present time there is a strong tendency to restudy and re-evaluate language practices in terms of the ways in which people speak and write.

1．In contrast to the earlier linguists, at present, more and more attention is paid to_________.

A. the standardization of the language 

B. language practices in terms of current speech rather than standards or proper patterns 

C. the improvement of the language than its history 

D. the rules of the language usage 

2．From the study we know that language is ________.

A. a possession of upper class. 

B. a possession of lower class. 

C. a possession of the whole society. 

D. the only property of those who treasure it much. 

3．Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage? 

A. It is generally believed that the year 1500 can be set as the beginning of the Modern English.

B. Some other languages had great influence on the English language in its development. 

C. The English language has been and still in a state of relatively constant change. 

D. Many classes or groups have contributed to the development of the English language. 

4．The author of these paragraphs is probably a(an) _________. 

A. writer specially interested in English                   

B. person who pays much attention to people of lower classs          

C. teacher who teaches the English language             

D. expert in studying languages 

5．Which of the following can be best used as the title of the passage? 

A. The history of the English language. 

B. Our changing attitude towards the English language. 

C. Our changing language. 

D. Some characteristics of modern English.

Answer 1

1--5    BCADC  

解析:

講述英語演變過程的一些特點，指出了古英語與現(xiàn)代英語的不同，以及語言學(xué)家對待語言形式的態(tài)度的變化。

1．B  細節(jié)理解題。這篇文章講的主要是現(xiàn)代語言研究與早期研究的不同。根據(jù)文章末尾“The eighteenth century, for example, produced from … in which people speak and write.”可知， 現(xiàn)代語言學(xué)家傾向于根據(jù)人們說和寫的方式評價語言實踐，而不是像早期的語言學(xué)家根據(jù)一定的模式評價語言。選項B符合文章的意思。 根據(jù)題干回原文中定位，閱讀文章時注意首末段及各段開頭的句子，這往往都是考點所在。

2．C  細節(jié)理解題。從第一段中間“Another significant truth…..”直到結(jié)尾部分，闡明語言是所有社會階層的共同財富，只是使用時有所不同。

3．A  細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章的內(nèi)容，選項A“普遍認為1500年是現(xiàn)代英語的起點”在文章中沒有提到。

4．D  推理判斷題。此題考查考生的推測能力和詞匯量，文章講述的是英國語言演進的具體細節(jié)，最適當(dāng)?shù)拇鸢笐?yīng)該是D。作者很可能是一位語言學(xué)家，而不僅僅是教授英語的教師，所以排除C項。

5．C 主旨大意題。本文從各個方面談及英語作為一種語言的發(fā)展變化，但并不是講述英語的歷史。所以選項A不對，選項C作為文章的題目最為貼切。選項B只是文章闡述的一個方面，不夠全面。文章是在談到英語的不斷變化的時候談到了現(xiàn)代英語的一些特點，所以選項D也失之于片面。