Question

Language as a System of Symbols

      Of all systems of symbols(符号), language is the most highly developed. It has been pointed out that human beings, by agreement, can make anything stand for anything. Human beings have agreed, in the course of centuries of mutual(相互的)dependency, to let the various noises that they can produce with their lungs, throats, tongues, teeth, and lips systematically stand for certain happenings in their nervous systems. We call that system of agreements language.

      There is no necessary connection between the symbol and that which it stands for. Just as social positions can be symbolized by feathers worn on the head, by gold on the watch chain, or by a thousand other things according to the culture we live in, so the fact of being hungry can be symbolized by a thousand different noises according to the culture we live in.

      However obvious these facts may appear at first glance, they are actually not so obvious as they seem except when we take special pains to think about the subject. Symbols and the things they stand for are independent of each other, yet we all have a way of feeling as if, and sometimes acting as if, there were necessary connections. For example, there are people who feel that foreign languages are unreasonable by nature; foreigners have such funny names for things, and why can’t they call things by their right names? This feeling exhibits itself most strongly in those English and American tourists who seem to believe that they can make the natives of any country understand English if they shout loud enough. Like the little boy who is reported to have said: “Pigs are called pigs because they are such dirty animals,” they feel that the symbol is inherently(内在地) connected in some way with the things symbolized.

69. Language is a highly developed system of symbols because human beings ______.

A. have made use of language for centuries         B. use our nervous systems to support language

C. have made various noises stand for any events

D. can make anything stand for anything by agreement

70. What can we conclude from Paragraph 2?

A. Different noises may mean different things.   

B. Our culture determines what a symbol stands for.

C. The language we use symbolizes our social positions.

D. Our social positions determine the way we are dressed.

71. In Paragraph 3, “take special pains” probably means “_____”.

A. try very hard     B. take our time     C. are very unhappy      D. feel especially painful

72. The example of the little boy is used to show that _____.

A. adults often learn from their young               

B. “pig” is a dirty word because pigs are dirty

C. words are not connected with the things they stand for

D. people sometimes have wrong ideas about how language works

Answer 1

69. D   70. B   71. A   72. D

解析:

69.这是一道细节推断题。根据第一段“It has been pointed out that human beings， by agreement， can make anything stand for anything.”可推断出人们发出的各种噪音代表着任何一种活动。

70.这是一道主旨题。第二段“so the fact of being hungry can be symbolized by a thousand different noises according to the culture we live in”可知，我们的文化决定了某一种系统代表着什么。

71.这是一道猜测词义题。根据上文中“they are actually not so obvious as they seem except”可猜测出take special pains的意思是“努力尝试”。

72.这是一道主旨题。根据最后一段的内容可知，作者举小孩的例子说明人们有时对语言的作用产生误解。