2．C　 细节理解题。从第一段中间“Another significant truth…..”直到结尾部分，阐明语言是所有社会阶层的共同财富，只是使用时有所不同。

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.

[解题导语]

本文主要讲述英语演变过程的一些特点，指出了古英语与现代英语的不同，以及语言学家对待语言形式的态度的变化。

[答案与简析]

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　

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.　

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.　

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　

20．B　 句意理解题。A、C、D项都与文中的观点有出入，只有B项的说法符合本文第四小节所陈述的观点。

第八组

A

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.

19．C　 细节判断题。由She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Song of Rose”.可知C项正确。

18．C　 细节判断题。从第七小节的描述来看，C项才是正确答案。