《英语语言学概论》-语言学导论-总复习题及答案参考
《英语语言学概论》总复习题Ⅰ. In each question there are four choices. Decide which one would be the best answer to the question, or best completes the sentence. Write the corresponding letter on your ANSWER SHEET.
1. According to Noam Chomsky, language is the product of_______.
A. an innate faculty, unique to humans B. communication
C. environmental conditioning D. all of the above
2. Which of the following statements is FALSE? ________.
A. Language is just for communication.
B. Language is one of many ways in which we experience the world.
C. Language is a sign system.
D. Language is arbitrary and conventional.
3. Which one of the following statements about errors in foreign language learning in FALSE? _________.
A. Errors can not be avoided in foreign language learning.
B. Errors tell the teacher how far towards the goal the learner has progressed and consequently what remains for him to learn.
C. Errors are something bad that should not be allowed in foreign language learning.
D. Errors provide the researcher with evidence of how language is learned or acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing is his discovery of the language.
4. The English language has______.
A. morphemes B. syntax C. number agreement D. all of the above
5. “He” and “she” are not examples of gender agreement in English, because_____.
A. they are pronouns
B. they need not agree with other words in an English sentence
C. they mark biological/social gender
D. both b and c above
6. A phoneme is_____.
A. the smallest meaningful unit in language
B. the smallest unit in language
C. the same as an allophone
D. both b and c above
7. Of the following, what are the two types of phonetics______.
A. acoustic and electric B. arbitrary and auditory
C. articulatory and acoustic D. allophonic and allomorphic
8. /Wik/ is a transcription of_______.
A. sick B. chick C. chic D. thick
9. The Black English sentence “I don't gotta do nothing” is considered incorrect because________.
A. it contains a double negative and is thus inherently incorrect
B. it is impossible to understand
C. it is not associated with the upper class use of standard English
D. both a and b above
10. The use of non-standard English persists because_______.
A. the working class is incapable of speaking “correctly”
B. English is a complicated and therefore difficult language to master
C. subordinate groups use non-standard English to promote solidarity
D. teachers do not properly stress the importance of standard English in schools
11. True or false: Chinese has no inflections for grammatical case. ______.
A. True B. False
12. What is defined as 'the study of sentence structure'? ______.
A. Morphology B. Semantics C. Phonology D. Syntax
13. ______ refers to the fact that there is no necessary or logical relationship between a linguistic form and its meaning. ______.
A. Displacement B. creativity C. arbitrariness D. duality
14. The study of a language at some point of time is called________.
A. computational linguistics B. sociolinguistics
C. diachronic linguistics D. synchronic linguistics
15. ________ refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community
A. Langue B. performance C. competence D. parole
16. Traditional grammar is ________.
A.descriptive B. prescriptive C. non-Latin-based D. wrong
17. ______ is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.
A. Phonology B. Phonetic alphabet C. Corpus linguistics D. Phonetics
18. _____ is the minimal unit in the sound system of a language, which is of distinctive value.
A. Allophone B. Phone C. Phoneme D. Morpheme
19. Which of the following factors does not help to identify a word? ______.
A. Relative shortness B.Relative uninterruptibility
C. A minimum free form D. Stability
20. Speech act theory was initially developed by _______.
A. Halliday B. Austin C. Searle D. Grice
21. The four major modes of semantic change are_______.
A. extension, narrowing, elevation and degradation
B. extension, generalization, elevation and degradation
C. extension, narrowing, specialization and degradation
D. extension, elevation, amelioration and degradation
22. The relation between the two words “husband” and “wife” can be described as____.
A. gradable antonymy B. converse antonymy
C. complementary antonymy D. synonymy
23. “friendly” is a _______.
A. compound B. inflectional word C. derivative D. morpheme
24. The construction “honest people” is _______.
A. a coordinate construction B. an exocentric construction
C. an endocentric construction D. an immediate constituent
25. The word “brunch” and “motel” are _______.
A. formed by blending B. acronyms
C. coined by back-formation D. clipped words
26. The function of the sentence “A nice day, isn’t it?” is _______.
A. directive B. informative C. performative D. phatic
27. Which of the following sounds is a voiced bilabial stop?______.
A. B. C. D.
28. Which of the following sounds is a voiceless affricate?_______.
A. B. C. D.
29. In the sentence “Can I have a bite to drink?” the speaker may not have a problem with competence, but with_______.
A. performance B. utterance C. syntax D. context
30. The phrase “Colorful ideas sleep furiously” is an example of_______.
A. rapport talk
B. indexical language
C. an ungrammatical but acceptable sentence
D. a grammatical but unacceptable sentence
31. There are ______ morphemes in the word “children’s”
A. six B. two C. three D. four
32. The words “take” and “table” are called _______ because they can stand as a word by themselves.
A. inflectional morphemes B. free morphemes
C. stems D. roots
33. Identify the morphemes in the word 'unimaginative':
A. un-im-ag-in-at-ive B. un-imaginative
C. un-imagin-ative D. unimagin-ative
34. Which of the following two-term sets shows the feature of complementarity? _______.
A. Husband/ Wife B. Alive/Dead C. Hot/ Cold D. White/ Black
35. The Whorf Hypothesis claims that________.
A. language is full of “rich points”, whose meanings are difficult to translate into another language
B. abstract terms are easily translatable
C. accents are part of identity
D. language influences culture-specific ways of knowing
36. The phrase ‘time is a commodity’ is an example of_______.
A. The Whorf Hypothesis B. A metaphoric system
C. A non-standard variety D. A rich point
37. The last phoneme in the word “hang” is a _______.
A. glottal B. palatal C. dental D. nasal
38. Three places of articulation that involve the teeth and/or the lips are:
A. palatal, velar, glottal B. bilabial, labiodental, dental
C. stop, fricative, affricative D. nasal, lateral, semi vowel
39. In the sentence 'I took my big brown cat to the vet yesterday', which of the following does not appear? _______.
A. Adjective B. Preposition C. Adverb D. Conjunction
40. What is the meaning relationship between the two words “plant/grass”? ______.
A. Homonymy B. Antonymy C.Hyponymy D. Allomorphs
41. The syllabic structure of the word “linguistics” is ______.
A. CVCCVCCVCC B. CVCCCVCCVCC
C. CVCCVVCCVCC D. CVCVVCCVCC
42. The phonetic transcription with diacritics is called _____.
A. broad transcription B. International Phonetic Alphabet
C. American English Pronunciation D. narrow transcription
43. The Black English sentence “I don't gotta do nothing” is considered incorrect because:
a) it contains a double negative and is thus inherently incorrect
b) it is impossible to understand
c) it is not associated with the upper class use of standard English
d) both a and b above
44. According to their ______, words can classified into closed-class and open-class words.
A. variability B. membership C. similarities D. functions
45. When language is used to "do things", it serves the _____ function.
A. evocative B. expressive C. directive D. performative
46. "Classroom" is a _______.
A. free morpheme B. derivative C. compound D. root.
47. The phrase “time is a commodity” is an example of_______.
A. The Whorf Hypothesis B. A metaphoric system
C. A non-standard variety D. A rich point
48. _______ is a type of phonological process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring sound.
A. Assimilation B. Transformation C. Code-switching D. interference
49. _______ refers to the use of a native language pattern or rule which leads to an error or inappropriate form in the target language.
A. Interlanguage B. Positive transfer
C. Negative transfer D. Overgeneralization
50. In the sentence “I took my big brown cat to the vet yesterday”, which of the following does not appear? _______.
A. Adjective B. Preposition C. Adverb D. Conjunction
51. _______ is that part of the meaning of word or phrase that relates it to phenomena in the real world or in a fictional or possible world.
A. Connotation B. Affective meaning C. Denotation D. Sense
52. A linguist regards the changes in language and language use as ______.
A. unnatural B. something to be feared C. natural D. abnormal
53. The semantic components of the word “boy” can be expressed as _____.
A. +human, +male, +adult B. +human, -male, +adult
C. +human, -male, -adult D. +human, +male, -adult
54. Conjunctions, preposition, pronouns and articles can be classified as ____.
A. lexical words B. grammatical words
C. pro-forms D. content words
55. If two sounds are of no distinctive value, but are varieties of the same phoneme, they are called ______.
A. phones B. speech sounds C. allophones D. morphs
56. In the following sounds, _____ is a voiced stop.
A. B. C. D.
57. “You stand up” is transformed into “Stand up”. Which transformational rule is used according to TG Grammar? _____.
A. Copying B. Addition C. Reordering D. Deletion
58. The words such as TOFEL, NATO, UFO are _____.
A. formed by blending B. acronyms
C. coined by back formation D. clipped words
59. The words such as “brunch”, “motel” are _______.
A. formed by blending B. acronyms
C. coined by back formation D. clipped words
60. ______ are produced when the obstruction is complete at first, then released slowly with friction resulting from partial obstruction.
A. Nasals B. Glides C. Fricatives D. Affricatives
61. “A fish is swimming in the pond” is transformed into “There is a fish swimming in the pond”. Which of the following transformational rules is used? ______.
A. Copying B. Addition C. Reordering D. Deletion
62. “The man put on his hat” is transformed into “The man put his hat on”. Which transformational rule is applied here? _______.
A. Copying B. Addition C. Reordering D. Deletion
63. The function of the sentence “A nice day, isn’t it?” is ______.
A. directive B. informative C. emotive D. phatic
64. Which of the following sounds is a voiceless bilabial stop? _____.
A. B. C. D.
65. Which of the following languages is a tone language?
A. Russian B. Chinese C. English D. French
66. ________ speaking, no variety of language is better than or superior to others.
A. Generally B. Socially C. Politically D. Linguistically
67. Grammar-based language learning and teaching fails partially because _____.
A. still no precise information is obtained concerning how grammar can be learned
B. grammar can not be taught at all
C. it is useless to teach grammar in language classes
D. learners can learn better without grammar
68.For foreign language learners to achieve effective learning, the input should_____.
A. not be so far beyond their reach that they are overwhelmed
B. be interesting and simple
C. not be so close to their current stage that they are not challenged at all
D. Both A and C
69. Interlanguage is _____.
A. is produced by every foreign language learners
B. a mixture of the learner’s mother tongue and the target language
C. imperfect compared with the target language, but it is not mere translation from the learner’s native language
D. Both A and C
70. Error analysis may be carried out in order to______.
A. identify strategies which learners use in language learning
B. try to identify the causes of learner errors.
C. obtain information on common difficulties in language learning
D. All of the above.
71. Many Chinese English learners may, at the beginning stage, produce “mans” and “photoes” as the plural forms of “man” and “photo”. This is most likely the result of _______ in the process of foreign language learning.
A. Negative transfer B. Overgeneralization
C. Positive transfer D. mother tongue interference
72. Which of the following qualities is not the requirement of a good test? _______.
A. Objectivity B. Reliability C. Validity D. Both A and C
73. Which of the following statements about machine translation is likely to be wrong? _______.
A. Machine translation has always been a chief concern in computational linguistics.
B. There are areas where machine translation surpasses human translations.
C. Sooner or later, machine translation will replace human translation completely.
D. In some areas, human translations surpasses machine translation.
74. Teaching culture in our language classes can _______.
A. get the students familiar with cultural differences
B. help the students transcend their own culture and see things as the members of the target culture will
C. emphasize the inseparability of understanding language and understanding culture through various classroom practices
D. All of the above.
75. According to Grice’s theory, a conversational implicature arises when the cooperative principle and its maxims are _______.
A. strictly observed B. secretly and deliberately violated
C. blatantly or apparently violated D. Both A and B
Ⅱ. Match each of the following terms in Column A with one of the appropriate definitions in Column B. Write the corresponding letter on your ANSWER SHEET.
Part One
Column A
1. constituent
2. complementary distribution
3. design features
4. diglossia
5. displacement
6. homonymy
7. language interference
8. registers
9. selectional restrictions
10. semantic anomaly
Column B
A. the phenomenon that human language can cope with any subject whatever, and it does not matter how far away the topic of conversation is in time and space
B. the framework proposed by Hockett, which discusses the defining properties of human language as against animal communication
C. the restrictions on the type of noun that can be selected with each verb
D. the type of language which is selected as appropriate to a type of situation
E. the phenomena that allophones occur in different phonetic environments
F. a sociolinguistic situation where two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play
G. the case that two, or more meanings may be associated with the same linguistic form
H. the case that one of the arguments or the predicate of the main predication is self-contradictory
I. any linguistic form or group of linguistic forms that appears at the bottom of one of the lines in the tree diagram of the syntactic analysis
J. the use of elements from one language while speaking another.
Part Two
Column A
1. duality of structure
2. free morphemes
3. endocentric construction
4. International Phonetic Alphabet
5. Psycholinguistics
6. the syntagmatic relation
7. derivational morphemes
8. regional dialect
9. sequential rules
10. presupposition
Column B
A. the study of the relationship between language and mind.
B. the bound morphemes which are conjoined to other morphemes (or words) to derive or form a new word
C. the organization of language into two levels: a lower level of sounds which combine to form a higher level of meaningful units
D. a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription.
E. linguistic varieties used by people living in different regions.
F. the rules which govern the combination of sounds in a particular language.
G. one whose distribution is functionally equivalent, or approaching equivalence, to one of its constituents
H. the kind of meaning which the speaker doesn't assert but assumes the hearer can identify from the sentence
I. the morphemes which can constitute words by themselves
J. the one between one item and others in a linear sequence, or between elements which are all present
Part Three
Column A
1.antonymy
2. blending
3. compounds
4. arbitrariness
5. cultural transmission
6. diachronic linguistics
7. distinctive features
8. standard dialect
9. ultimate constituent
10. Creole
Column B
A. the study of the language development or change over time
B. the features that a phoneme has and that distinguish it from other phonemes
C. the words that are produced by stringing together words
D. the smallest grammatical unit obtained through binary segmentation
E. a particular variety of a language, not related to any particular group of language users
F. a language formed when a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community
G. word formed by combining parts of other words
H. the fact that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker
I. the oppositeness of meaning between lexemes
J. a design feature of language which refers to the fact that there is no logical connection between the signifier and the signified of a sign.
Part Four
Column A
1. a proposition
2. a speech community
3. an utterance
4. bilingualism
5. constatives
6. performatives
7. registers
8. sociolect
9. the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis
10. utterance meaning
Column B
A. the suggestion that different languages carve the world up in different ways, and that as a result their speakers think about it differently
B. something conveyed by a sentence in a context other than its literal meaning
C. varieties of language that are related to use
D. a piece of language actually used in a particular context
E. the linguistic variety used by people belonging to a particular social class
F. a community the members of which have or believe they have at least one common variety of language
G. what is expressed by a declarative sentence when that sentence is uttered to make a statement
H. sentences which describe or state something; they are either true or false
I. the situation where at least two languages are used side by side by an individual or by a group of speakers, with each having a different role to play
J. sentences that do not describe things and cannot be said to be true or false
Part Five
Column A
1. an analytic proposition
2. binary cutting
3. connotation
4. derivation
5. lexicology
6. logical semantics
7. reference
8. semantic feature
9. the chain relation
10. the choice relation
Column B
A. the relation holding between one item and others in a linear sequence, or between elements which are all present
B. the basic unit of meaning in a word
C. the study of the meaning of a sentence in terms of its truth conditions
D. one whose grammatical form and lexical meaning make it necessarily true, without reference to external criteria
E. the additional meanings that a word or phrase has beyond its central meaning
F. a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure
G. the morphological process in which affixes are added to the stem
H. the concrete entities that have the properties denoted by words or phrases
I. the practice to cut a grammatical construction into two parts and then cut each of the two parts into two and continue with this segmentation until we reach the smallest grammatical unit, the morpheme
J. the study of the vocabulary items of a language, including their meanings and relations, their classification and collocation, and changes in their form and meaning through time
Ⅲ. READING COMPREHENSION. Read the following passages, choose the correct answer for each question and write the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET.
Passage One (Questions 1-6)
Psychologists and educators have known for a long time that "active learning" is by far superior to "passive learning" and in the discussion in section 3.1.1 we have rejected the notion of teaching language through some automatic conditioning process. Both of these considerations point to the crucial role of "learner factors" in language acquisition and to the importance of knowing just what the learner contributes to the learning process so that it can be taken into account in the teaching process.
Intelligence is usually conceived of as the ability to learn and thus it is to be expected that I.Q. will be related to second-language learning as well, and indeed the evidence we have corroborated this expectation. This relationship, under conditions of school learning, appears to be in the order of 15 to 20 percent of the contributing variance. The importance of intelligence in second-language learning can be interpreted as stemming from the fact that the teaching process is incapable of making it completely clear just what the learner is to acquire. Thus the variance contribution of intelligence can be expected to increase under conditions where instructional procedures are weak and amorphous and decrease under conditions where they are effective and well integrated. In this sense, the correlation between intelligence and achievement can be viewed as an indication of the quality of instruction. The 20 percent variance contribution just referred to thus indicates that within the present conditions of language teaching in schools, given the criterion definitions and goals, and distribution of aptitude and perseverance factors that now prevail, the quality of instruction is quite high and the amount of possible improvement fairly limited. This conclusion, if valid, is quite significant, since it suggests that in order to increase the success of the FL curriculum in schools the major changes and improvements will have to come in the area of criterion definition and implementation, i.e., a change in what is being taught under particular conditions. Note that quality of instruction can be high - that is, it is being made quite clear to the student just what he is supposed to learn - while the success of the over-all program can remain inadequate owing to lack of perseverance on the part of the student or to the choice of a criterion goal for the course that turns out to be not what was wanted. It should be realized that a change in criterion goal may affect the quality of instruction, since 'corresponding to a change in what is being taught there may have to be a change in how it is being taught. With these new goals, quality of instruction will have to be reevaluated, since there is no guarantee that our present knowledge will be equally effective in teaching these newer skills.
1. "passive learning" is _____.
A. easy to control
B. some automatic conditioning process
C. superior to "active learning" in practice
D. a process in which the teacher plays a passive role
2. In the active learning, the learners _______.
A. are much involved in the learning process
B. know the teachers’ crucial role in the teaching process
C. learn through some automatic conditioning process
D. play the same part in the learning process as the teacher
3. The basic difference between "active learning" and "passive learning" lies in_______.
A. the conditions of the learning process
B. the conditions of the teaching process
C. the role of the teacher in the teaching process
D. the role of "learner factors" in the learning process
4. Which of the following is NOT the learner factor?
A. Intelligence B. Instruction C. Aptitude D. Perseverance
5. Which of the following questions is NOT touched in the passage?
A. How does intelligence affect the quality of instruction?
B. Why is "active learning" superior to "passive learning"?
C. How do learner factors contribute to the teaching process?
D. What is the difference between "active learning" and "passive learning"?
6. Which of the following factors might affect the quality of instruction?
A. Criterion goal B. Achievement C. Perseverance D. Learning skills
Passage Two (Questions 7-12)
This chapter has ranged over several types of language variety, including 'language', 'dialects', 'registers', 'standard languages', 'pidgins' and 'Creoles'. We have come to essentially negative conclusions about varieties. First, there are considerable problems in delimiting one variety from another of the same type. Secondly, there are serious problems in delimiting one type of variety from another - languages from dialects, or dialects from registers, or 'ordinary languages' from Creoles, or Creoles from pidgins. Thirdly, we have suggested that the only satisfactory way to solve these problems is to avoid the notion 'variety' altogether as an analytical or theoretical concept, and to focus instead on the individual linguistic item. For each item some kind of 'social description' is needed, saying roughly who uses it and when: in some cases an item's social description, will be unique, whereas in others it may be possible to generalize across a more or less large number of items. The nearest this approach comes to the concept of 'variety' is in these sets of items with similar social descriptions, but their characteristics are rather different from those of varieties like languages and dialects. On the other hand, it is still possible to use terms like 'variety' and 'language' in an informal way, as they have been used in the last few sections, without intending them to be taken seriously as theoretical constructs.
7. "We have come to essentially negative conclusion about varieties” implies that it is ___ to define 'variety' objectively and absolutely.
A. essential B. useless C. impossibleD. unnecessary
8. There are serious problems in delimiting languages from dialects because ___ .
A. languages and dialects are of the same type of variety
B. their characteristics are rather different from each other
C. languages and dialects share the same social descriptions
D. there is no clear-cut border between languages and dialects
9. According to the author, the notion "variety" is ___ .
A. vague B. clear C. analytical D. theoretical
10. Some kind of "social description" is needed to ___ .
A. make clear the concept of "variety"
B. identify individual linguistic items
C. distinguish various types of varieties
D. describe the social features of varieties
11. 'social description' for each item refers to ___ .
A. generalization across a more or less large number of items
B. the characteristics in relation to its uses in some social contexts
C. difference between varieties in terms of their social characteristics
D. similarities between varieties in terms of their social characteristics
12. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. There is no agreement on the definition of the term 'variety'.
B. It is impossible to use the term 'variety' as a theoretical concept.
C. Varieties are distinguishable in terms of items' social descriptions.
D. Different linguistic items can have quite different social descriptions.
Passage Three (Questions 13-18)
Our ability to deduce context from text is one way in which language and context are interrelated. Our equally highly developed ability to predict language from context provides further evidence of the language/context relationship. For example, if I were to ask you to predict both the overall structure and some of the specific words and sentences you would find in a recipe for scrambling eggs, you would have very little difficulty. If I asked you to write down the recipe text in a form publishable in a popular magazine or cookbook, you could almost certainly write the entire text with confidence that you were doing so in an appropriate way.
You would not, for example, give your recipe a title such as Mowing Lawns, nor would I find words such as telephone, picture, jeans, swim in your text, since such items would be quite blatantly inappropriate given that the topic of a recipe is food and its preparation. You would also be unlikely to find yourself writing sentences such as If it is possible, you are strongly advised to take 6 eggs or Perhaps you should maybe mix the eggs and milk for about 2 minutes or so. Such sentences express a degree of uncertainty and tentativity inappropriate to the role of "recipe writer". Nor would you find yourself writing Hi guys! Copy this for a recipe! since the relationship between the writer and reader of the recipe is generally more formal than those greetings suggest. Finally, you are unlikely to have written Take six of these. Break them, and put them in there. Then add this. Since there are a number of words which your reader, distant from you in time and space, would be unable to interpret. In our ability to predict accurately what language will be appropriate in a specific context, we are seeing an extension of our intuitive understanding that language use is sensitive to context.
Final evidence which emphasizes the close link between context and languages that it is often simply not possible to tell how people are using language if you do not take into account the context of use. One example of this was given above, when it was pointed out that presented with just one sentence chosen at random from a text you would have found it difficult to state confidently just what the writer of that text was doing. Considered in its textual context (as a part of a complete linguistic event), that sentence clearly did have a function (to propose a possible solution). Taken out of context, its purpose is obscured, with at least part of its meaning lost or unavailable.
Our ability to deduce context from text, to predict when and how language use will vary, and the ambiguity of language removed from its context, all provide evidence that in asking functional questions about language we must focus not just on language, but on language use in context. Describing the impact of context has involved systemicists in exploring both what dimensions, and in what ways, context influences language.
13. Our ability to deduce context from text implies ___ .
A. dependence of context on text
B. independence of context from text
C. interrelation between language and context
D. our ability to predict language from context
14. It is stated implicitly in the passage that the choice of words and sentences in a text ___ .
A. is of little difficulty
B. is independent of the type of the text
C. needs to be made in an appropriate way
D. is related to the overall structure and the type of the text
15. The examples given in the second paragraph were used to show ___ .
A. language use is sensitive to context
B. how to write a recipe for scrambling eggs
C. the relationship between the writer and reader of the recipe is generally formal
D. we are able to predict accurately what language will be appropriate in a specific context
16. Readers are unable to interpret such sentences as Take six of these. Break them, and put them in there. Then add this because ___ .
A. their intuitive understanding is poor
B. they are distant from the writer in time and space
C. they are unable to interpret the grammatical structures
D. they couldn't understand “these”, “them”, “there” , “then” and “this” without context
17. It can be inferred from the passage that systemicists describe language with the focus on its ___ .
A. functions B. system C. structure D. rules
18. The author developed his/her main idea by ___ .
A. theoretical evidence B. examples
C. description D. experimental evidence
Passage Four (Questions 19-23)
Two basic truths about the psychology of human learning are (a), that it is amazingly efficient and powerful - by such standards as the learning capacities of other living organisms or man-made automata and (b), that this learning goes on in ways that neither the individual learner nor the educator or social scientist can describe or explicate even in elementary and simplistic terms. Two outstanding instances which illustrate both truths are (i), the learning of a language and (ii), the learning of a culture during socialization or acculturation. Concepts such as "stimulus," "response," "reinforcement," "habit," which social scientists have invented to account for these accomplishments of the individual have such weak explanatory power that even in much simpler learning situations, such as a rat running a maze, they allow for such inadequate and impotent descriptions that psychologists in a narrow field of specialization disagree about them. The weakest aspect about these "scientific explanations" is that they attempt to describe the learning process through concepts that refer to external events (stimuli, responses, schedules of reinforcement, etc.), whereas what obviously accounts for the process is the internal mechanism of the brain, the capacities and workings of the human mind.
Theories about the mind, theories about knowledge (as distinguished from theories about behavior), theories about capacities, about potentialities and competencies, have been proposed by many writers over the course of modem scientific history, but these occupy the back seat to the leading theories in the social sciences. The most influential and widespread approach to psychological explanation remains in the United States today, in education, in clinical psychology, that of Skinnerian operant conditioning of behavior. The latter is widely claimed as being sound and tough-minded in research, while theories of the mind are presented to graduate students and future researchers in a shadowy and not quite respectable light; they are soft, nonrigorous, wishy-washy.
19. Which of the following is TRUE about the psychology of human learning?
A. Even the individual learner himself cannot understand how he can learn a language all by himself.
B. Human learning is as efficient and powerful as the learning capacities of other living organisms.
C. Human learning can be described by such standards as the learning capacities of other living organisms.
D. Human learning involves a process more complex than social scientists can describe in elementary and simplistic terms referring to external events.
20. Concepts such as "stimulus", "response", "reinforcement", "habit" have been invented to explain ____.
A. the teaching of foreign languages
B. the process of human learning
C. the learning capacities of living organisms
D. the capacities and workings of the human mind
21. From the passage, it is implied that the reinforcement theory had a weak explanatory power because it __.
A. could be accepted by psychologists in a narrow field of specialization
B. attempted to describe the learning process through concepts that refer to external events
C. could only explain much simpler learning situations, such as a rat running a maze
D. described the psychology of human learning in elementary and simplistic terms
22."..., but these occupy the back seat to the leading theories in the social sciences." means theories of the mind ___.
A. are among the leading theories in the social sciences
B. have made a great contribution to the social sciences
C. are less influential compared with the leading theories
D. remain widespread as an approach to psychological explanation today
23. Which of the following is widely claimed as being sound and tough-minded in research? ____
A. Education B. Theories of mind
C. Experimental psychology D. Psychology of behavior by Skinner
Passage Five (Questions 24-28)
Language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations. The name given to a variety of language distinguished according to its use is “register”.
The category of “register” is needed when we want to account for what people do with their language. When we observe language activity in the various contexts in which it takes place, we find differences in the type of language selected as appropriate to different types of situation. There is no need to labor the point that a sport commentary, a church service and a school lesson are linguistically quite distinct. One sentence from any of these and many more situation types would enable us to identify it correctly. We know, for example, where “an early announcement is expected” comes from, and where “apologies for absence were received” is most likely to be heard. These are not simply free variants of “we ought to hear soon” and “I was sorry he couldn’t make it”.
It is not the event or state of affairs being talked about that determines the appropriated to a certain use. We should be surprised, for example, if it was announced on the carton of our toothpaste that the product was “just right for cleaning false teeth” instead of “ideal for cleansing artificial dentures”. We can often guess the source of a piece of English from familiarity with its use: “mix well” probably comes from a recipe, although the action of mixing is by no means limited to cookery --- and “mixes well” is more likely to be found in a testimonial.
The choice of items from the wrong register, and the mixing of items from different registers, are among the most frequent mistakes made by non-native speakers of a language. …
The crucial criteria of any given register are to be found in its grammar and its lexis. Probably lexical features are the most obvious. Some lexical items suffice almost by themselves to identify a certain register: “cleanse” puts us in the language of advertising, “probe” of newspapers, especially headlines, “tablespoonful” of recipes or prescriptions, “neckline” of fashion reporting or dress-making instructions. The clearest signals of a particular register are scientific technical terms except those that belong to more than one science, like “morphology” in biology and linguistics.
Often it is not the lexical item alone but the collocation of two or more lexical items that is specific to one register. “Kick” is presumably neutral, but “free kick” is from the language of football. Compare the disc jockey’s “top twenty”; “thinned right down” at the hairdresser’s (but “thinned out” in the garden); and the collocation of “heart” and “bid” by contrast with “heart” and “beat”.
Purely grammatical distinctions between the different registers are less striking, yet there can be considerable variation in grammar also. Extreme cases are newspaper headlines and church service; but many other registers such as sports commentaries and popular songs, exhibit specific grammatical characteristics.
24. What determines the choice of one language register as apposed to another? _____.
A. A certain event. B. An advertisement.
C. A kind of convention. D. A type of situation.
25. In Paragraph 2, “free variants of” means ________.
A. interchangeable with B. interpretation of
C. in line with D. in opposition to
26. According to this passage, usually the collocation of ______ is specific to one register.
A. lexicon and grammar B. two lexical items
C. more than two D. both B and C
27. According to this author, we know that the grammatical features of _____ are considerably different.
A. sports commentaries and church services
B. sports commentaries and popular songs
C. newspaper headlines and church services
D. church services and school lessons
28. Which of the following is not true?______.
A. A lexical item can only be used as a register in one science.
B. A lexical item alone is not often specific to one register.
C. A lexical feature is more obvious for the criteria of any register.
D. A lexical item may suffice almost by itself to identify a register.
Passage Six (Questions 29-33)
Three English dictionaries published recently all lay claim to possessing a "new" feature. The BBC English Dictionary contains background information on l, 000 people and places prominent in the news since 1988; the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: Encyclopedic Edition is the OALD plus encyclopedic entries; the Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture is the LME plus cultural information. The key fact is that all three dictionaries can be seen to have a distinctly "cultural" as well as language learning content. That being said, the way in which they approach the cultural element is not identical, making direct comparisons between the three difficult.
While there is some common ground between the encyclopedic/cultural entries for the Oxford and Longman dictionaries, there is a clear difference. Oxford lays claim to being encyclopedic on content whereas Longman distinctly concentrates on the language and culture of the English-speaking world. The Oxford dictionary can therefore stand more vigorous scrutiny for cultural bias than the Longman publication because the latter does not hesitate about viewing the rest of the world from the cultural perspectives of the English-speaking world. The cultural objectives of the BBC dictionary are in turn more distinct still. Based on an analysis of over 70 million words recorded from the BBC World Service and National Public Radio of Washington over a period of four years, their 1,000 brief encyclopedic entries are based on people and places that have featured in the news recently. The intended user they have in mind is a regular listener to the World Service who will have a reasonable standard of English and a developed skill in listening comprehension.
In reality, though, the BBC dictionary will be purchased by a far wider range of language learners, as will the other two dictionaries. We will be faced with a situation where many of the users of these dictionaries will at the very least have distinct socio-cultural perspectives and may have world views which are totally opposed and even hostile to those of the West. Advanced learners from this kind of background will not only evaluate a dictionary on how user-friendly it is but will also have definite views about the scope and appropriateness of the various socio-cultural entries.
29. What feature sets apart the three dictionaries discussed in the passage from traditional ones?
A) The combination of two dictionaries into one
B) The new approach to defining words
C) The inclusion of cultural content
D) The increase in the number of entries
30. The Longman dictionary is more likely to be criticized for cultural prejudice ____________.
A) Its scope of cultural entries the beyond the culture of the English-speaking world.
B) it pays little attention to the cultural content d the non-English-speaking countries
C) it views the world purely from the standpoint of the English-speaking world.
D) it fails to distinguish language from culture in its encyclopedic entries.
31. The BBC dictionary differs from Oxford and Longman in that ____________.
A) it has a wider selection Of encyclopedic entries
B) it is mainly design to meet the needs of radio listeners
C) it lays more emphasis co language then on culture
D) it is intended to help listeners develop their listening comprehension skills
32. It is implied in the last paragraph that, in approaching socio-cultural content in a dictionary, special thought be given to ____________.
A) the language levels of its users
B) the number of its prospective purchasers
C) the different tastes of its users
D) the various cultural backgrounds of its users
33. What is the passage mainly about?
A) different ways of treating socio-cultural elements in the three new English dictionaries.
B) A comparison of people's opinions on the cultural content in the three new English dictionaries.
C) The advantages of the BBC dictionary over Oxford and Longman.
D) The user-friendliness of the three new English dictionaries.
Passage Seven (Questions 34-38)
Language is a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learnt the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact.
Now, what is meant by system? Every language operates within its own system, that is, within its own recurring patterns or arrangements which are meaningful to its speakers. The sounds, which are used to form words, which, in turn, are used in speech utterances, are always arranged in particular ways or designs which convey the same meaning to all speakers of the language. Let us examine some examples in English.
When I say the words “the man”, you know I’m talking of one man and of a man previously mentioned. “The men”, on the other hand, conveys the meaning of more than one man. When you hear “arrive” you know it would fit into the place used for verbs in sentence. “Arrival”, on the other hand, would fit into the slot used for what we generally call a noun, wouldn’t it? To continue, in English, word order is an important part of the system. Compare the two sentences: “The cat bit the lady.” and “The lady bit the cat.” The forms of the words are exactly the same, aren’t they? But what a difference in the meaning!
Examining another feature of the “system”, we find that in English adjectives don’t “agree” with nouns. We say “the boys are tall” and “the tall boys”; “the girl is tall” and “the tall girls”. In the native language of your students, changes may occur because of gender (masculine or feminine) or because of number (singular or plural).
This system of meaningful arrangements of sounds and forms in speech which the youngest native speaker knows by the time he reaches six or seven may differ in important respects from any other language system in the world.
34. Which of the following statements cannot be derived from the author’s definition of language? ________.
A. The form of a word has no logical relationship with its meaning.
B. Speech is the primary form of language.
C. All languages are equal in the sense that each of them has its own system.
D. Language is only used for human interaction.
35. Which of the following features is/are referred to in this passage? ________.
A. Plurality B. Agreement C. Word order D. All of the them
36. In Paragraph 2, “operates” actually means _______.
A. guides B. controls C. functions D. manages
37. By “native speakers”, the author means those people who _______.
A. communicate or interact very well
B. share the same way of life
C. learn the system of a same language
D. reach the age of 6 or 7
38. From this passage it can be said of language that ______.
A. Different languages are different in their grammatical systems.
B. Languages that possess the feature of gender agreement may be more complex than those that do not.
C. The change of word order will change the meaning of a sentence.
D. Different cultures have different languages.
Passage Eight (Questions 39-43)
Is language, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged? Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick I in the thirteenth century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly at the right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed.
Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to five words. At three he knows about 1,000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than in grammar.
Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern “toy bear”. And even more incredible is the young brain’s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyse, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways.
But speech has to be induced, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child get discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s non-verbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.
39. The purpose of Frederick I’s experiment was ______.
A. to prove that children are born with the ability to speak
B. to discover what language a child would speak without hearing any human speech
C. to find out what role careful nursing would play in teaching a child to speak
D. to prove that a child could be damaged without learning a language
40. Some children are backward in speaking most probably because _______.
A. they are incapable of learning language rapidly
B. they are exposed to too much language at once
C. their mothers respond inadequately to their attempts to speak
D. their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them
41. What is exceptionally remarkable about a child?
A. He is born with the capacity to speak.
B. He has a brain more complex than an animal’s.
C. He can produce his own sentences.
D. He owes his speech ability to good nursing.
42. Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the passage?
A. The faculty of speech is inborn in man.
B. Encouragement is anything but essential to a child in language learning.
C. The child’s brain is highly selective.
D. Most children learn their language in definite stages.
43. If a child starts to speak later than others, he will ______ in future.
A. have a high IQ
B. be less intelligent
C. be insensitive to verbal signals
D. not necessarily be backward
Passage Nine (Questions 44-48):
As everyone knows, words constantly take on new meanings. Since they do not necessarily, nor even usually, take the place of the old ones, we should picture this process as the analogy of a tree throwing out new branches which themselves throw out subordinate branches. The new branches sometimes overshadow and kill the old one but by no means always. We shall again and again find the earliest senses of a word flourishing for centuries despite a vast overgrowth of later senses which might be expected to kill them.
When a word has several meanings historical circumstances often make one of them dominant during a particular period. Thus “station” is now more likely to mean a railway-station than anything else; “speculation” more likely to bear its financial sense than any other. until this century “plane” had as its dominant meaning “a flat surface” or “a carpenter’s tool to make a surface smooth”, but the meaning “an aeroplane” is dominant now. The dominant sense of a word lies uppermost in our minds. Whenever we meet the word, our natural impulse is to give it that sense. We are often deceived. In an old author the word may mean something different.
One of may aims is to make the reading of old books easy as far as certain words are concerned. If we read an old poem with insufficient regard for the change of the dictionary meanings of words we won’t be able to understand the poem the old author intended. And to avoid this, knowledge is necessary.
We see good words or good senses of words losing their edge or more rarely getting a new edge that serves some different purposes. “Verbicide”, the murder of a word, happens in many ways. Inflation is the commonest: those who taught us to say “awfully” for “very”, “tremendous” for “great”, and “unthinkable” for “undesirable” were verbicides.
I should be glad if I sent any reader away with a sense of responsibility to the language. It is unnecessary to think we can do nothing about it. Our conversation will have little effect, but if we get into print --- perhaps especially if we are leader-writers or reporters --- we can help to strengthen or weaken some disastrous words, can encourage a good and resist a bad Americanism. For many things the press prints today will be taken up by a great mass of people in a few years.
44. The main idea of the first paragraph is _____.
A. only old words take on new meaning
B. a tree throws out new branches as the words pick up new meanings
C. words obtain new meanings from time to time
D. it is possible for the old words to lose their old senses
45. By mentioning the tree throwing out new branches, the author hopes to _____.
A. stress the natural phenomena
B. picture the process of growth of new branches
C. explain what the analogy is
D. illustrate his view in a clearer way
46. We are often cheated by some words in that ______.
A. their dominant meanings have not been determined
B. sometimes they mean something different from their dominant meanings
C. our natural impulse makes a mistake
D. the dominant sense of a word is not accurate in our minds
47. In the author’s view, if someone taught us to say “awfully” for “very”, ______.
A. we were advised not to accept it
B. we were getting a new edge for a different purpose
C. we saw an example of a good word being misused
D. we saw a word serving for a different purpose
48. The main idea of the last paragraph is that ______.
A. we can do nothing about it unless we get into print
B. we should take responsibility to the language if necessary
C. our conversation has little effect on the situation because we haven’t got into print
D. a great mass of people will accept what the press prints so that we can encourage the good and resist the bad.
Passage Ten (Questions 49-53)
The standardized educational or psychological tests, which are widely used to aid in selecting, assigning or promoting students, employees and military personnel, have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress. The target is wrong, for, in attacking the tests, critics divert attention from the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users. The tests themselves are merely tools, with characteristics that can be measured with reasonable precision under specified condition. Whether the results will be valuable, meaningless, or even misleading depends partly on the tool itself but largely upon the user.
All informed predictions of future performance are based upon some knowledge of relevant past performance. How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. Anyone who keeps careful score knows that the information available is always incomplete and that the predictions are always subject to error.
Standardized tests should be considered in this context: they provide a quick, objective method of getting some kind of information about what a person has learned, the skills he has developed, or the kind of person he is. The information so obtained has, qualitatively, the same advantages and shortcomings as other kinds of information. Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation depends, therefore, upon the empirical evidence concerning comparative validity, and upon such factors as cost and availability.
In general, the tests work most effectively when the traits or qualities to be measured can be most precisely defined (for example, ability to do well in a particular course of training program) and least effectively when what is to be measured or predicted cannot be well defined, for example, personality or creativity. Properly used, they provide a rapid means of getting comparable information about many people. Sometimes they identify students whose high potential has not been previously recognized.
49. The passage is concerned with______.
A. the necessity of standardized tests
B. the validity of standardized tests
C. the methods used in interpreting the results of standardized tests
D. the theoretical grounds of standardized tests
50. The author’s attitude toward standardized tests is ______.
A. critical B. vague C. optimistic D. positive
51. The main idea of this passage is that ______.
A. standardized tests should no longer be used
B. results of standardized tests accurately reflect the abilities of the testee
C. the value of standardized tests lies in their proper interpretation
D. special methods must be applied to the results of standardized tests
52. The word “empirical” in the third paragraph most probably means _____.
A. theoretical B. critical
C. relying on observation and experiment D. indisputable
53. According to the passage, standardized tests work most effectively when ____.
A. the objectives are most clearly defined
B. the user knows how to interpret the results in advance
C. the persons who take them are intelligent or skillful
D. they measure the traits or qualities of the testee
Passage Eleven (Questions 54-58):
For years there have been endless articles stating that scientists are on the verge of achieving artificial intelligence, that it is just around the corner. The truth is that it may be just around the corner, but they haven’t yet found the right clock.
Artificial intelligence aims to build machines that can think. One immediate problem is to define thought, which is harder than you might think. The specialists in the field of artificial intelligence complain, with some justification, that anything that their machines do is dismissed as not being thought. For example, computers can now play very, very good chess. They can’t beat the greatest players in the world, but they can beat just about anybody else. If a human being played chess at this level, he or she would certainly be considered smart. Why not a machine? The answer is that the machine doesn’t do anything clever in playing chess. It uses its blinding speed to do a brute-force search of all possible moves for several moves ahead, evaluates the outcomes and picks the best. Humans don’t play chess that way. They see patterns, which computers don’t.
This wooden approach to thought characterizes machine intelligence. Computers have no judgment, no flexibility, no common sense. So-called expert systems, one of the hottest areas in artificial intelligence, aim to mimic the reasoning processes of human experts in a limited field, such as medical diagnosis or weather forecasting. There may be limited commercial applications for this sort of thing, but there is no way to make a machine think about anything under the sun, which a teenager can do.
The hallmark of artificial intelligence to date is that if a problem is severely restricted, a machine can achieve limited success. But when the problem is expanded to a realistic one, computers fall flat on their display screens. For example, machines can understand a few words spoken individually by a speaker that they have been trained to hear. They cannot understand continuous speech using an unlimited vocabulary spoken by just any speaker.
54. From this passage, we know that the author _______.
A. thinks that scientists are about to achieve artificial intelligence
B. doubts whether scientists can ever achieve artificial intelligence
C. does not think that scientists have found real artificial intelligence
D. is sure that scientists have achieved artificial intelligence
55. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the second paragraph? ______.
A. The writer thinks that the specialists’ complaints have some reasons.
B. Anything that the computer does can be regarded as thought.
C. It is not very difficult to define thought.
D. Computers play chess in exactly the same way as humans.
56. The advantage of the computer in playing chess lies in its _____.
A. cleverness in thinking out original moves
B. ability to pick up the best out of all possible moves very quickly
C. flexibility in choosing several different moves
D. ability to see patterns
57. The characteristics of machine intelligence is its ______.
A. correct judgment B. high flexibility
C. ability to think about anything D. rigid approach to thought
58. Which of the following statements about computers is TRUE according to this passage? ______.
A. Computers can beat any chess player in the world.
B. Computers can never be used to forecast weather.
C. Computers can be trained to understand some words spoken by a speaker.
D. Computers can be made to think as a teenager does.
Passage Twelve (Questions 59-63):
Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language; but few people are even moderately proficient in pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious. Some are perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they actually do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and consequently never set about tackling it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skill --- one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of good accent, tend to neglect, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some to the lesson time to this, and his whole attitude to the subject should get the student to feel that there is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.
Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.
It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be obtained form books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic theory. It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.
59. What does the writer actually say about pronouncing foreign languages?
A. Only a few people are really proficient.
B. No one is really an expert in the skill.
C. There aren’t many people who are even fairly good.
D. There are even some people who are moderately proficient.
60. The writer argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong ways is ______.
A. an obvious cause of not grasping the problem correctly
B. a fundamental consequence of not speaking well
C. a consequence of not grasping the problem correctly
D. not an obvious cause of speaking poorly
61. The best way of learning to speak a foreign language, he suggests, is by _____.
A. picking it up naturally as a child
B. learning from a native speaker
C. not concentrating on pronunciation much
D. undertaking systematic work
62. The value the student puts on correct speech habits depends upon _____.
A. how closely he attends to the matter
B. whether it is English that is being taught
C. his teacher’s approach to pronunciation
D. the importance normally given to grammar and spelling
63. How might the teacher find himself wasting lesson time? ____.
A. By spending lesson time on pronunciation.
B. By making ill-informed comments upon pronunciation.
C. By not using books on phonetics in the classroom.
D. By not giving students a clear mental picture of the difference between sounds.
Passage Thirteen (Questions 64-68):
Most of us are taught to pay attention to what is said --- the words. Words do provide us with some information, but meanings are derived from so many other sources that it would hinder our effectiveness as a partner to a relationship to rely too heavily on words alone. Words are used to describe only a small part of the many ideas we associate with any given message. Sometimes we can gain insight into some of those associations if we listen for more than words. We don’t always say what we mean or mean what we say. Sometimes our words don’t mean anything except “I’m letting off some steam. I don’t really want you to pay close attention to what I’m saying. Just pay attention to what I’m feeling.” Mostly we mean several things at once. A person wanting to purchase a house says to the current owner, “This step has to be fixed before I buy.” The owner says, “It’s been like that for years.” Actually, the step hasn’t been like that for years, but the unspoken message is: “I don’t want to fix it. We put up with it. Why can’t you?” The search for a more expansive view of meaning can be developed by examining a message in terms of who said it, when it occurred, the related conditions or situation, and how it was said.
When a message occurs can also reveal associated meaning. Let us assume two couples do exactly the same amount of kissing and arguing. But one couple always kisses after an argument and the other couple always argues after a kiss. The ordering of the behaviors may mean a great deal more than the frequency of the behavior. A friend’s unusually docile behavior may only be understood by noting that it was preceded by situations that required an abnormal amount of assertiveness. Some responses may be directly linked to a developing pattern of responses and defy logic. For example, a person who says “No!” to a series of charges like “You’re dumb,” “You’re lazy,” and “You’re dishonest,” may also say “No!” and try to justify his or her response if the next statement is “And you’re good looking”.
We would do well to listen for how messages are presented. The words, “It sure has been nice to have you over,” can be said with emphasis and excitement or ritualistically. The phrase can be said once or repeated several times. And the meanings we associate with the phrase will change accordingly. Sometimes if we say something infrequently it assumes more importance; sometimes the more we say something the less importance it assumes.
64. Effective communication is rendered possible between two conversing partners, if they ______.
A. use proper words to carry their ideas
B. both speak truly of their own feelings
C. try to understand each other’s ideas beyond words
D. are capable of associating meanings with their words
65. “I’m letting off some steam” in Paragraph 1 means ______.
A. I’m just calling your attention
B. I’m just kidding
C. I’m just saying the opposite
D. I’m just giving off some sound
66. The house-owner’s example shows that he actually means _____.
A. the step has been like that for years
B. he doesn’t think it is necessary to fix the step
C. the condition of the step is only a minor fault
D. the cost involved in the fixing should be shared
67. Some responses and behaviors may appear very illogical, but are justifiable if ______.
A. linked to an abnormal amount of assertiveness
B. seen as one’s habitual pattern of behavior
C. taken as part of an ordering sequence
D. expressed to a series of charges
68. The word “ritualistically” in the last paragraph equals something done _____.
A. without true intention B. light-heartedly
C. in a way of ceremony D. with less emphasis
IV.SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS: Answer the following question in 60 to 120 words. Write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.
1. Is Cantonese better than Shanghai Dialect?
2. How can a linguist make his work the scientific study of language?
3. What are the design features of language?
4. What is the distinction between competence and performance?
5. What are the branches of linguistics?
6. Why are speech and writing treated differently in linguistics?
7. What is the distinction among phone, phoneme, and allophone?
8. How are the English words classified?
9. What is IC Analysis? Can you name one of its advantages in analyzing the structure of sentences?
10. In second language learning, should grammar be taught in language classes?
V. ESSAY QUESTION. Develop the following topic into an essay of 150 to 220 words. Write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.
1. How should errors on the part of foreign language learners be treated?
2. What is an indirect speech act?
3. How can the English speech sounds be classified?
4. Exemplify what conversational implicatures are and how they arise.
5. What is a register？
答案
Ⅰ. In each question there are four choices. Decide which one would be the best answer to the question, or best completes the sentence.
1. A 2. A 3. C 4. D 5. D 6. B 7. C 8. D 9. C 10. C
11. A 12. D 13. C 14. D 15. A 16. B17. D18. C19. A20. B
21. A 22. B 23. C 24. C 25. D 26. D27. D28. C29. A30. D
31. C 32. B 33. C 34. B 35. D 36. B37. D38. B39. D 40. C
41. B 42. D 43. C 44. B 45. D 46. C47. B48. A49. C 50. D
51. C 52. C 53. D 54. B 55. C 56. A57. D58. B59. A60. D
61. B 62. C 63. D 64. C 65. B 66. D67. A68. D69. D70. D
71. B 72. A 73. C 74. D 75. C
Ⅱ. Match each of the following terms in Column A with one of the appropriate definitions in Column B.
Part One
1. I2. E3. B4. F5. A 6. G7. J8. D9. C10. H
Part Two
1. C2. I3. G4. D5. A 6. J7. B8. E9. F10. H
Part Three
1. I2. G3. C4. J5. H 6. A7. B8. E9. D10. F
Part Four
1. G2. F.3. D4. I5. H 6. J7. C8. E9. A10. B
Part Five
1. D2. I3. E4. G5. J 6. C7. H8. B9. A10. F
Ⅲ. READING COMPREHENSION. Read the following passages, choose the correct answer for each question and write the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET.
1. B 2. A 3. D 4. B 5. B 6. A 7. C 8. D 9. A 10. B
11. B12. C13. C14. D15. A 16. D17. A18. B19. D 20. B
21. B22. C23. D24. D25. A 26. D27. C28. A29. C 30. C
31. D32. D33. A34. D35. D 36. C37. B38. A39. B 40. C
41. C42. B43. D44. C45. D 46. B47. C48. D49. B 50. D
51. C52. C53. A54. B55. A 56. B57. D58. C59. C 60. C
61. D62. C63. B64. C65. D 66. B67. C68. C
IV. SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS: Answer the following question in 60 to 120 words. Write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.
1. The answer is no. ①As a social phenomenon, language is closely related to the structure of the society in which it is used, and the evaluation of a language or a variety of a language is entirely social. ②To the professional linguist, all language forms and accents are equally good, because they all fulfill the communicative function they are expected to fulfill and each of them has its own complex and delicate systems of grammatical rules and speech sounds. ③A certain variety of language appears to be superior to others maybe because the areas where that variety is spoken is economically or socially more influential, or because the variety is spoken by the class of people possessing higher social, political, and/or economical status.
2. In order to make his analysis scientific, a linguist is usually guided by four principles: exhaustiveness, consistency, economy and objectivity. Exhaustiveness means he should gather all the materials relevant to the study and give them an adequate explanation, in spite of the complicatedness. He is to leave no linguistic “stone” unturned. Consistency means there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total statement. Economy means a linguist should pursue brevity in the analysis when it is possible. Objectivity implies that since some people may be subjective in the study, a linguist should be (or sound at least) objective, faithful to reality.
3. The features that define human languages as against animal communication are generally called design features. The following are the frequently discussed ones. ①Arbitrariness, ② duality, ③ creativity, ④ displacement. (详见课件第一章1.2)
4. This fundamental distinction is made by Chomsky in his Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. According to him, competence is an ideal language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules of his language, and performance refers to the actual use of this knowledge in utterances that is produced in concrete situations. Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match or equal his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguistics ought to study competence, rather than performance. In other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows about his native language.
5. The study of language itself as a whole is called general linguistics or microlinguistics. The branches of general linguistics study different aspects of language itself. They are phonetics, phonology, morphology, (lexicon), syntax and semantics. The studies of language in relation to other disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, etc belong to macrolinguistics. Branches of Macrolinguistics include psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, computational linguistics, anthropological linguistics, applied linguistics, and so on. (可以有选择地说几个分枝，但要掌握各自定义)
6．While speech is the vocal/spoken form of language, writing is the written form of language. They belong to different systems though they may overlap. That speech is primary over writing is a general principle of linguistic analysis. First, speech existed long before writing systems came into being. Second, written forms just represent in this way or that the speech sounds. Third, genetically children learn to speak before learning to write.Everything considered, speech is believed to more representative of human language than writing. Most modern linguistic analysis is thus focused on speech, different from traditional grammar of the 19th century and therebefore.
7．Phone is a term used in phonetics to refer to the smallest perceptible discrete segment of sound in a stream of speech. Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning. A phoneme is the minimal unit in the sound system of a language, according to traditional phonological theories; it is a unit that is of distinctive value. A phoneme is an abstract unit. It is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. The phones that can represent a phoneme are called its allophones. For example, and are the allophones of the same phoneme /p/.
8. 详见课本。
9. Immediate constituents refer to the constituents immediately, directly, below the level of a construction. Immediate constituent analysis, often shortened as IC Analysis, is an approach to the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents --- word groups (or phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own, and the process goes on until the smallest grammatical units in a construction, called ultimate constituents, are obtained through binary cuttings. One of the advantages of IC analysis lies in that it can clearly demonstrate the internal structure of a sentence so that structural ambiguities, if any, will be revealed. For example, employing IC analysis, we can clearly see that the phrase “more expensive clothes” is ambiguous in that it can be analyzed as (more (expensive clothes)) or as ((more expensive) clothes).
10. Whether and how to include grammar in second language instruction is one of the major controversial questions raised by second language acquisition researchers. At the present time it is generally agreed that grammar has its due value in language learning. The problem is we do not know enough about grammar, or even we do not agree on what grammar is. One possible reasons why grammar-based language learning and teaching fails are that no reliable model of grammar is available, and that still no precise information is obtained concerning how grammar can be learned. In a word, the importance of linguistic study of grammar is self-evident. What we need is a better description of grammar.
V. ESSAY QUESTION. Develop the following topic into an essay of 150 to 220 words. Write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET. V. ESSAY QUESTION. Develop the following topic into an essay of 150 to 220 words. Write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET
1. ①When a second language learner uses a linguistic item in a way which fluent or native speakers of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning, he is considered to have made an error. Usually, error is used as a cover term referring generally to the learner’s misuse of the target language, may it be grammatical or pragmatic, conscious or unconscious. ②The structuralist linguists follow the behavioristic view that to learn is to change old habits and build new habits. In their opinion errors occur when the learner fails to respond correctly to a particular stimulus in the second language. Since an error may serve as a negative stimulus which reinforces “bad habits”, it should not be allowed to occur. ③The post-structuralists regard errors as evidence of the learning process. By making hypothesis about the target language, the learner arrives at a particular interlanguage. Then he modifies his hypothesis and goes towards the target language. ④ Obviously, errors can be found at the stage of interlanguage. As stated by Corder (1967), errors are significant in the process of language teaching and learning.
2. According to the speech act theory, each utterance is produced with a certain illocutionary force, and at the same time, a speech act is performed in the name of that illocutionary force. For example, in producing “Get out of the room!”, the speaker performs a speech act of ordering. An indirect speech act is a speech act performed indirectly, that is through performing another kind of speech act. For example, people often indirectly perform the speech act of requesting through performing the speech act of questioning, as the mother does in the following conversation:
Mother: Tommy, can you pass me the salt?
Tom: Here you are.
Mother: Thanks, honey.
Obviously, the mother here is not asking Tom whether he has the ability to pass her the salt; instead, she is making an indirect speech act, i.e. a request.
Indirect speech acts are often felt to be more polite ways of performing certain kinds of speech act, such as requests and refusals.
4． According to Grice, when we speak we generally have something like the Cooperative Principle and its maxims in our mind to guide us, though sub-consciously, or even unconsciously. We will try to say things which are true, relevant, as well as informative enough, and in a clear manner. Hearers will also try to interpret what is said to them in this way. The CP and its maxims not always strictly observed. In blatant, apparent violations, the speaker deliberately violates some maxims and makes it clear to his hearers, yet at a deeper level the CP and its maxims are still thought, by both the speaker and his hearers, to be upheld.
When blatant, apparent violations of some maxims take place, what Grice terms “conversational implicatures” will arise. The following conversation illustrates the violation of the maxim of relation:
A: The hostess is an awful bore. Don’t you think so?
B: The roses in the garden are beautiful, aren’t they?
B’s response is obviously not relevant to A’s question. The conversational implicature of B’s utterance is something like “I don’t want to talk about her” or “It is not proper to talk about her here and now.”
5. There exist types or varieties of the same one language, and they are assumed to be related both to the language user and to the use to which language is put. Varieties that are related to use are known as Registers. (According to Halliday, “Language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations.” The type of language which is selected as appropriate to a type of situation is a register.) Halliday distinguishes three social variables that determine the register: field of discourse, tenor of discourse, and mode of discourse.
Field of discourse refers to what is going on: to the area of operation of the language activity. It is concerned with the purpose and subject-matter of communication. Tenor of discourse refers to the role of relationship in the situation in question: who the participants in the communication group are and in what relationship they stand to each other. Mode of discourse mainly refers to the means of communication. It is concerned with “how” communication is carried out. Fundamental to the mode of discourse is the distinction between speaking and wring.
The three variables are the features of the context of situation which determine the features of language appropriate to the situation, i.e. register. And they determine the register collectively, not piecemeal.
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