2018年6月英语四级美文：Is There a Backward Language

2018-06-12 17:06:31来源：网络

　　2018年6月英语四级美文100篇汇总

　　英语四级美文：Is There a Backward Language

　　1.Is There a Backward Language

　　2.Culture is the sum total of all the traditions, customs, beliefs,

　　3.and ways of life of a given group of human beings.

　　4.In this sense, every group has a culture,

　　5.however savage, underdeveloped, or uncivilized it may seem to us.

　　6.To the professional anthropologist,

　　7.there is no intrinsic superiority of one culture over another,

　　8.just as to the professional linguist

　　9.there is no intrinsic rank among languages.

　　10.People once thought of the languages of backward groups as savage,

　　11.underdeveloped forms of speech,

　　12.consisting largely of grunts and groans.

　　13.While it is possible that language in general began

　　14.as a series of grunts and groans,

　　15.it is a fact established,

　　16.by the study of “backward” languages

　　17.that no spoken tongue answers that description today.

　　18.Most languages of uncivilized groups are,

　　19.by our most severe standards, extremely complex, delicate,

　　20.and ingenious pieces of machinery for the transfer of ideas.

　　21.They fall behind our Western languages not in their sound patterns

　　22.or grammatical structures,

　　23.which usually are fully adequate for all language needs,

　　24.but only in their vocabularies,

　　25.which reflect the objects and activities known to their speakers.

　　26.Even in this department,

　　27.however, two things are to be noted:

　　28.1. All languages seem to possess the machinery for vocabulary expansion

　　29.either by putting together words already in existence

　　30.or by borrowing them from other languages and adapting them to their own system.

　　31.2. The objects and activities requiring names

　　32.and distinctions in “backward” languages,

　　33.while different from ours, are often surprisingly numerous and complicated.

　　34.A Western language is distinguishes merely between two degrees of remoteness

　　35.(“this” and “that”);

　　36.some languages of the American Indians distinguish between what is close to the speaker,

　　37.or to the person addressed, or removed from both,

　　38.or out of sight, or in the past, or in the future.

　　39.This study of language, in turn,

　　40.casts a new light upon the claim of the anthropologists

　　41.that all cultures are to be viewed independently,

　　42.and without ideas of rank.

　　2018年6月英语四级美文100篇汇总

英语四级必备工具：测测你的词汇量能过四级吗

英语四级考前冲刺资料下载

英语四级全真模拟试卷

英语四级大纲词汇免费下载

新东方英语四级好课免费听↓↓↓

课程名称	课程亮点	试听
【小班课】英语四六级零基础无忧计划	1V1私教	免费试听
【零基础】四六级全科专项突破	零基础速升	免费试听
【公开课】听力/阅读/写作/翻译提升	名师小课	免费试听
【经典】英语四六级全程班	超高性价比	免费试听
了解更多四六级课程