考研英語真題閱讀理解試題及名師解析(26)

Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Why We Should, Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English。

Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education. Mr. McWhorter’s academic specialty is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of “whom”， for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English。

But the cult of the authentic and the personal, “doing our own thing”， has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft。

Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper。

Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one。

36. According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English

[A] is inevitable in radical education reforms。

[B] is but all too natural in language development。

[C] has caused the controversy over the counter-culture。

[D] brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s。

37. The word “talking” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) denotes

[A] modesty. [B]personality.  [C]liveliness.  [D]informality。

38. To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree?

[A] Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk。

[B] Black English can be more expressive than standard English。

[C] Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining。

[D] Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas。

39. The deion of Russians’ love of memorizing poetry shows the author’s

[A] interest in their language.      [B] appreciation of their efforts。

[C] admiration for their memory.   [D]contempt for their old-fashionedness。

40. According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” as

[A] “temporary” is to “permanent”。

[B] “radical ”is to “conservative”。

[C] “functional ” is to “artistic”。

[D] “humble” is to “noble”。

名師解析

36. According to Mc Whorter, the decline of formal English

根據(jù)麥克沃特所言， 正式英語的衰退

[A] is inevitable in radical education reforms.  在激進的教育改革中是不可避免的。

[B] is but all too natural in language development.  在語言的發(fā)展中實屬自然。

[C] has caused the controversy over the counter-culture.  造成了對反文化潮流的爭議。

[D] brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s.  帶來了20世紀60年代公眾態(tài)度的變化。

【答案】 B

【考點】 事實細節(jié)題。

【分析】 第二段的第二句中作者提到麥克沃特，諸如“he sees gradual disappearance of ‘whom’, for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English，”就是要求考生能夠理解出正式英語在語言發(fā)展中衰退的自然性。選項[A]中提到的激進的教育在文章的最后一段中可以找到“Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful�！边@句話具有很強的干擾，主要是因為一些考生喜歡直接閱讀，而不是先看題目，看到后面反而重點不夠突出，似是而非。出題人常用的一個方法就是將一些文章中出現(xiàn)但是實際上沒有必然聯(lián)系的內容揉雜在一起，起到很大的干擾。其實文章中根本沒有提到二者有什么關系，只是順帶說他沒有提議用激進的教育來改變正式英語衰退的趨勢。選項[C]說對反文化有爭議，從文中可以看出，將正式英語的衰退歸咎于反文化并不會引起什么爭議，沒有人會認為反文化使得正式英語得到了發(fā)展。選項[D]說正式英語的衰退導致公眾態(tài)度的變化，這樣的說法屬于典型的因果倒置。出題人意圖利用考生臨場考試時不穩(wěn)定的心理狀態(tài)來干擾考生，看其能否正確理解文章的大意。如果考生不能夠養(yǎng)成良好的考試習慣，往往會花費很多額外的時間，因為很多時候，我們只需要知道正確答案是什么，而無需知道也沒有時間來分析其他選項錯在哪里。

37. The word“talking”(Line 6, Paragraph3) denotes  “talking”(第三段第六行)一詞表示

[A] modesty. 謙虛。           [B] personality. 個性。 

[C] liveliness. 活潑。             [D] informality. 非正式。

【答案】 D

【考點】 語義題。

【分析】 考生必須利用上下文推測單詞意思，在原文中首先找到這句話，然后仔細研讀，最后才能夠體會出這個單詞的意思。第三段首先提到“做我們自己的事情”的結果是規(guī)范的演講、作品、詩歌和音樂的死亡。然后提到在20世紀60年代以前那些受過一般教育的人在寫作時都用比較高雅的語氣，最后又說那些被認為是最重要的作品都試圖表現(xiàn)出口語的特色，“talking”戰(zhàn)勝了演講，即興戰(zhàn)勝了技巧。而口語化的特點就是非正式。

38. To which of the following statements would Mc Whorter most likely agree?

下列哪一種說法麥克沃特最有可能會同意？

[A] Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk。

邏輯思維并不必然與我們說話的方式相關。

[B] Black English can be more expressive than standard English。

黑人所使用的英語可能比正式英語更有表現(xiàn)力。

[C] Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining。

人類的各種各樣非標準的語言一樣有趣。

[D] Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas。

在英語的各種變體中，標準英語最能表達復雜的思想。

【答案】 A

【考點】 推斷題。

【分析】 在第四段第四句話中，我們可以看到，麥克沃特認為所有人類語言，包括黑人的非標準英語，都具有很強的表現(xiàn)力。[B]選項中提到黑人使用的英語，但是說這種英語比正式英語更具有表現(xiàn)力是顯然夸大了范圍。[D]選項認為正式英語最能夠表達復雜的思想，也犯了同樣的錯誤。緊接著作者提到麥克沃特不認為因為我們不能很好地說話我們就不能正確地進行思考。這句話正好應了[A]選項，即正確的邏輯思維不一定與我們說話的方式有關。因此選項[A]是正確的。[C]的說法與原文完全不符合。

39. The deion of Russians’ love of memorizing poetry shows the author’s

就俄羅斯人喜歡記憶詩歌的描述顯示出作者

[A] interest in their language.  對他們的語言感興趣。

[B] appreciation of their efforts.  欣賞他們的努力。

[C] admiration for their memory.  對他們記憶力的仰慕。

[D] contempt for their old-fashionedness.