Every group has a culture, however uncivilized it may seem to us. To the professional anthropologist, there is no intrinsic supe

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问题     Every group has a culture, however uncivilized it may seem to us. To the professional anthropologist, there is no intrinsic superiority of one culture over another, just as to the professional linguist, there is no intrinsic hierarchy among languages.
    People once thought of the languages of backward groups as undeveloped. While it is possible that language in general began as a series of grunts and groans, it is a fact established by the study of "backward" languages that no spoken tongue answers that description today. Most languages of uncivilized groups are, by our most severe standards, extremely complex. They differ from Western languages not in their sound patterns or grammatical structures, which usually are fully adequate for all language needs, but only in their vocabularies, which reflect the objects and activities known to their speakers. Even in this aspect, two things are to be noted. First, all languages seem to possess the machinery for vocabulary expansion, either by putting together words already in existence or by borrowing them from other languages and adapting them to their own system. Second, the objects and activities requiring names and distinctions in "backward" languages, while different from the West, are often surprisingly numerous and complicated. A Western language distinguishes merely between two degrees of remoteness ("this" and "that"). But some languages of the American Indians distinguish between what is close to the speaker, or to the person addressed, or removed from both, or out of sight, or in the past, or in the future.
Which of the following statements is implied in the passage?

选项 A、Anthropologists have nothing to do with linguists.
B、Linguists have nothing to do with anthropologists.
C、The study of languages casts light upon the study of cultures.
D、The study of cultures casts no light upon the study of languages.

答案C

解析 第一段第二句To the professional anthropologist, there is no intrinsic superiority of one culture over another, just as to the professional linguist, there is no intrinsic hierarchy among languages.(专业的人类学家认为,各文化之间没有固有的高低之分,这正如语言学家所认为的语言没有固有的等级之分是一样的)。根据这句话的逻辑关系我们可以推断出,作者对语言关系的阐述的目的是说明不同文化之间的关系。cast light on sth.“使某事物清楚些”。
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