2. 外语
  3. Culture is the total sum of all the traditions, customs, beliefs, and ways of life of a given group of human beings. In this sen

Culture is the total sum of all the traditions, customs, beliefs, and ways of life of a given group of human beings. In this sen

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问题     Culture is the total sum of all the traditions, customs, beliefs, and ways of life of a given group of human beings. In this sense, every group has a culture, however savage, undeveloped, or uncivilized it may seem to us.
    To the professional anthropologist(人类学者), there is no intrinsic (本质的) superiority of one culture over another, just as to the professional linguist there is no intrinsic rank among languages.
    People once thought of the languages of backward groups as savage, undeveloped forms of speech, consisting largely of grunts and groans. 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, delicate, and ingenious pieces of machinery for the transfer of ideas. They fall behind our 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 reflects the objects and activities known to their speakers. Even in this department, however, two things are to be noted: 1.  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. 2.  The objects and activities requiring names and distinctions in "backward" languages, while different from ours, are often  surprisingly numerous and complicated. A Western language distinguishes merely between two degrees of remoteness (" this" and "that" ); some languages or the American Indians distinguish between what is close to the speaker, or to the person addressed, or remote from both, or out of sight, or in the past, or in the future.
    This study of language, in turn, casts a new light upon the claim of the anthropologists: all cultures are to be viewed independently, and without ideas of rank or hierarchy.
Which of the following is implied in the passage?
选项 A、The study of languages has shaken people’s belief in anthropological studies.
B、The study of languages has reinforced anthropologists in their view that there is no hierarchy among cultures.
C、The study of languages is the same as the study of anthropology.
D、The study of languages relieves the pressure upon the claim of anthropologists.
答案B
解析 推论题。文章最后暗示总结了什么?根据文章的逻辑流向：观点——演绎为例子——再次确认观点。文章最后的一段也清楚表明：语言没有贵贱的研究反过来也阐明了人类学家的观点，所有的文化应该独立看待，没有层次和贵贱之分。所以选项B为正确答案。A选项完全和文章观点相反；选项C说语言的研究和文化的研究完全一致，太泛、太绝对，文中没有陈述；选项 D完全错误理解“cast a new light on/upon”(阐明)的意思了。
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