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  3. Few disciplines axe so strongly associated with a single figure: Einstein in physics and Freud in psychology, perhaps. But Noam

Few disciplines axe so strongly associated with a single figure: Einstein in physics and Freud in psychology, perhaps. But Noam

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问题    Few disciplines axe so strongly associated with a single figure: Einstein in physics and Freud in psychology, perhaps. But Noam Chomsky is the man who revolutionised linguistics. Over the past 60 years, Mr. Chomsky has repeatedly stripped down his theory. He has focused ever more narrowly on the features of language that he reckons are unique to humans. All this has led to a remarkable little book, which claims to explain the evolution of human language.
   Other biologists, linguists and psychologists have probed the same question and have reached little consensus. 【F1】But there is even less consensus around the world’s most eminent linguist’s idea: that a single genetic mutation created an ability called "Merge", in a single human whom Mr. Chomsky has called "Prometheus". That mutation was so advantageous that it survived and thrived, producing today’s 7,000 languages. But the vast differences among the world’s languages, Mr. Chomsky argues, are mere differences in "externalisation". The key is Merge.
   But what is it? 【F2】Merge simply says that two mental objects can be merged into a bigger one, and mental operations can be performed on that as if it were a single one. 【F3】The can be merged with cat to give a noun phrase, which other grammar rules can operate on as if it were a bare noun like water. So can the and hat. Once there, you can further merge, making the cat in the hat. And so on.
   Why would this be of any use? Whom did Prometheus talk to? Nobody, at least not using Merge. But Merge-enabled language, according to Mr. Chomsky, did not evolve for talking at all. Rather, it let Prometheus take simple concepts and combine them in sentence-like ways in his own head. The resulting complex thoughts gave him a survival advantage. Only later, as Merge came to work with the vocal and hearing organs, did human language emerge.
   Many scholars find this to be somewhere between insufficient, improbable and absurd. The emergence of a single mutation that gives such a big advantage is belittled by biologists as a "hopeful monster" theory; most evolution is gradual, operating on many genes, not one. 【F4】Some ability like Merge may exist, but this does not explain why some words may merge and others don’t, much less why the world’s languages merge so differently.
   Mr. Chomsky is unlikely to end up like Freud, whose lasting influence has been on the humanities. 【F5】His career is more likely to end up like Einstein’s—at least in the sense that his best and most influential work came early on.
【F3】
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答案“The”与“cat”可以合并组成一个名词短语，其他语法规则对其发挥作用时，可将其视作类似“water”这样的光杆名词。
解析 ①本句为复合句，包含一个定语从句和一个方式状语从句。主句中的不定式短语to give a noun phrase为结果状语，说明“The”与“cat”合并可得到的结果。②which引导非限定性定语从句修饰先行词a noun phrase：该定语从句还包含as if引导的、使用了虚拟语气的方式状语从句，意为“犹如……”，句末的like water是对a bare noun的举例说明。
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