Considered from the point of view of vocabulary, there are few, if any, "pure

游客2024-07-05  10

问题    Considered from the point of view of vocabulary, there are few, if any, "pure" languages. Historically, English has been well -known as a word borrower, but it is equally true that every Western European language has supplemented(增补) its lexicon by adoptions from other languages. In this respect then, English was like the other immigrant languages brought to the New World, and in a broader sense, like every other language that has ever existed. Loan words occur even in the languages of aboriginal peoples. Even Indo- European, the hypothetical(假设的) parent of most of the languages found in Europe today and many of those in western Asia, appears to have borrowed words some 4000 years ago from Finno-Ugric, and to have furnished others in return. In the same manner, American Indian languages soon picked up European words like kabay for "horse," and the international European vocabulary soon had words like canoe, tobacco, and hammock from the Indians.
   One great impetus toward word borrowing arises from the necessity of talking about new things, qualities, operations, concepts, and ideas. Inevitably the movement of a people to a markedly different environment not only creates a problem of communication but makes it an urgent requirement. Almost as soon as he struck land, Columbus "seized by force several Indians on the first island in order that they might learn from us, and in like manner tell us about those things in these lands of which they themselves had knowledge; and the plan succeeded, for in a short time we understood them and they did us, sometimes by gesture and signs, sometimes by words; and it was a great advantage to us." None of the early reporters tell us, however, the answer to the most interesting question for language historians: What were those words (and gestures), and how did the interlocutors(对话者) put them together?

选项 A、English has been well -known as a word borrower.
B、Ina broader sense, there are no pure languages.
C、Every Western European language has adopted words from other languages
D、There is no language that doesn’t have borrowed words.

答案 D

解析  主旨判断题。第一段首句为topic sentence,其后都是讲叙不同语言相互借用词汇的事例。B)作为主题句失之偏颇。
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