题目内容

Linguists have found that sign languages and spoken languages share many features. Like spoken languages, which use units of sounds to produce words, sign languages use units of form. These units are composed of four basic hand forms: hand shape, such as an open hand or closed fist; hand location, such as on the middle of the forehead or in front of the chest; hand movement, such as upward or downward; and hand orientation, such as the palm facing up or out. In spoken languages units of sound combine to make meaning. Separately, b, e, and t have no meaning. However, together they form the word bet. Sign languages contain units of form that by themselves hold no meaning, but when combined create a word. Spoken languages and sign languages differ in the way these units combine to make words, however. In spoken languages units of sound and meaning are combined sequentially. In sign languages, units of form and meaning are typically combined simultaneously. In American Sign Language (ASL) signs follow a certain order, just as words do in spoken English. However, in ASL one sign can express meaning that would necessitate the use of several words in speech. For example, the words in the statement "I stared at it for a long time" each contain a unit of meaning. In ASL, this same sentence would be expressed as a single sign. The signer forms "look at" by making a V under the eyes with the first and middle fingers of the right hand. The hand moves out toward the object being looked at, repeatedly tracing an oval to indicate "over a long time". To express the adverb "intently" the signer squints the eyes and purses the lips. (To purse the lips is like saying mmmm: pull back and tighten the lips with the lips closed.) Although the English words used to describe the ASL signs are written out in order, in sign language a person forms the signs "look at", "long time", and "intently" at the same time. ASL has a rich system for modifying the meaning of signs. Verbs such as "look at" can be changed to indicate that the activity takes place without interruption, repeatedly, or over a long time. The adjective "sick", for example, is formed by placing the right middle finger on the forehead and the left middle finger on the stomach. By forming the sign "sick" and repeatedly moving the left hand in a circle, the signer can indicate that someone is characteristically or always sick. Facial grammar, such as raised eyebrows, also can modify meaning. For example, a signer can make the statement "lie is smart" by forming the ASL sign for "smart" --placing the middle finger at the forehead -- and then quickly pointing it outward as if toward another person to indicate "he". To pose the question "Is he smart" the signer accompanies this sign with raised eyebrows and a slightly tilted head. People who sign sometimes use finger spelling to represent letters of the alphabet. In some sign languages, including ASL, finger spelling serves as a way to borrow words from spoken language. A deaf person might, for example, choose to fingerspell "d-o-g" for "dog" instead of using a sign. Several types of finger spelling systems exist. Linguists still have much to learn about the world’s sign languages. What has become clear is that hundreds, if not thousands, of sign languages exist around the world. What is the main idea of the passage

A. The difference between spoken language and sign language.
B. A new way to communicate.
C. Sign language.
D. Language and cultur

查看答案
更多问题

Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview with a chief-editor. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following questions. Now listen to the interview. Why are there so many women among Cultural Creatives, according to Ray

A. Because they are not burdened so much as men.
Because they are more sensitive and feel more.
C. Because they will push for change and for a better world because of their husbands.
D. Because they have more intelligence and skills.

I am ashamed m begin with saying that Touraine is the garden of France; that remark has long ago lost its bloom. The town of Tours, however, has something sweet and bright, which suggests that it is surrounded by a land of fruits. It is a very agreeable little city; few towns of its size are more ripe, mom complete, or, I should suppose, in better humor with themselves and less disposed to envy the responsibilities of bigger places. It is truly the capital of its smiling province; a region of easy abundance, of good living, of genial, comfortable, optimistic, rather indolent opinions. Balzac says in one of his tales that the real Tourangeau will not make an effort, or displace himself even, to go in search of a pleasure; and it is not difficult to understand the sources of this amiable cynicism. He must have a vague conviction that he can only lose by almost any change. Fortune has been kind to him: he ryes in a temperate, reasonable, sociable climate, on the banks, of a river which, it is true, sometimes floods the country around it, but of which the ravages appear to be so easily repaired that its aggressions may perhaps be regarded (in a region where so many good things are certain) merely as an occasion for healthy suspense. He is surrounded by fine old traditions, religious, social, architectural, culinary; and he may have the satisfaction of feeling that he is French to the core. No part of his admirable country is more characteristically national. Normandy is Normandy, Burgundy is Burgundy, Provence is Provence; but Touraine is essentially France. It is the land of Rabelais, of Descartes, of Balzac, of good books and good company, as well as good dinners and good houses. George Sand has somewhere a charming passage about the mildness, the convenient quality, of the physical conditions of central France, "son climat souple et chaud, ses pluies abondantes et courtes." In the autumn of 1882 the rains perhaps were less short than abundant; but when the days were fine it was impossible that anything in the way of weather could be more charming. The vineyards and orchards looked rich in the fresh, gay light; cultivation was everywhere, but everywhere it seemed to be easy. There was no visible poverty; thrift and success presented themselves as matters of good taste. The white caps of the women glittered in the sunshire, and their well-made sabots clicked cheerfully on the hard, clean roads. Touraine is a land of old chateaux, a gallery of architectural specimens and of large hereditary properties. The peasantry have less of the luxury of ownership than in most other parts of France; though they have enough of it to give them quite their share of that shrewdly conservative look which, in the little, chaffering, place of the market-town, the stranger observes so often in the wrinkled brown masks that surmount the agricultural blouse. This is, moreover, the heart of the old French monarchy; and as that monarchy was splendid and picturesque, a reflection of the splendor still glitters in the current of the Loire. Some of the most striking events of French history have occurred on the banks of that river, and the soil it waters bloomed for a while with the flowering of the Renaissance. The Loire gives a great "style" to a landscape of which the features are not, as the phrase is, prominent, and carries the eye to distances even more poetic than the green horizons of Toaraine. It is a very fitful stream, and is sometimes observed to run thin and expose all the crudities of its channel, a great defect certainly in a river which is so much depended upon to give an air to the places it waters. But I speak of it as I saw it last; full, tranquil, powerful, bending in large slow curves, and sending back half the light of the sky. Nothing can be finer than the view of its course which you get from the battlements and terraces of Amboise. As I looked down on it from that elevation one lovely Sunday morning, through a mild ’glitter of autumn sunshine, it seemed the very model of a generous, beneficent stream. The most charming part of Tours is naturally the shaded quay that overlooks it, and looks across too at the friendly faubourg of Saint Symphorien and at the terraced heights which rise above this. Indeed, throughout Touraine, it is half the charm of the Loire that you can travel beside it. The great dike which protects it, or, protects the country from it, from Blois to Angers, is an admirable road; and on the other side, as well, the highway constantly keeps it company. A wide river, as you follow a wide road, is excellent company; it heightens and shortens the way. As the author sees it, ______.

A. the Loire is a wide river which follows a wide road
B. that you can travel beside the Loire reduces the charm of it
C. people here hate to see the Loire exposing all the crudities of its channel
D. the Loire is always full, tranquil, and powerful

Question 8 is based on the following news item. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news.

A. the Doha round can’t be finished by 2006
B. strong political will is necessary
C. nations can continue the negotiation even if there were no consensus among them
December’s conference to be held in Doha next year is important

很多生产事故发生后,由于施救不当或者盲目施救,造成了更大的伤亡损失。请根据给定材料,概述施救不当、盲目施救造成伤亡扩大的原因。 [要求] 紧扣给定资料,全面,有条理,不必写成文章,不超过300字。

答案查题题库