passage4
注解：标题为红色，翻译为蓝色，分析为绿色。
Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of language and Music and Why We Should Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.
Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education. Mr. McWhorter’s academic specialty is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of “whom”, for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.
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But the cult狂热崇拜 of the authentic and the personal, “doing our own thing”, has spelt导致 the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought(seek过去式) an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity自发性 over craft精心制作的工艺品.
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1.spell我们知道有”拼写“的意思，但是这里的属于熟词辟意，表示“导致”。spell v. (过去式和过去分词分别是 spelt, spelt) 导致=induce=prompt
2.genre 体裁，类型 gene基因 区别记忆：带r人的，就是人写的文章的体裁和类型。不带人的，就是生物都会有的基因。
3.spontaneity自发性 over craft精心制作的工艺品. ，就是自发靠感觉随意创作的作品超过了精心制作的工艺品。
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Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr .McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.
一、文章结构分析
本文是一篇关于语言演化的议论文。
文章首段指出了当今语言变化的趋势——美国人不再指望公众人物能有技巧和天分地使用英语这门语言。并且提出英语越说越俗的现象，并且特别在第五段提出，正式英语不是绝对的必要，因为非正式英语仅仅是语言美感的丧失而不是语言功能的丧失，并且还饱含更丰富的表达情感。
第二、三段分析这一现象产生的原因，
第四、五段属于总结性段落，在分析了原因之后，作者指出，其实无论什么语言都有很强的表现能力，而语言这种变化的趋势仅仅是语言美感的丧失而不是语言功能的丧失。
36. According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English ________.
[A] is inevitable in radical education reforms
[B] is but all too natural in language development
[C] has caused the controversy over the counter-culture
[D] brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s
36．根据麦荷特的观点，正式英语的退化_________。
[A] 在彻底的教育改革中不可避免
[B] 只不过是语言发展过程中的自然现象
[C] 引起了对反文化潮流的争议
[D] 导致 20 世纪 60 年代公众态度的变化
37. The word “talking” (Line 6, Paragraph 3) denotes ________.
[A] modesty
[B] personality
[C] liveliness
[D] informality
37．第三段第六行的单词 talking 表示的是_______。
[A] 谦逊
[B] 个性
[C] 生动
[D] 非正式
38. To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree?
[A] Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.
[B] Black English can be more expressive than standard English.
[C] Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.
[D] Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas.
38．麦荷特最有可能赞同下面哪个论述?
[A] 逻辑思维并不一定和我们说话的方式相关。
[B] 黑人英语比标准英语更具有表达力。
[C] 非标准类型的人类语言只是娱乐性的。
[D] 在所有语言类型中，标准英语最能表达复杂的思想。
39. The description of Russians’ love of memorizing poetry shows the author’s ________.
[A] interest in their language
[B] appreciation of their efforts
[C] admiration for their memory
[D] contempt for their old-fashionedness
39．有关俄罗斯人背诵诗歌爱好的描述表现出作者__________。
[A] 对他们语言的兴趣
[B] 对他们所做努力的欣赏
[C] 对他们记忆力的羡慕
[D] 对他们这种过时风尚的轻视
40. According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” as ________.
[A] “temporary” is to “permanent”
[B] “radical” is to “conservative”
[C] “functional” is to “artistic”
[D] “humble” is to “noble”
40．根据最后一段，“纸盘子”和“瓷盘子”之间的比较是________。
[A] “暂时的”比“永恒的”
[B] “激进的”比“保守的”
[C] “实用的”比“艺术的”
[D] “卑微的”比“高贵的”
二、核心词汇与超纲词汇
1. aspire to/ after 渴望，追求，有志于
2. degradation n. 恶化，退化
3. controversialist n. 善辩者，好辩者
4. permissive a. 许可的，自由的，纵容的
5. conservative a. 保守的
6.counter-culture 反正统文化
7. cult n. 狂热的崇拜，膜拜；时尚
8. spell v. (过去式和过去分词分别是 spelt, spelt) 导致
9. elevated a. 高雅的，高尚的
10. genre n. (文学艺术等的)类型，流派
11. spontaneity n. 自发性，自发行为
12. an array of 一排，一群，一批
13. illustrate v. 举例说明
14. chunk n. 大块，相当大的数量
15. elaborate v. 详细制定(某事物)
16. grieve over 对……感到非常后悔，懊悔
三、阅读答案：B D A B C
四、全文翻译：
美国人不再期待公众人物在演讲或写作中能运用技巧和文采来驾驭英语，而公众人物自己也不渴望这样。语言学家麦荷特喜好争论，他的观点混杂着自由派与保守派的看法。在他最近的书《做我们自己的事：语言和音乐的退化，以及为什么我们应该喜欢或在意？》中，这位学者认为 60 年代反文化运动的胜利要对正式英语的退化负责。
责备放纵的六十年代不是什么新鲜事，但这次算不上是对教育衰落的又一场批判。麦荷特先生的学术专长在于语言史和语言演变。举例来说，他认为“whom”一词的逐渐消失是自然的，并不比古英语中词格的消失更让人惋惜。
然而，“做自己的事”这一对事物真实性和个人性的崇尚信条，已经导致了正式演讲、写作、诗歌及音乐的消亡。在 20 世纪 60 年代以前，仅受过一般教育的人在下笔时都会寻求一种更高雅的腔调；而那之后，即使是最受关注的文章也想带上口语风格。同样的，对于诗歌来说，非常个性化的和富有表现力的创作风格成为了能够表达真实生动含义的唯一形式。无论作为口语还是书面语言的英语，随意言谈胜过了雅致的言辞，自我发挥也压过了精心准备。
麦荷特先生从上层和下层中列举了一系列有趣的例子，从而说明他所记录的这种趋势是确凿无误的。但就书中副标题中的疑问：为什么我们应该喜欢或在意，答案却不够明确。作为语言学家，麦荷1特认为各种各样的人类语言，包括像黑人英语这样的非标准语言，都具有强大的表达力——世上没有传达不了复杂思想的语言或方言。不像其他大多数人，麦荷特先生并不认为我们说话方式不再规范就会使我们不能够准确地思考。
俄罗斯人深爱自己的语言，并在脑海中存储了大量诗歌；而意大利的政客们则往往精心准备演讲，即使这在大多数讲英语的人们眼里已经过时。麦荷特先生认为正式语言并非不可或缺，也没有提出要进行彻底的教育改革——他其实只是为那些美好事物而不是实用的东西的消逝而哀叹。我们现在用“纸盘子”而非“瓷盘子”盛着我们的英语大餐。真是惭愧啊，但很可能已无法避免。
