湖南2010年7月自学考试语言与文化试题

课程代码：10058

I. Each of the following incomplete statements is followed by four alternatives. Read each statement and the four alternatives carefully and decide which of the four alternatives best completes the statement. (20%)

1. Language is used for communication in that communication is the ______ function of language. (      )

A. primary                                                       B. peripheral

C. medium                                                       D. personal

2. The word “modernization” consists of ______ morphemes. (      )

A. 2                                                                B. 3

C. 4                                                                D. 5

3. “______” can be used as the euphemism for “tax increases”. (      )

A. Financial plans                                             B. Monetary designs

C. Revenue enhancements                                 D. Income control

4. To English speakers, a person who does not look at you in your eyes when talking to you is not ______. (      )

A. polite                                                           B. friendly

C. kind                                                            D. trustworthy

5. The English-speaking people associate owls with ______. (      )

A. misfortune                                                   B. wisdom

C. frightening cries                                           D. pride

6. English is often referred to as a ______ language because it uses frequently connectives to indicate the relation between linguistic elements. (      )

A. paratactic                                                    B. hypotactic

C. branching                                                    D. linear

7. In British English, the equivalent word for“公寓” is ______. (      )

A. department                                                  B. apartment

C. basement                                                     D. flat

8. ______ meaning is represented by the position of a word or a similar linguistic unit in clauses or sentences. (      )

A. Thematic                                                     B. Connotative

C. Social                                                          D. Reflected

9. Which of the following statements is NOT true? (      )

A. It is often said that English is a language with explicit grammar and Chinese a language with implicit grammar.

B. Compared with Chinese, English has more grammatical morphemes that are used more frequently in either speech or writing.

C. The obligatory explicit grammatical markers are larger in number in Chinese than in English.

D. Almost all of the English grammatical markers are obligatory items while most of their counterparts in Chinese are optional.

10. “If you don’t look out, you will come to grief”. Here “look out” refers to ______. (      )

A. to warn someone that they are in danger

B. to watch something outside

C. to learn well                                                 

D. to prepare well

11. The allusion ______ can be used to refer to a person who submits to indignities and sufferings without any thought or act of rebelling. (      )

A. “a Cinderella”                                               B. “an Uncle Tom”

C. “a Sherlock Holmes”                                     D. “an Oliver Twist”

12. The English speaking people say ______ when they need to answer the phone or a door bell and even when they sneeze while they are talking with others. (      )

A. “I’m sorry”                                                 B. “I beg your pardon”

C. “Never mind”                                               D. “Excuse me”

13. Which of the following names is associated with Christianity? (      )

A. Edgar                                                          B. Joseph

C. Alexander                                                    D. Iris

14. In most English letters of request, ______. (      )

A. the request precedes the supporting information

B. the request follows the supporting facts

C. the initial request has to be made paving the way for the final request   

D. the request is placed at the end of letters

15. ______, with possessive pronouns, is used in addressing or referring to a king, queen or emperor. (      )

A. Honourable                                                   B. Majesty

C. Excellency                                                   D. Royal

16. There is no ______ relationship between words and the objects, actions or concepts they are used to refer to. (      )

A. arbitrary                                                      B. logical

C. optional                                                       D. sensible

17. When doctors touch their patients in a physical examination we call it ______ touch. (      )

A. socio-polite                                                  B. friendship-warmth

C. functional-professional                                  D. love-intimacy

18. “______” illustrates the metaphor that ideas are food. (      )

A. That’s a budding theory.

B. Let me put in my two cent’s worth.

C. He ran out of ideas.                                      

D. There are too many facts here for me to digest them all.

19. In English ______ can not be advertised. (      )

A. medicines                                                    B. sexual service

C. domestic service                                          D. cigarette

20. A drink of spirits mixed with others or with various flavourings is called ______. (      )

A. red wine                                                      B. white wine

C. whisky                                                        D. cocktail
 

II. Each of the following incomplete statements is followed by four alternatives. Read each statement and the four alternatives carefully and decide which alternative can complete the statement. There might be more than one correct answer. (10%)

21. In English culture people often ______. (        )

A. put the more important information before the less important one

B. put the more specific information before the less specific one

C. put the language items representing the smaller unit before those representing bigger one

D. put the language items representing the individual part before those representing the whole

22. Blue Monday conveys the meaning that ______. (        )

A. one is in his sad mood

B. one is in his gloomy mood

C. one should remember the important day          

D. one always has bad fortune on that day

23. In most English speaking countries, “intellectuals” would include ______. (        )

A. engineers                                                     B. scientists

C. college professors                                        D. medical doctors

24. American English differs from British English mainly in ______. (        )

A. grammar                                                     B. pronunciation

C. tone                                                            D. vocabulary

25. Many English words are related to Christianity, such as ______. (        )

A. Reformation                                                 B. Protestant

C. Cocktail                                                       D. Mass

26. When you respond to the compliment “You look very nice in this dress”, most probably you would say “______”. (        )

A. Thank you.

B. No, I don’t think so at all.

C. Do you really think so? I was not sure whether it suits me.   

D. No, no. That’s not true.

27. Many English proverbs are related to Christianity in one way or another, such as ______. (        )

A. Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

B. God help those who help themselves.

C. Whom the Gods love dies young.                   

D. Each cross hath its own inscription.

28. The logical relationships between adjoining sentences can be classified into the following categories: ______. (        )

A. additive                                                       B. adversative

C. causal                                                         D. temporal

29. In English culture ______ are normally a taboo topics. (        )

A. age and income                                            B. clothes and artifacts

C. political beliefs                                             D. religious beliefs

30. The distance held between interlocutors in interpersonal communication can be roughly divided into the following zones: ______. (        )

A. the intimate zone                                          B. the casual-personal zone

C. the socio-consultative zone                            D. the public zone

III. Each of the following statements has an underlined space. Fill in each underlined space with a proper expression. (20%)

31. ______ is the study of facial expressions, touch, time, gestures, smell, eye behaviour, and so on.

32. The medium of verbal interaction is ______.

33. The English equivalent to “一见钟情” is “______”.

34. The English idiom “One falls into Scylla in seeking to avoid Charybdis” corresponds to “______” in Chinese.

35. A book with the telephone numbers of different shops, restaurants, business, organizations, etc. is called ______.

36. To sound modest and humble, one might have to use ______ to refer to oneself, one’s relatives, and one’s personal belongings, for example, 敝人, 贱内, 寒舍 etc.

37. The style one choose for one’s speech depends on a number of factors, including: one’s interlocutors, the topic and ______.

38. The British English equivalent for “labor” is ______.

39. In informal situations English speakers tend to address others by using their ______ names.

40. Inflectional morphemes are also called ______ morphemes.

IV. Translation. (18%)

41. Wine and judgment mature with age.

42. Homer sometimes nods.

43. The theory of relativity gave birth to an enormous number of ideas in physics.

44. 人不犯我，我不犯人。

45. 看完后，请马上把书还给我。

46. 请提宝贵意见。

V. Define the following terms. (12%)

47. Hypotactic relations

48. Vocatives

49. Idiom

50. Deduction

VI. Discuss the following topics. (20%)

51. What are the words for flesh from “pigs”, “sheep” or “cows” and how do you explain them culturally?

52. What are the three basic categories of human territory? And how would explain them?