And could that language be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955,
when even deaf people dismissed their signing as “substandard”. Stokoe’s idea was
academic heresy (异端邪说).
It is 37 years later. Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and
journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture—is having lunch
at a cafe near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For
decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like
English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the
modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the
modulation of space. “What I said,” Stokoe explains, “is that language is not mouth stuff
—it’s brain stuff.”
21. The study of sign language is thought to be ________.
A) a new way to look at the learning of language
B) a challenge to traditional, views on the nature of language
C) an approach: to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language
D) an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language
22. The, present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by ________.
A) a famous scholar in the study of the human brain
B) a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts
C) an English teacher in a university for the deaf
D) some senior experts in American Sign Language
23. According to Stokoe, sign language is ________.
A) a Substandard language
B) a genuine language
C) an artificial language
D) an international language
24. Most educators objected to Stokoe’s idea because they thought ________.
A) sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people
B) sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted
C) a language should be easy to use and understand
D) a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds
25. Stokoe’s argument is based on his belief that ________.
A) sign language is as efficient as any other language
B) sign language is derived from natural language
C) language is a system of meaningful codes
D) language is a product of the brain
Passage Four
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
It came as something of a surprise when Diana, Princess of Wales, made a trip to
Angola in 1997, to support the Red Cross’s campaign for a total ban on all anti-personnel
landmines. Within hours of arriving in Angola, television screens around the World were
filled with images of her comforting victims injured in explosions caused by landmines.
“I knew the statistics,” she said. “But putting a face to those figures brought the reality
home to me; like When I met Sandra, a 13-year-old girl who had lost her leg, and people
like her.”
The Princess concluded, with a simple message: “We must stop landmines”. And she
used every opportunity during her visit to repeat this message.
But, back in London, her views were not shared by some members of the British
government, which refused to support a ban on these weapons. Angry politicians
launched an, attack on the Princess in the press. They described her as “very ill-informed”
and a “loose cannon (乱放炮的人).”
The Princess responded by brushing aside the criticisms: “This is a distraction (干扰)
we do not need. All I’m trying to do is help.”
Opposition parties, the media and the Public immediately voiced their support for
the Princess. To make matters worse for the government, it soon emerged that the
Princess’s trip had been approved by the Foreign Office, and that she was in fact very
well-informed about both the situation in Angola and the British government’s policy
regarding landmines. The result was a severe embarrassment for the government.
To try and limit the damage, the Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, claimed that
the Princess’s views on landmines were not very different from government policy, and
that it was “working towards” a worldwide ban. The Defense Secretary, Michael Portillo,
claimed the matter was “a misinterpretation or misunderstanding.”
For the Princess, the trip to this war-torn country was an excellent opportunity to use
her popularity to show the world how much destruction and suffering landmines can
cause. She said that the experience had also given her the Chance to get closer to people
and their problems.
26. Princess Diana paid a visit to Angola in 1997 ________.
A) to voice her support for a total ban of landmines
B) to clarify the British government’s stand on landmines
C) to investigate the sufferings of landmine victims there
D) to establish her image as a friend of landmine victims
27. What did Diana mean when she said “... putting a face to those figures brought the
reality home to me” (Line 5, Para. 1)?