【文章內容簡介】 as adults, it bees enormously difficult to distinguish between sounds that are glaringly different to a native speaker. It all sounds Greek to us. This is because the range of possible sounds that humans use to convey meaning may be as high as 2,000, but few languages use more than 100 and even then the significant noises－the phonemes (音素) of a language－each cover a range of sounds and so vague distinctions which would change the meaning of a word in other languages. But where do these phonemes e from and why do they shift over time? New research suggests that the apparently arbitrary distribution of some sounds around the world may be partially explained by diet. This is unexpected. We39。d rather think of language as product of our thought rather than of the arrangement of our teeth. In reality, though, any given language must be both. Hunter gatherer languages very seldom use the sounds known as labiodentals (唇齒音)－those such as f and v－that are made by touching the lower lip with the upper teeth. Only two of the hundreds of Australian aboriginal languages use them, for example. But in cultures that have discovered farming, these consonants (輔音) are much more mon. The argument goes that farmers eat more cooked food and more dairy than hunter gatherers. Either way, they need to chew mush less, and to bite less with their front teeth. So farmers grew up with smaller lower jaws and more of an overbite than their ancestors who had to bite through harder foods. It became easier for them to make the labiodental consonants instead of purely labial (唇音) ones: one example is that f e to take the place of p. Romans said pater but English speakers (unless they39。re Rees－Moggs) say father. Beyond these particular changes, the story highlights the way in which everything distinctively human is both material and spiritual: speech must bine sound and meaning, and the meaning can39。t exist or be transmitted without a real object. But neither can it be reduced to the purely physical, as our inability to understand or even to recognise foreign languages makes clear. The food we eat shapes our jaws, and our jaws in turn shape the sounds of our language. The ease with which we eat probably shapes our thought too, as anyone who has suffered toothache could testify. What we eat may have shaped the sounds of our language, but how we eat changes how we feel and what we use language to express. A family meal is very different from a sandwich at the office desk, even if the calorie is the same. Food has purposes and meanings far beyond keeping us alive and pleasing the Palate (味覺).（1）Compared with adults, babies could more easily . A.create significant noisesB.classify the forms of noisesC.understand the Greek languageD.distinguish meaningful sounds（2）According to the passage, which of the following factors help shape language? A.Lips and teeth.B.Jobs and habits.C.Age and regions.D.Food and thinking.（3）The reason for farmers39。 making sounds of f and v is . A.enjoying more cooked foodsB.biting more with front teethC.constantly chewing harder foodsD.growing up with lager lower jaws（4）By writing this passage, the author intends to reveal . A.jaws help shape our thoughtB.food determines our thoughtC.diet has some influence on languageD.language consists of sound and meaning【答案】 （1）D（2）D（3）A（4）C 【解析】【分析】本文是一篇說明文，人們一直以來認為語言是思想的產物，但是有新的研究表明飲食對于語言也會產生一些影響。且以f和v的發(fā)音為例，揭示了農民們發(fā)f和v音的原因是他們喜歡吃更多的熟食。同時這也強調了人類特有的一切都是物質和精神的結合:語言必須把聲音和意義結合起來，沒有真實的物體，意義就不可能存在或傳播。 （1）考查細節(jié)理解。根據第一段中的“By the age of one, they can recognize the significant noises around them and group them into a language.”可知一歲的嬰兒和成人相比更能識別出周圍的重要聲音，故選D。 （2）考查細節(jié)理解。根據第二段中的“New research suggests that the apparently arbitrary distribution of some sounds around the world may be partially explained by diet.”可知某些聲音在世界范圍內的任意分布，部分可以用飲食來解釋。本段提到sound和diet是有關系的,也就是food食物；另外也和思考有關the product of thought,本段最后說到和兩者都有關系。故選D。 （3）考查細節(jié)理解。根據第三段中的“The argument goes that famers eat more cooked food and more dairy than hunter gatherers.”可知農民比狩獵采集者吃更多的熟食和奶制品，即農民們發(fā)f和v音的原因是他們喜歡吃更多的熟食。故選A。 （4）考查主旨大意。根據第二段中的“We39。d rather think of language as product of our thought, rather than of the arrangement of our teeth. In reality, though, any given language must be both.”可知任何一種語言的誕生都必須同時具備思想和飲食這兩種因素的影響。以及文章內容可知敘述的都是日常飲食和發(fā)音對語言的影響，故選C。 【點評】本題考點涉及細節(jié)理解和主旨大意兩個題型的考查，是一篇科研類閱讀，考生需要準確掌握細節(jié)信息，同時根據上下文進行推理，歸納，從而選出正確答案。5．犇犇閱讀理解 You know those nutrition guidelines the government issues every few years? It turns out that following them isn39。t just good for your health. It39。s good for the planet, too. What we found is that impacts vary across nations, but in the high173。impact nations, in general, you can see that, if you follow a nationally remended diet, despite the fact that these diets don39。t mention explicitly—or most of them don39。t explicitly mention—environmental impacts, that you are going to have lower environmental impacts due to that. So that39。s sort of fairly clear across all the high173。ine nations. said Paul Behrens, an environmental scientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The food we eat takes a big toll on the environment. A third of the ice173。free land on Earth is used for agriculture, and according to some estimates, producing food accounts for roughly a fifth of all human173。caused greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilizer runoff also leads to other problems, like the algae blooms in Lake Eerie and the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. However, following dietary guidelines would reduce those impacts, especially in wealthy countries like the US. Most of the reductions e from meat and dairy, which have an outsized impact on land use and pollution, and are a major source of greenhouse gases.(That39。s partly due to cow farts. Seriously.) Following the suggestions would also mean eating fewer calories, since many people here eat more than they need. Overall, in high173。ine countries, Behren39。s team e