Ⅰ. Each of the statements below is followed by four alternative answers.Choose the one that best completes the statement and put the letter in the bracket.
1. "I'm certain that she will come tomorrow." There are ______ content words in the above sentence.
9. "Wide of the mark" is an idiom ______ in nature.
A.adjectival
B.verbal
C.adverbial
D.nominal
A B C D
A
[解析] 习语“wide of the mark”的意思是“离题”。这是个具有形容词性质的习语。例如:What the teacher talked about was wide of the mark.老师讲的话离题了。
10. The idiom "in the cradle" is (a) ______ as far as figures of speech are concerned.
A.synecdoche
B.metonymy
C.personification
D.metaphor
A B C D
B
[解析] 换喻(metonymy)指以一种事物的名称来指代另外一种与之相关的事物。习语“in the cradle”的意思是“在幼年时期,在最初的时候”。这里是用“cradle(摇篮)”来指代幼年时期或者某一事物发展的最初阶段。
11. Words of the basic word stock can each be used alone, and at the same time can form new words with other roots and affixes. E. g. , "dog" can form new words with other morphemes: "dogfight", "doghole" and "dogsleep". This demonstrates that one of the characteristics of the words of the basic stock is ______.
12. In the early period of Modern English, Europe saw a new upsurge of learning ancient ______ and Roman classics. This was known in history as the Renaissance.
A.India
B.German
C.Greek
D.Chinese
A B C D
C
13. There is/are ______ mono-morphemic word(s) in the following words: bad, cow, geese, watches.
16. What is applicable to ______ of some antonyms may not be applicable to their relative terms.
A.connotative terms
B.collocative terms
C.contradictory terms
D.negative terms
A B C D
C
[解析] 有些关系反义词和矛盾反义词很相似,但它们实质不同。矛盾反义词的最大特点就是,如果肯定一方就否定了另一方,而在关系义词中这种“非此即彼”的模式行不通。例如:If an adult is not a husband, this person must be a wife. 一个成年人如果不是丈夫,那一定是妻子。显然,这种逻辑是不合情理的。
17. The main functions of verbal context include ______.
A.elimination of ambiguity
B.indication of referents
C.provision of clues for inferring word-meaning
D.all the above
A B C D
D
18. Which of the following about extra-linguistic context is true?
A.It can be subdivided into extra-linguistic context and non-linguistic context.
B.It only refers to the physical situation or environment relating to the use of words.
C.It embraces the people, time, size and place.
D.It may extend to embrace the entire cultural background.
A B C D
D
19. The change of idiom from "fortune's wheel" to "the wheel of fortune" is ______.
A.replacement
B.position-shifting
C.addition
D.shortening
A B C D
B
20. As most words are ______, the senses of words are arranged in different ways in dictionaries.
A.mono-morphemic
B.polysemantic
C.analytic
D.none of the above
A B C D
B
21. Which of the following dictionaries is a specialized dictionary?
A.The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.
B.Webster's Third New International Dictionary.
C.Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
D.The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition.
A B C D
A
[解析] 《韦氏新国际英语词典》(Webster's Third New International Dictionary)是一部大型词典,即未节略词典(unabridged dictionary);《朗文当代英文词典》(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)是一部案头词典,即中型词典;《简明牛津词典》第九版(The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition)也是一部中型词典。
22. Which of the following does not belong to associative meaning?
A.Connotative meaning.
B.Stylistic meaning.
C.Affective meaning.
D.Primary meaning.
A B C D
D
23. The following are content words EXCEPT ______.
A.verbs
B.nouns
C.articles
D.adjectives
A B C D
C
24. Which of the following is not one type of idioms?
30. ______ are best viewed in terms of a scale running between two poles or extremes.
A.Contradictory terms
B.Relative terms
C.Contrary terms
D.None of the above
A B C D
C
Ⅱ. Complete the following statements with proper words or expressions according to the course book.
1. Degradation or ______ of meaning is the opposite of semantic elevation.
pejoration
2. In Middle English period, ______ was an influential language until the 13th century when English came back.
French
3. ______ of the total number of new words in English vocabulary were produced through affixation.
30%-40%
4. The method of creating words by removing the ______ is called back-formation.
supposed suffixes
5. Motivation deals with the connection between the linguistic symbols and ______.
its meaning
6. When a common word is turned into a proper noun, its meaning is ______.
narrowed
7. In a narrow sense, ______ refers to the words, clauses, sentences in which a word appears.
linguistic context
8. The general estimate of the present-day English vocabulary is over one ______ words.
million
9. In the process of ______, each of the later meaning is only relative to the preceding one like chains.
concatenation
10. Usually, people use "tremble with fear", not "quiver with fear"; this can be an example of______.
collocative meaning
Ⅲ. Define the following terms.
1. argot
Argot generally refers to the jargon of criminals. Its use is confined to the sub-cultural groups,and outsiders can hardly understand it.
2. context clues
Context clues are the hints the author manages to give to help readers grasp the concept or understand the idea of some new words.
3. pormanteau words
Pormanteau words, also called blends. are the words formed by means of blending.
4. pejoration of meaning
Pejoration or degradation of meaning is the opposite of semantic elevation, a process whereby words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to be used in derogatory sense.
5. synthetic language
Synthetic language is one language that shows the relation of words in a sentence largely by means of inflections.
Ⅳ. Answer the following questions. Your answers should be clear and short. Write your answers in the space given below.
1. Please illustrate the differences between relative terms and contradictory terms with examples.
Some of the relative terms look similar to contradictory terms, yet they are not the same. There is an absolute opposition between contradictory terms. In the case of relative terms, the opposition is only relational. What is applicable to contradictory terms may not he applicable to relative terms. Take the pair of words "husband" and "wife" for example, if an adult is not a husband, the adult must be a wife or if the person is not a parent, the person must be a child. Neither of the two examples holds water.
2. 47 What is the difference between superordinates and subordinates?
Superordinates are words denoting genus, thus being general, and subordinates are words denoting species, thus being specific. Superordinates are cover terms which include the concept of subordinates whereas the subordinates are specific and their meanings are included in the sense of superordinares.
3. sun-u→sun-e→son Above is the change of "son" from Old English through Middle English to Modern English. What can you conclude from the viewpoint of the development of English vocabulary?
From the example of the change of "son", it can be concluded that in Modern English, word endings were mostly lost with just a few exceptions. It can be said that English has evolved from a synthetic language (Old English) to Middle English which had fewer inflections to the present analytic language.
4. Please illustrate the differences between American dictionaries and British dictionaries with examples.
There is a general difference between American dictionaries and British dictionaries. American dictionaries contain more encyclopedic information in the main body than British dictionaries, for example, the names of people, places of historical interest and the like, whereas the British dictionaries, especially learner's dictionaries, include more grammatical information. Generally speaking, one can find British usages in an American dictionary. As for American usages, users are advised to consult American dictionaries because chances that such words are excluded from a general British one.
Ⅴ. Analyze and comment on the following. Write your answers in the space given below.
1. She is very skinny and beautiful. Are all the words in the sentence used appropriately? If not, why? Then improve it.
(1) "Skinny" is not proper and is pejorative. (2) In this sentence, praise is expressed, thus "skinny" is not proper. (3) "Skinny" should be replaced by "slim" or "slender". This sentence should be: She is Very slim/slender and beautiful.
2. Analyze and comment on the meanings of the following sentences and then find out the right antonyms for each "dull" respectively. [A] The story in this book is dull. [B] He became dull and silent when the class began. [C] I'm tired of such dull weather!
In sentence A, the word "dull" means "boring". The sentence suggests that the story is not interesting. Its antonym is "interesting". In sentence B, the word "dull" means "inactive". The sentence suggests that "he lacked enthusiasm and became silent". Its antonym is "lively". In sentence C, the word "dull" means "overcast". The sentence thus means the speaker dislikes the cloudy weather. Its antonym is "sunny".