110指考英文考科-27

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<文意選填>[題組:第21-30題]27.

Some people say that Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese. Others insist that it is a language in its
own 21 . Who is correct? How do dialects differ from languages?
Two kinds of criteria are used to 22 languages from dialects. The first are social and political:
In this view, “languages” are typically written, official, and 23 , whereas “dialects” are mostly
spoken, unofficial, and looked down upon. As a saying goes, “A language is a dialect with an army and a
navy.” This implies that a powerful group of people like an army or a government can 24 which
dialect is chosen as the official language of a state.
Linguists have a different criterion: If two kinds of speech are so 25 in grammar, vocabulary, and
pronunciation that their speakers can understand each other, they are regarded as dialects of a single
language. On the other hand, if 26 is difficult or even impossible, they are different languages.
On this 27 , Mexican Spanish and Argentine Spanish are dialects of the same language (Spanish).
Speakers of these dialects normally have little 28 communicating with each other. Cantonese, on
the other hand, is not considered a dialect of Chinese because speakers of the two languages can
hardly 29 with each other. This criterion of mutual understandability, though objective, can annoy
nationalists. For example, Danes and Norwegians have no difficulty understanding each other, making
Danish and Norwegian 30 as dialects of the same language. Yet, few Danes or Norwegians would
actually feel happy about this classification.
(A) recognized (B) determine (C) sound (D) trouble (E) comprehension (F) ground
(G) right (H) converse ( I)similar ( J ) prestigious (K) distinguish (L) particular