职称英语综合类阅读理解第二十二篇Some things we know about language逐句翻译.docxVIP

Some things we know about language 我们知道的关于语言的一些事情Many things about language are a mystery, and many will always remain so．But some things we do know．许多关于语言方面的事情还是一个谜，而且将永远是一个谜。但是有些事情我们是知道的。First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort．首先，我们知道所有人类都有某种语言。There is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language, no set of speech sounds by which the people communicate with one another．世界上没有哪一种族落后到没有语言，没有人们用于交流的一套声音语言。Furthermore, in historical times, there has never been a race of men without a language.历史上也没有哪个种族没有自己的语言。Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language．其次，没有原始语言这种东西。There are many people whose cultures are undeveloped, who are, as we say, uncivilized. but the languages they speak are not primitive．许多人的文化不发达，按照我们的说法，他们是不文明的。但是，他们说的语言则不是原始的。In all known 1anguages we can see complexities that must have been tens of thousands of years in developing．在我们所知道的语言中，我们都可以看到它们经历了几万年发展历程的复杂性。This has not always been well understood；indeed, the direct contrary has often been stated．这并不总是那么易于理解。的确，人们常常提出完全相反的观点。 Popular ideas of the 1anguage of the American Indians will illustrate．人们对美印第安人语言的普遍看法就很能说明问题。Many people have supposed that the Indians communicated in a very primitive system of noises．许多人都认为印第安人用非常原始的声音系统进行交流。Study has proved this to be nonsense．There are, or were, hundreds of American Indian languages, and all of them turn out to be very complicated and very old. 研究结果已经证明那全是瞎说。美印第安人语言有几百种，且所有这些语言都被证明是很复杂和古老的。They are certainly different from the languages that most of us are familiar with, but they are no more primitive than English and Greek．它们虽然不同于我们大多数所熟悉的语言，但是它们同英语和希腊语一样不是原始的语言。A third thing we know about language is that all languages are perfectly adequate．关于语言我们知道的第三件事是所有的语言都是完全能够满足需要的，That is, each one is a perfect means of expressing the culture of the people who speak the language．也就是说,每一种语言都能满足说这种语言的人们表达其文化的需要。Finally, we know that language changes．最后，我们知道语言是变化的。It is natural and normal for language