阅读理解文化教育类第8关

Three English dictionaries published recently all lay claim to possessing a “new” feature. The BBC English Dictionary contains background information on 1,000 people and places prominent in the news since 1988; the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: Encyclopedic (百科全书的）Edition is the OALD plus encyclopedic entries; the Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture is the LDOCE plus cultural information. The key fact is that all three dictionaries can be seen to have a distinctly “cultural” as well as language learning content. That being said, the way in which they approach the cultural element is not identical， making direct comparisons between the three difficult. While there is some common ground between the encyclopedic, cultural entries for the Oxford and Longman dictionaries, there is a clear difference. Oxford lays claim to being encyclopedic on content whereas Longman distinctly concentrates on the language and culture of the English-speaking world. The Oxford dictionary can therefore stand more vigorous scrutiny for cultural bias than the Longman publication because the latter does not hesitate about viewing the rest of the world from the cultural perspectives of the English-speaking world. The cultural objectives of the BBC dictionary are in turn more distinct still. Based on an analysis of over 70 million words recorded from the BBC World Service and National Public Radio of Washington over a period of four years, their 1,000 brief encyclopedic entries are based on people and places that have featured in the news recently. The intended user they have in mind is a regular listener to the World Service who will have a reasonable standard of English and a developed skill in listening comprehension. In reality, though, the BBC dictionary will be purchased by a far wider range of language learners, as will the other two dictionaries. We will be faced with a situation where many of the users of these dictionaries will at the very least have distinct socio-cultural perspectives and may have world views which are totally opposed and even hostile to those of the West. Advanced learners from this kind of background will not only evaluate a dictionary on how user-friendly it is but will also have definite views about the scope and appropriateness of the various socio-cultural entries.

1 What feature sets apart the three dictionaries discussed in the passage from traditional ones?: A.The combination of two dictionaries into one.
B.The new approach to defining words.
C.The inclusion of cultural content.
D.The increase in the number of entries.

本题答案： A B C D

参考答案：C
系统解析：
题目同文章提及的那三本词典与以往传统词典的不同点是什么。根据原文第2段第1句中的have a distinctly “cultural”可知，除了语言学习的内容之外，“文化”要素正是这二本词典的独特之处。只有C说到了关键词cultural，符合题意，故选C。

2 The Longman dictionary is more likely to be criticized for cultural prejudice because ____.: A.its scope of cultural entries goes beyond the culture of the English-speaking world
B.it pays little attention to the cultural content of the non-English-speaking countries
C.it views the world purely from the standpoint of the English-speaking world
D.it fails to distinguish language from culture in its encyclopedic entries

本题答案： A B C D

参考答案：C
系统解析：
原文第3段第3句说到“牛津词典比朗文词典在文化偏见方面更能经受住严格的审视，因为后者毫不犹豫地从英语国家的文化角度来看待世界其他各地”,C与原文该句中because后的内容相同，故C为答案。

3 The BBC dictionary differs from Oxford and Longman in that .: A.it has a wider selection of encyclopedic entries
B.it is mainly designed to meet the needs of radio listeners
C.it lays more emphasis on language than on culture
D.it is intended to help listeners develop their listening comprehension skills

本题答案： A B C D

参考答案：B
系统解析：
第3段最后一句说到：他们心目中预期的字典使用者是那些经常收听“世界广播”并具有相当英语水平和高级听力技能的听众。可知B正确。A、C没有原文依据;D故意歪曲文意。

4 It is implied in the last paragraph that, in approaching socio-cultural content in a dictionary, special thought should be given to ____.: A.the language levels of its users
B.the number of its prospective purchasers
C.the different tastes of its users
D.the various cultural backgrounds of its users

本题答案： A B C D

参考答案：D
系统解析：
由最后一段第2句“我们不得不面对这样的情形：许多字典使用者至少是有不同的社会文化观，也可能在世界观上与西方人截然相反，甚至敌对”可知，字典使用者的不同文化背景是撰写过程中必须予以考虑的，也只有D说到了关键词cultural background,故选D。

5 What is the passage mainly about?: A.Different ways of treating socio-cultural elements in the three new English dictionaries.
B.A comparison of people’s opinions on the cultural content in the three new English dictionaries.
C.The advantages of the BBC dictionary over Oxford and Long-man.
D.The user-friendliness of the three new English dictionaries.

本题答案： A B C D

参考答案：A
系统解析：
本文第2段第2句统领下文，为文章的主题句，A概括了文章内容，为正确答案。文章没有涉及人们对于这三本词典引入“文化”要素的看法，故排除B;本文是全面地比较了三本词典的特点，而C则把BBC dictionary的优点作为文章的主题，故排除C;D中“方便用户使用”这一概念未在文中凸现，也不是文章的主题。