English, like all other language, is constantly changing. When a language stops to change, we call it a dead language. Classical Latin is a dead language because it has not changed for nearly 2,000 years.
The change that is going on in a living language can be easily seen in the vocabulary. Old words die out and new words are added. Much of the vocabulary of Old English has been lost, and the development of new words to meet new conditions is one of the most familiar phenomena of our language. Change of the meaning can be seen from any page of Shakespeare. Nice in Shakespeare’s day meant foolish; rheumatism (风湿病) meant a cold in the head. Another change is pronunciation. Change in the vowel sounds has characterized English throughout its history. Old English start has become our stone; cu has become cow. Most of these changes are regular. Changes likewise occur in the grammatical forms of a language. These may be the result of gradual phonetic modification (
A. grammar
B. vocabulary
C. pronunciation
D. all of the above
Text 2
We know today that the traditions of tribal art are more complex and less "primitive" than its discoverers believed; we have even seen that the imitation of nature is by no means excluded from its aims. But the style of these ritualistic objects could still serve as a common focus for that search for expressiveness, structure, and simplicity that the new movements had inherited from the experiments of the three lonely rebels: Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gauguin.
The experiments of Expressionism are, perhaps, the easiest to explain in words. The term itself may not be happily chosen, for we know that we are all expressing ourselves in everything we do or leave undone, but the word became a convenient label because of its easily remembered contrast to Impressionism, and as a label it is quite useful. In one of his letters, Van Gogh had explained how he set about painting the portrait of a friend who was very dear to him. The conventional likeness
A. It emerged from conformity and fear of change.
B. It is a misconception of social life.
C. It originated from untruthfulness.
D. It is essential that no such thing as true beauty exists.
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