Section A: Banked Cloze
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
It’s best to think of an accent as a distinct, systematic and rule-governed way of speaking. Accent is not a (26) ______ for dialect, but it’s related. Dialect is an umbrella term for the way a community pronounces words, creates words, and orders words; accent refers to that first part only.
Many (27) ______ presume that there is a single standard way of speaking in each country, with one single standard accent, and that this perceived standard is (28) ______ the best form of speech, but linguists (语言学家) often point out that the concept of a standard accent is better understood as an ideal rather than a (29) ______. In other words, no one speaks “standard English”; rather, it is an imagined way of using language that exists only in grammar and style books.
One reason linguists agree there is no one true standard is that, through the years, there have been (30) ______ supposed standards, depending on time and place. The standard for English in British newsreels (新闻片) from the 1950s, for example, differs greatly from the standard found on American national news broadcasts today. In fact, there has never been a single standard that’s been fully agreed upon — and broadcast outlets across the (31) ______ have never consistently held to those standards anyway.
Even so, this idea of a standard accent is (32) ______ and many workplace and educational environments perpetuate the idea that accents that (33) ______ from the current standard are less appropriate, or even inappropriate. Scholars have found that southern U.S. accent features are more accepted in (34) ______ such as government, law and service-oriented workplaces, but less accepted in the technology sector. The acceptability of nonstandard accents may (35) ______ with differences in class and culture, with newer or higher prestige industries expecting more standard speech in the workplace.
Answers & Explanations (答案与解析)
Section A: Banked Cloze
26. N (synonym)。解析：空格在不定冠词 `a` 和介词 `for` 之间，需要填入单数名词。句意：“口音并不是方言的______，但两者相关”。选项 `synonym`（同义词）最契合，表示口音并不等同于方言（not a synonym for dialect）。
27. G (laymen)。解析：空格作主语，且谓语动词为原形 `presume`，需要填入复数名词。后文出现了表示转折的 `but linguists`（但语言学家指出），说明前面应填入与专家相对立的人群。选项 `laymen`（外行，门外汉）完美对应。
28. F (inherently)。解析：空格在系动词 `is` 和表语 `the best form` 之间，需要填入副词。句意：“这种被认知的标准被认为是______最好的言语形式”。选项 `inherently`（本质上地，固有地）符合语境。
29. J (reality)。解析：空格前有 `rather than a`，需要填入单数名词，且需要与前文的 `an ideal`（理想）形成对比。语言学家认为标准口音是一种理想，而不是一种“现实”。选项 `reality`（现实）构成反义对比。
30. H (multiple)。解析：空格在 `have been` 之后，修饰复数名词 `supposed standards`，需要填入形容词。结合前文“没有唯一真正的标准”，说明多年来存在着“多个/多种”假定的标准。选项 `multiple`（多个的）符合语意。
31. M (spectrum)。解析：空格位于 `across the` 之后，需要填入名词。`across the spectrum` 是固定搭配，意为“遍及各个范围/领域”。此处指各界广播机构从未一致坚持过这些标准。选 `spectrum`（范围，光谱）。
32. E (influential)。解析：空格作表语，且句首是 `Even so`（尽管如此）表示转折。前文说不存在唯一的标准口音，后文却说职场和教育环境仍在延续这种观念，说明这种想法依然“有影响力的”。选项 `influential`（有影响力的）最恰当。
33. C (deviate)。解析：空格位于定语从句中作谓语，且需要能与介词 `from` 搭配。句意为“______当前标准的口音被认为是不太合适的”。选项 `deviate`（偏离，背离）完美契合。
34. D (domains)。解析：空格在介词 `in` 之后，后文由 `such as government...`（如政府、法律等）举例说明，需要填入表示“领域、范围”的复数名词。选项 `domains`（领域）符合语境。
35. B (correlate)。解析：空格在情态动词 `may` 之后，需要填入动词原形，且与介词 `with` 搭配。句意：“非标准口音的可接受度可能与阶层和文化的差异______”。选项 `correlate`（相关联；correlate with）符合语法和语意。
【核心搭配与高分句型】
umbrella term：涵盖性术语，总称（Dialect is an umbrella term for...）
rule-governed：受规则支配的，有规律的（a systematic and rule-governed way of speaking）
rather than：而不是（understood as an ideal rather than a reality）
agree upon：对...取得一致意见（a single standard that’s been fully agreed upon）
across the spectrum：遍及整个范围，各界（broadcast outlets across the spectrum）
perpetuate the idea：使...观念持久/长存（environments perpetuate the idea that...）
deviate from：偏离，背离（accents that deviate from the current standard）
service-oriented：服务导向的（service-oriented workplaces）
correlate with：与...相关联（may correlate with differences in class and culture）