2007 年天津工业大学英语语言学考研真题 I. Define the following terms (10 points) 1 morpheme (2 points) 2 minimal pairs (3 points) 3 design features (3 points) 4 competence (2 points) II. Multiple choice (20 points. 1 point for each item) 1. Who were the ancestors of the English and the founders of England? A. the Anglo-Saxons B. the Normans C. the Vikings D. the Romans 2. Which of the following king was executed in the civil war? A. James I B. James II C. Charles I D. Charles II 3. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the Open University in Britain? A. It’s open to everybody. B. It requires no formal educational qualifications. C. No university degree is awarded. D. University courses are followed through TV, radio, correspondence, etc. 4. Under whose reign was the Bill of Rights passed? A. James II B. William of Orange C. Oliver Cromwell D. George I 5. The general election in Britain is held every ______ years. A. four B. five C. six D. three 6. It is ______ who served as Prime Minister after Mrs. Margaret Thatcher. A. Tony Blair B. John Major C. Harold Wilson D. James Callaghan 7. Which of the following description about the Conservative Party is NOT true ? A. It has been in power for an unusually long period of time. B. It prefers policies that protect individual’s rights. C. It receives a lot of the funding from big companies. D. It is known as a party of high taxation levels. 8. In the examination called the 11 plus, students with academic potential go to _______. A. grammar schools B. comprehensive schools C. public schools D. technical schools 9. In Britain, the term from early September to mid-December is known as _______. A. Christmas Term B. Easter Term C. Summer Term D. Spring Term 10. China and Britain established the diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial rank in the year of _______. A. 1970 B. 1954 C. 1972 D. 1997 11. Which of the following is in New York City? A. The United States Capitol. B. The White House. C. The Pentagon Building. D. The United Nations Headquarters 12. With regard to its size, the U.S.A. is the _______ country in the world. 

A. largest B. second largest C. third largest D. fourth largest 13. The victory at _______ was a turning point of the American War of Independence . A. Saratoga B. Gettysburg C. Trenton D. Yorktown 14. Ten amendments introduced by James Madison were added to the American Constitution in 1791. They are known as _______. A. Articles of Confederation B. Bill of Rights C. Civil Rights Papers D. Federalists Papers 15. The aim of President Roosevelt’s New Deal was to save American ______. A. economy B. politics C. society D. democracy 16. Of the founding fathers, ______ contributed most to American educational philosophy and practice. A. George Washington B. Alexander Hamilton C. Thomas Jefferson D. James Madison 17. Graduate work leading to a master’s degree usually requires _______ years’ study beyond the bachelor’s degree in the United States. A. two B. one C. three D. four 18. Which of the following was NOT the characteristic of the roaring 20’s? A. Workers’ strikes. B. Industrial boom. C. Organized gangsterism. D. Smuggling of liquor. 19. The American Industrial Revolution began in 1807 with its ______ industry. A. shipbuilding B. coal mining C. textile D. machine-making 20. The earliest British settlement on North America was ________. A. Plymouth B. Jamestown C. Quebec D. St. Louis III. Fill in the blanks （20 points） (A) Find out the antonyms for the following words by adding a negative prefix to each of them. (10 points. 0.5 point for each item) (B) Point out the corresponding figurative senses of the following words according to the nature of the animals. (10 points. 1 point for each item) 

IV. Answer the following questions (20 points. 5 points for each item) 1.In what ways can linguistics contribute to the research in language teaching? 2. What are the main features of Chomsky’s TG grammar? 3. Why is Saussure known as the father of modern linguistics? 4. What is the general understanding of the role of grammar in language learning In numbers of speakers as well as in its uses for international communication and in other less quantifiable measures, English is one of the most important languages of the world. Spoken by more than 370 million people as a first language in the United Kingdom, the United States, and the former British Empire, it is the largest of the occidental languages. English, however, is not the most widely used language in the world. Chinese is spoken by more than a billion people in China alone. Some of the European languages are comparable with English in reflecting the forces of history, especially with regard to European expansion since the sixteenth century. Spanish, next in size to English, is spoken by about 240 million people, Russian by 210 million, Portuguese by 125 million, German by 110 million, French by 85 million native speakers ( and a large number of second-language speakers), Italian by 65 million. A language may be important as a lingua franca in a country or region whose diverse populations would otherwise be unable to communicate. This is especially true in the former colonies of England and France whose colonial languages have remained indispensable even after independence and often in spite of outright hostility to the political and cultural values that the European languages represent. French and English are both languages of wider communication, and yet the changing 

positions of the two languages in international affairs during the past century illustrate the extent to which the status of a language depends on extra-linguistic factors. It has been said that English is recurringly associated with practical and powerful pursuits. Joshua A. Fishman writes: “In the Third World (excluding former Anglophone and Francophone colonies) French is considered more suitable than English for only one function: opera. It is considered the equal of English for reading good novels or poetry and for personal prayer (the local integrative language being widely viewed as superior to both English and French in this connection). But outside the realm of aesthetics, the Ugly Duckling reigns supreme.” The ascendancy of English as measured by numbers of speakers in various activities does not depend on nostalgic attitudes toward the originally English-speaking people or toward the language itself. Fishman makes the point that English is less loved but more used; French is more loved but less used. And in world where “econo-technical superiority” is what counts, “the real ‘powerhouse’ is still English. It doesn’t have to worry about being loved because, loved or not, it works. It makes the world go round, and few indeed can afford to ‘knock it.’” --Baugh, A. C. and Cable, T. (1993). A History of the English Language.