专业八级-169
(总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)
一、PROOFREADDING & ERROR CORRECTION(总题数：4，分数：100.00)
For the most part, the thousands of languages in the
world today fall into one of two categories: tonal or nontonal.
Two linguists believe they know the genetic underpinnings
for the differences. During a study of linguistic and
genetic data from 49 distinctive populations, the authors discovered 1
a struck correlation between two genes involved in 2
brain development and language tonality. Populations who 3
speak nontonal languages have newer versions of the genes,
with mutations that began to appear roughly 37 thousand
years before. "You can consider this as the first of the many 4
possible studies that we could do to try to find a genetic
basis for language and language typology and the different
populations that speak a language," says Patrick Wong, the 5
assistant professor at Northwestern University, who was not
involved in this study. In English, the pitch which a word 6
is spoken convey emotion but usually does not affect its 7
meaning. But in many languages tone changes the meaning 8
of words. For instance, the Chine word huar said in a high
pitch means flower, but in a dipping pitch meaning picture.
The new rearch ties this difference to tho two genes. 9
The exact functions of both genes are still open to debate, so 10
they are known to affect brain size during embryonic development.
They presumably have something to do with brain
structure, becau there are mutations of the genes that lead
to microcephaly, a condition in which a person"s brain is
much smaller than the average size for his or her age.（分数：25.00）
解析：distinctive—distinct[解析] distinctive的意思是“特殊的，特别的”，distinct的意思是“有区别的，不同的”。本句要表达的是“49个不同的种群”，所以要用distinct。
解析：struck—striking[解析] struck是strike的过去式和过去分词，做定语修饰时一般跟另一个词构成复合形容词，表示“遭受……的”，striking的意思才是“惊人的”。
解析：who—that[解析] 跟people不同，population做先行词时关系代词要用that，而不是who。
解析：before—ago[解析] 当需要表示相对于此时此刻而言的“……时间以前”时，要用ago；如果含义是“过去或者将来某个时刻之前”或者“另一个事件之前”，那么就用before。
解析：the—an[解析] 这里的assistant professor at Northwestern University做同位语，修饰Patrick Wong，功能上大致相当于一个关系分句，因为是第一次提到，所以要用不定冠词an，不能用定冠词the。
解析：pitch∧which—at/in[解析] 如果没有介词，关系代词which在关系分句中无法充当适当的成分。参照下文，就能正确修改：...the Chine word huar said in a
解析：convey—conveys[解析] 本句主语是the pitch，谓语动词需要保持主谓一致，根据上下文，应为一般现在时，因此convey改为conveys。
解析：meaning—means[解析] but是并列连词，前后分句是并列关系。前面的分句是一个限定分句means flower，后面的分句就不能是非限定分句，所以meaning应该改成means，表示并列关系。
解析：tho—/[解析] 上文并未提到是哪两个基因，此处应为不定指，所以删除指示代词tho。
解析：so—but[解析] 前一个分句的意思是“对这两个基因的确切功能尚无一致意见”，后一个分句的意思是“已知它们在胚胎发育时会影响大脑的尺寸”。显然，前后是转折关系，所以应该用转折连词but连接。
Scientists for decades have clashed over whether evolution
takes place gradually or is driven by short spurts of inten
change. In the latest chapter in this debate, rearchers
report that it appears that when new languages spin-off from
older one, there is an initial introductory burst of alterations 11
to vocabulary. Then, the language intends to ttle and accumulate 12
gradual changes over a long period of time. The
team believes this discrete evolutionary pattern occurs when
a social group tries to forge a parate identification. Study 13
co-author Mark Pagel says that the latest study grew out of
an earlier finding in which he and colleagues determined
that about 20 percent of genetic changes among species occur 14
they first split off, whereas the rest happens gradually. "It 15
was very natural with us to wonder if a similar process of 16
evolution happens in cultural groups," Pagel says. "We treat
the words that the different languages u almost identically
so to the way we u genes: ... The more divergent two species 17
are, the less their genes have in common, just like the 18
more divergent two languages are, the less their words have
in common." The team focud on three of the world"s major
language families in its study: Bantu, Indo-European and
Austronesian. They constructed genealogical trees—similar
to tho they had created previously in their 2006 species-related
study—albeit this time the trees traced existed 19
languages back to their common roots; the length of a
"branch" indicates the extent of word replacement that took 20
place as each old language morphed into its current form.（分数：25.00）
解析：one—ones[解析] 被代替的是languages，所以应该用复数形式ones。
解析：intends—tends[解析] intend to do sth. 的意思是“打算做某事”，主语应该是人，而tend to do sth. 的意思是“往往会”，此处表示“语言渐渐稳定下来”。
解析：identification—identity[解析] identification“身份的确认”；identity才是“身份”，在心理学和社会学中，identity的意思是“对于某个群体的认同”。
解析：occur∧they—when[解析] 前面的分句about 20 percent of genetic changes among species occur跟后面的分句they first split off之间缺少连词，根据句意，应该插入从属连词when，连接两个分句。
解析：happens—happen[解析] 当the rest作主语时，谓语动词的单复数取决于它所指代的名词是否可数。这里the rest指代changes，是可数名词的复数，所以谓语动词应该用happen。
解析：with—for[解析] 带有逻辑主语的不定式的形式是for sb. to do sth. ，介词只能是for。
解析：so—/[解析] 本句大意是“我们对待各种语言的方式跟我们利用基因的方式一模一样。”so是多余的。
解析：like—as[解析] like只能用作介词，as可以作介词，也可以作连词。在口语中，可以用like代替as作连词，但不符合正式语法。
解析：existed—existing[解析] existing的意思是“现存的”，existed只是exist的过去式，不能作定语修饰名词。
解析：indicates—indicated[解析] 根据前面分句的时态，以及后面的关系分句中的took，indicate应该用过去式，所以将indicates改为indicated。
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply
becau failure meant a stripping away of the inesntial.
I stopped pretending to me that I was anything other than 21
what I was, and began to direct all my energy for finishing 22
the only work that mattered to me. Have I really succeeded 23
at anything el, I might never have found the determination
to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was
t free, becau my greatest fear had been realid, and I
was still alive, and I yet had a daughter whom I adored, and 24
I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom
became the solid foundation which I rebuilt my life. You 25
might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is
inevitable. It is possible to live without failing at something, 26
unless you live so cautiously that you might as well as not 27
have lived at all—in which ca, you fail by default. Failure
gave me an inner curity that I had never attained by passing
examinations. Failure taught me things about mylf that
I could have learned any other way. I discovered that I had 28
a strong will and the more discipline than I had suspected; 29
I also found out that I had friends who value was truly
above the price of rubies. The knowledge which you have 30
emerged wir and stronger from tbacks means that you
are, ever after, cure in your ability to survive.（分数：25.00）
