We use language every day. We live in a world of words. Hardly any

　　moment passes with someone talking, writing or reading. Indeed, __1__

　　languages is most essential to mankind. Our lives increasingly depend

　　on fast and successful use of language. Strangely enough, we know __2__

　　more about things around us than on ourselves. For example, language __3__

　　is species specific, that is, it is language that differs human from __4__

　　animals. However, we do not know yet how exactly we inquire language __5__

　　and how it is possible for us to perceive through language; nor we __6__

　　understand precisely the combinations between language and thought, __7__

　　language and logic, or language and culture; still less, how and when

　　language started. One reason for this inadequate knowledge of language

　　is that we, like language users, take too many things for granted. __8__

　　Language comes to every normal person so naturally that a few __9__

　　of us stop to question what language is, much less do we feel the

　　necessity to study it. Language is far more complex than most people

　　have probably imagined and the necessity to study it is far greater than

　　some people may have assured. Linguistic is a branch of science which __10__

　　takes language as its object of investigation.

　　参考答案及解析:

　　1. with 改为 without。”hardy any moment passes without someone…” , 两个否定: without 和hardly，意思是“每一时刻有人……”。

　　2. fast 前面加the因为fast and successful use 这个词组后边有一个前置词短语 of language 修饰use，所以被修饰的词前面加定冠词。

　　3. than on ourselves 改为than things on ourselves。在这里比较的是两件事：things around us and things on ourselves(我们周围的事物和我们自身的东西)。第二个things不能省略，否则引起误解。

　　4. differs 改为distinguishes。语言区分人与动物，differ是不及物动词，后面不能带宾语，只能用介词，如：Man differs from animals in that man possesses language。

　　5. inquire改为acquire“习得语言”应该是acquire language，名词短语是language acquisition。 Inquire 是“询问”的意思。

　　6. we前面加上 do 副词nor放在句首表示强调，应用倒装句，一般现在时强调句是在主语前面加助动词 do。

　　7. combination改为relationships.语言和思维的关系，不是结合;语言和思维的关系是当代语言学研究的重要领域。

　　8. like 改为as。根据上下文，要表达的意思是“作为语言的使用者”，不是“像语言的使用者”。

　　9. a 去掉 这里是否定的意思：“我们没有多少人……”而不是“我们一些人.….”。

　　10. assured 改为 assumed. 这句的后半部分意思是“研究语言的必要性比我们想象的要大得多”。Assure译为“确保”;assume译为“假设”或者“想象”的意思。