时间:2019-02-23 作者:英语课 分类:英语时差8,16


英语课

 Yael: Don, what came first? Language or perception?


Don: Hey, is this one of those questions with no answer?
Y: No definitive 1 answer, but a couple of theories. The first is that the language you speak affects how you perceive the world.
D: So people who speak in different languages may perceive the world differently?
Y: Yes. And the second theory is that you perceive objects around you and think about them, and then use language to express your ideas. According to this theory, we're sensitive to all kinds of conceptual distinctions, but the language we speak teaches us to pay attention to some while ignoring others.
D: I think I get it. For example, I heard that in Korean, you can categorize the relationship between objects depending on how loosely or tightly they fit together. So Korean has a one verb to describe putting a shoe in a large box and another to describe putting a shoe in a small box. In English, we don't really have a term for this type of relationship between objects.
Y: Right. That's why this distinction between Korean and English is often studied by psychologists. For example, in one study, psychologists tested five-month-old babies to see whether they noticed how objects fit together.
D: Oh, because they're too young to speak.
Y: Right. So if the tight-fit/loose-fit distinction is a matter of language, babies wouldn't be able to detect it, in the same way that they can't distinguish between the words lawyer and accountant.
D: So what was the verdict?
Y: The babies did notice how tightly objects fit inside each other. So, at the very least, there is some universal core of physical distinctions that all people notice before learning to speak.  

adj.确切的,权威性的;最后的,决定性的
  • This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
  • No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样,还没有人给出明确的答复。
学英语单词
adaptive coloration
address, effective
Akarnanika, Ori
always a bridesmaid, never the bride
and as well
anticorona coating
apartment block
ASBATANKVOY
back-pocket
Barmy Army
bartizans
Berndt
bills receivable register
brain-drains
branchiostomous
breccia like structure
bridechilla
bundt cake
catalytic metal
character count program
chase ... up
Cleobury Mortimer
clericalize
comminuted fibres
consecutive sequency computer
consolidated statement of cost goods sold
Corneoconjunctivoplasty
creep-rupture
crisscross merge
cutting off turning machine
dead-end steel tower
diet pill
differings
Dischidia nummularia
DIW
electric vehicles
electrotonic junction
fish oil fatty acid
flexible metal sleeve gasket
frontal eminences
functionless
hash map
high resolution spectroscopy
hinged panel
hoodied
hyperbolic guidance
impedance-matching transformer
improved propeller
individual capacity
invariant approach
invites
iorgulescu
irreplacable
isoperms
left handed crystal
lexigraph
light bulb
little doubt
Macaranga indica
Malay
mictomagnetism
nonfrugivorous
nylan
objectives of accounting
occult anemia
phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate
Pilning
plunger type briquetting machine
popehead
port-levels
powdery scab
precis
preset flight path
previous cleaning
protective barrier
pseudofermions
ptomatopsia
quadrimodality
random rubble fill
riveted lap joint
sarcophaga ostindicae
scare campaign
scotch malt whiskies
send datagram
shabuoth
sodium bentonite
taiwan habu
tea firing
tension stiffening
this time next year
threo isomer
tower loading
tremens rigor
two-dimensional condensation
two-direction thrust bearing
urico-
video amplifier channel
Villafranca del Penedés
Villatobas
wallaba
wavelength-division-multiplexer
zabaleta