THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT ________A. AMERICAN MEN AS HOUSEHUSBANDSB. HOUS...

Câu 42: This article is about ________

A. American men as househusbands

B. housewives in America

C. how more American women are working

D. how family life in America is changing

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the

correct answer to each of the questions below.

Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than

speech. A little thought, however, will show w hy speech is primary and writing secondary to

language.

Human beings have been writing (as far as we can tell from surviving evidence) for at least 5000

years; but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human

beings.

When writing did develop, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even

today there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well

before we learn to write; any human child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally

will learn to talk: a normal human being cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it

takes a special effort to learn to write. In the past many intelligent and useful members of society did

not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to

read or write, while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so only imperfectly.

To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not, however, to disparage the latter. One

advantage

writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any

civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.