『新东方在线托福听力』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 19 Lec 1听力练习：What point does the professor make when she says that some languages have similar-sounding words?原文题目答案解析，TPO/Official 19 Lec 1听力原文范文音频翻译。

托福TPO/Official 19 Lec 1听力原文What point does the professor make when she says that some languages have similar-sounding words?【新东方在线】

Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a linguistics class.

教授：好的，一直到现在，我们的注意力都集中在语言学的核心领域，包括句法，词法，语义等一次只需要关注一门语言的领域，即语音、词汇和句子是如何在一门语言中协同工作的。

Professor: All right, so far we have been looking at some of the core areas of linguistics, like syntax, phonology, semantics, and these are things that we can study by looking at one language at a time, how sounds, and words, and sentences work in a given language.

但是，历史语言学与之前的教学内容有区别，它涉及到多种语言的共时比较，或者一门语言的历时发展研究。

But the branch of historical linguistics, involves the comparison of several different languages, or the comparison of different stages of a single language.

如果你们要比较好几门语言，会发现它们有很多共同之处。

Now, if you are comparing different languages, and you notice that they have a lot in common.

可能，它们有相似的语音，某些词汇之间有相同的意义和相似的读音。

Maybe they have similar sounds and words that correspond to one another that have the same meaning and that sound similar.

现在我们就用真实存在的语言来解释语言之间的联系吧。

在18世纪，研究过梵文、拉丁语和古希腊语的古典语言的语言学家们，注意到这三种语言之间有特别多的相似之处。

In the 18th century, scholars who have studied the ancient languages, Sanskrit, Latin and Greek, noticed that these three languages had many similarities.

而且，他们还提出几条理由来解释为何语言之间会有如此多的共同之处。

And there might be several reasons why languages such as these had so much in common.

可能这是机缘巧合，可能其中一种语言受到另一种语言很深程度的影响，由于它从另一种语言中借来了很多词语。

Maybe it happened by chance, maybe one language was heavily influenced by borrowed words from the other.

或者，这几种语言在很早以前是同一门语言，即它们在谱系上有关联，而最后一种解释，就是梵文、拉丁语与希腊语之间的联系。

Or maybe, maybe the languages developed from the same source language long ago, that is, maybe they are genetically related, that was what happened with Sanskrit, Latin and Greek.

这些语言之间的相似之处是如此之多，以至于学者们一致认为它们同出一源。

These languages had so many similarities that was concluded that they must have all come from the same source.

当我们谈到语言学领域的重大进展时，无疑这就是其中一项。

And talk about important discoveries in linguistics, this was certainly one of them.

学者们把这三种语言的源语言称为“原始印欧语系”。

The scholars referred to that source language as Proto-Indo-European.

它是一门经过重建之后得出的语言，即它就是语言学家们构拟出来的、三门语言共同有的母语；正是因为它的存在，这三门语言之间才能有如此多的相似之处。

Proto-Indo-European is a reconstructed language, meaning it is what linguists concluded a parent language of Sanskrit, Latin and Greek would have to be like.

并且，“原始印欧语系”还和其他的语言之间相互交叉，这些语言又演变成其它语言，总之，现今世界上流行的许多语言之间都可以溯源到一个共同的母语，即“原始印欧语”，它的使用时间大概是几千年之前。

And Proto-Indo-European branched out into other languages, which evolved into others, so in the end, many languages spoken all over the world today can trace their ancestry back to one language, Proto-Indo-European, which was spoken several thousand years ago.

现今语言学界发展出一种标记语言进化，显示它们之间相互关系的方式，即语言家族谱系树。

Now, one way of representing the evolution of languages, showing the way languages are related to each other, is with the family tree model.

它就像一张你可以用来追溯到数代人以前家谱图一样，只不过它展示的是几门语言之间的相互关系而不是人。

Like a family tree that you might use to trace back through generations of ancestors, only it's showing a family of genetically related languages instead of people.

这个模型的开端是一门共同的母语，譬如“原始印欧语”吧。

A tree model for a language family starts with one language, which we call a mother language, for example, Proto-Indo-European.

我们称之为“姊妹语”改为分支到自己的子语言当中，这些语言有共同的来源，同样的母亲，我们称之为姊妹语。

The mother language, is the line on the top of this diagram, over time, it branches off into new daughter languages, which branch into daughter languages of their own, and languages that have the same source, the same mother, are called sisters.

它们之间有许多共同特征，这种分裂趋势不断演化，直到形成目前这张倒置的树图所展示的局面。

They share a lot of characteristics, and this went on until we are looking at a big upside down tree languages like this.

当然这张图是不完全的，只是给你们看一个大意。

It is incomplete of course, just to give you an idea.

这大概就是树图的基本要领吧。

So that's the family tree model, basically.

谱系树图是一种很直观的展示方式，它明白地告诉我们同属于一个家族的语言是如何发展的，两种语言之间的关系紧密程度如何。

Now, the tree model is a convenient way of representing the development of a language family and of showing how closely related two of more languages are.

但它明显是很简略的，利用一个分支来表示一门语言，并不能表明它在演化中发生的全部变化。

But it is obviously very simplified, having a whole language represented by just one branch on a tree doesn't really do justice to all the variations within that language.

同学们，你们想一想西班牙语的例子吧，欧洲西班牙人说的西班牙语，与墨西哥人说的西班牙语是不同的。

You know, Spanish that spoken in Spain isn't exactly the same as Spanish that is spoken in Mexico, for example.

谱系图的另一个问题是，尽管事实上语言是渐变的，但是它展示出来的却是语言的变化都是一夜之间完成的，似乎存在一个显著的时间间隔，在此之前某几种语言属于同一种语言，在此之后它们就是独立的几种语言。

Another issue is that languages evolve very gradually, but the tree model makes it look like they evolve over night, like there was a distinct moment in time when a mother language clearly broke off into daughter languages.

但这在我看来，事实并非如此。

But it seems to me it probably wasn't quite like that.

What point does the professor make when she says that some languages have similar-sounding words?

What does the professor say was an important discovery in linguistics?

Based on the discussion, what information can be shown on a tree model?

Why does the professor mention variation within a language?

What can be inferred about the professor when she says this:

Narrator 
Listen to part of a lecture in a linguistics class. 
Professor 
All right, so far we have been looking at some of the core areas of linguistics, like syntax, phonology, semantics, and these are things that we can study by looking at one language at a time, how sounds, and words, and sentences work in a given language. But the branch of historical linguistics, involves the comparison of several different languages, or the comparison of different stages of a single language. 
Now, if you are comparing different languages, and you notice that they have a lot in common. Maybe they have similar sounds and words that correspond to one another that have the same meaning and that sound similar. Let’s use a real-world example. In the 18th century, scholars who have studied the ancient languages, Sanskrit, Latin and Greek, noticed that these three languages had many similarities. And there might be several reasons why languages such as these had so much in common. Maybe it happened by chance; maybe one language was heavily influenced by borrowed words from the other. Or maybe, maybe the languages developed from the same source language long ago, that is, maybe they are genetically related, that was what happened with Sanskrit, Latin and Greek. These languages had so many similarities that it was concluded that they must have all come from the same source. And talk about important discoveries in linguistics, this was certainly one of them. 
The scholars referred to that source language as Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Indo-European is a reconstructed language. Meaning, it is what linguists concluded a parent language of Sanskrit, Latin and Greek would have to be like. And Proto-Indo-European branched out into other languages, which evolved into others, so in the end, many languages spoken all over the world today can trace their ancestry back to one language, Proto-Indo-European, which was spoken several thousand years ago. 
Now, one way of representing the evolution of languages, showing the way languages are related to each other, is with the family tree model. Like a family tree that you might use to trace back through generations of ancestors, only it’s showing a family of genetically related languages instead of people. A tree model for a language family starts with one language, which we call a mother language, for example, Proto-Indo-European. The mother language, is the line on the top of this diagram, over time, it branches off into new daughter languages, which branch into daughter languages of their own, and languages that have the same source, the same mother, are called sisters, they share a lot of characteristics, and this went on until we are looking at a big upside down tree languages like this. It is incomplete of course, just to give you an idea. So that’s the family tree model, basically. 
Now, one way of representing the evolution of languages, showing the way languages are related to each other, is with the family tree model. Like a family tree that you might use to trace back through generations of ancestors, only it’s showing a family of genetically related languages instead of people. A tree model for a language family starts with one language, which we call a mother language, for example, Proto-Indo-European. The mother language, is the line on the top 
of this diagram, over time, it branches off into new daughter languages, which branch into daughter languages of their own, and languages that have the same source, the same mother, are called sisters, they share a lot of characteristics, and this went on until we are looking at a big upside down tree languages like this. It is incomplete of course, just to give you an idea. So that’s the family tree model, basically. 
Now, the tree model is a convenient way of representing the development of a language family and of showing how closely related two of more languages are. But it is obviously very simplified, having a whole language represented by just one branch on a tree doesn’t really do justice to all the variations within that language. You know, Spanish that spoken in Spain isn’t exactly the same as Spanish that is spoken in Mexico, for example. Another issue is that languages evolve very gradually, but the tree model makes it look like they evolve over night, like there was a distinct moment in time when a mother language clearly broke off into daughter languages. But it seems to me it probably wasn’t quite like that. 
Now, the tree model is a convenient way of representing the development of a language family and of showing how closely related two of more languages are. But it is obviously very simplified, having a whole language represented by just one branch on a tree doesn’t really do justice to all the variations within that language. You know, Spanish that spoken in Spain isn’t exactly the same as Spanish that is spoken in Mexico, for example. Another issue is that languages evolve very gradually, but the tree model makes it look like they evolve over night, like there was a distinct moment in time when a mother language clearly broke off into daughter languages. But it seems to me it probably wasn’t quite like that.

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