The nature and origins of words have long held a fascination for interested scholars and lay public, not onlyto satisfy intellectual curiosities but also because words knowledge has particular importance in literate societies. For the same reason, scholar interests have turned toward determining the nature of vocabulary development - that is, how and to what extent speakers and writers of English become masters of our lexical stock. The outcomes of these investigation are of more than passing interest to educators, for word knowledge contributes significantly to achievement in the subject of schools curriculum as well as in formal and informal speaking and writing. In fact, the substantial body of research has been published in this century concerning the educational implications of these vocabulary studies.
　　Language as vibrant and dynamic as the cultures of which they are a part, and lexical stock of a language is a vivid example of this linguistic principle. Words, after all, no more than lables for concepts about the world around us, and as new concept emerge or old one change, the lexical stock changes accordingly. It is a linguistic paradox that change is constant when applied to vocabulary. Many words in common use 200 years ago are now obsolete, just as many words used today will be tomorrow's artfacts.
　　English language is no exception, with lexicons that reflects its many sources of origin and the effects of changes over time. Because the core stock of words rooted in anglo-Saxom beginnings. English contain thousands of additional words borrowed from languages communities with whom we have come in contact. Both of these sources have provided yet more words - those that have been derived form erlier words forms by addition of prefixes and suffixes or those that have been shifted to new grammatical function. Still more words have emerged by the process of compounding in which existing words are joint to form new combining parts of words, or simply by creating new words out of ‘whole cloth.” The ingredients of our lexical stock are indeed rich and varied.
　　The vocabulary, or lexicon, of language encompasses the stock of words of that language which is at te disposal of a speaker or writer. Contained within this lexicon storehouse is a corevocbulary of the words used to name common and fundamental concepts and situations of a cultures, as well as the subset of words that result from one's personal. social. and occupational experiences. Probably most important influence on one's speech is simple circumstance of the language spoken in the country of one's birth. Each of us grows up interacting with and interpreting the world around us, to a large degree throught the medium of language. Therefor, understanding vocabulary and language to the greatest capacity possible should be foundamental tenet of anyone's education.
　　Q1. Which one of the following is a claim that the author of the passage makes about the English lexicon?
　　A. The life span of a word in common use in about 200 years
　　B. Most of our language was developed in Roman time.
　　C. Many English words have nothing to do with the language's anglo-Saxom core.
　　D. New Words are rarely created any more.
　　E. Change in our lexical stock is a relatively uncommonce occurrence.

　　Q2. Message support which one of the following claim about words origin
　　A. There are myriad possible origin for words.
　　B. Words are often derived from ancient language but rarely from other cultures
　　C. There are relatively few ways for a word to come into common usage.
　　D. Words are created as often as they drop out from use.
　　E. Culture and history have little to do with the words what are currently in common use.

　　Q3. information in the passage provides the LEAST support to which one of following claim?
　　A. Studying population's language can reveal much about its culture.
　　B. How the lexical stock changes is dependent on how concept of the world around changes.
　　C. Without language, it would much more difficult to interpret and interact with the world around us.
　　D. The old words can adopt new meaning as the concept they were meant to lable envolves over time.
　　E. The least important influence on one's speech is which language we learnt to speak first.|www.examda.com|

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