《2026年一本密卷高考英语》

D(2025·浙江杭州·高三检测)
Language gives us the power to describe countless actions, properties and relations that compose our experiences, real or imagined. As for how languages were created, scientists found iconicity might play a key role.
People can't bridge language gap and understand each other without iconicity. When playing a game of charades(猜字谜), we act out our meaning, using our hands and bodies to describe the sizes and shapes of objects. The key to this process of forming new symbols is the use of iconicity. Not limited to gesturing, iconicity appears in our visual communication too. Traffic signs, food packaging, maps... wherever there are people communicating, you will find iconicity.
According to our research, iconicity might also exist in our voices. We organized a contest in which we invited contestants to record a set of sounds to express different meanings. The winner of the contest was determined by how well listeners could guess the intended meanings of the sounds based on a set of written options. Critically, the sounds that contestants submitted couldn't include actual words or onomatopoeias(拟声词).
Listeners were remarkably good at interpreting the meanings of the sounds. Yet, all of the contestants and listeners were speakers of English. Thus, it was possible that listeners' success relied on some cultural knowledge that they shared with the speakers. Did the listeners also understand the speakers from completely different cultural backgrounds?
Later, an Internet survey translated into 25 different languages was carried out. Participants listened to each sound from the English speakers and guessed the meaning by choosing from six written words. Guessing accuracy for the different groups ranged from 74 percent for English speakers to 34 percent for Portuguese speakers. It is far from perfect, but well above the chance rate of eight percent expected by us.
Taken together, these studies show that our capacity for iconic communication has played a critical role. Without this special talent, language would likely never have gotten off the ground.
12. Which of the following can explain "iconicity"?
A. A skill in foreign language learning.
B. The process of acting out our meanings.
C. The connection between form and meaning.
D. A barrier between different language speakers.
13. What can we know about the contest?
A. It required sounds containing meanings.
B. Its winners were creative in recordings.
C. It aimed to prove iconicity in words.
D. Its entries were familiar to listeners.
14. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
A. English pronunciations differ.
B. The research has a limitation.
C. The cultural gap is narrowing.
D. Listening skills vary in cultures.
15. What is the significance of the research?
A. Clarifying the influence of sounds.
B. Proving the necessity of exchanges.
C. Uncovering the origin of languages.
D. Identifying the function of gestures.

答案： 12.C 13.A 14.B 15.C