下载全文：http://goo.gl/2fdbxv
美加文教又来与板上的大家分享真题了喔！
这次是出自Pinker所著的The Language Instinct。
A language instinct may seem ___ to those who think of language as the zenith
of the human intellect and who think of instincts as brute impulses that compel
furry or feathered zombies to build a dam or up and fly south.
这题可以从language instinct、think of language as the zenith of the human
intellect、think of instincts as brute impulses看出端倪。
先注意到句中的those who think of… and who think of…，这边的两种人是用and连接
，表示这两种人想表达的是同样的意思。think of language as the zenith of the
human intellect是说这些人“认为语言是人类智慧的巅峰”，think of instincts as
brute impulses是说这些人“认为本能只是野蛮的冲动”，所以简而言之就是“语言本能
(language instinct)不会凑在一起”。所以空格里填的就是对这些人而言，语言本能是
“不正常、冲突、刺耳”的”jarring”。
整句翻译如下：
对于那些觉得语言是人类智慧的巅峰的人，还有觉得本能只是那种有长毛的生物去筑水坝
(水獭)、往南飞(候鸟)的野性冲动的人来说，语言本能根本是无稽之谈。