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.
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 why speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing at least 5,000 years, but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings. When writing developed, 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 child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal man 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 imperfectly.
To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not to disparage the later. 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.
According to the author, one mark of a civilized society is that if _______ .
A. affirms the primacy of speech over writing
B. affirms the primacy of writing over speech
C. teaches its children to speak perfectly
D. keeps written records
Chọn đáp án D
Theo tác giả, một dấu hiệu của một xã hội văn minh là nó
A. khẳng định tính ưu việt của lời nói vượt trội hơn viết
B. khẳng định tính ưu việt của viết vượt trội hơn lời nói
C. dạy cho trẻ em nói một cách hoàn hảo
D. giữ hồ sơ bằng văn bản
Đáp án D
Thông tin ở câu: "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." (Để khẳng định tính ưu việt của lời nói lớn hơn viết không phải là để xem thường nó. Một lợi thế mà viết vượt lên trên lời nói là nó vĩnh viễn hơn và có thể làm các hồ sơ mà bất kỳ nền văn minh nào cũng phải có.