Passage 85
Among other things, language is a system that relates sound with meaning, a relation which is determined in a rather arbitrary manner. // Human languages are so different as to be mutually unintelligible.// Yet these difference, great as they are, are differences of detail.// They have a great deal in common in their basic principles, and in the way they approach certain specific problems of communication.//
Passage 86
We are all intimately familiar with at least on language, yet few of us ever stop to consider what we know about it. // One of the wonders about language and language use is that with a finite set of rules, speakers can produce and understand an infinite set of sentences.// If language is defined merely as a system of communication, then language is not unique to humans.// a basic property of human language is its creative aspect and this well explains why young kids learning to talk often produce some sentences that greatly surprise the adults around.//
Passage 87
The difference between a human brain and a computer can be expressed in a single word; complexity.// Inside the human brain, many billions of neurons and cells are interconnected in a vastly complicated network that we can’t begin to interpret as yet.// Even the most complicated computer man has yet built can’t compare in intricacy with the brain.// The brain cell is possessed of (拥有) a tremendously complex inner structure while the computer switch is just an on-off device.//
Passage 88
It is frequently said that computers solve problems only because they are “programmed” to do so.// One must remember that human beings also can only do what they are “programmed” to do // Our genes “program” us and our potentialities are limited by that program.// Sure enough, our “program” is much more complex than computer program.//
（责任编辑:doublejp）
