Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms-he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.

　　40. According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” as

　　[A] “temporary” is to “permanent”.

　　[B] “radical” is to “conservative”.

　　[C] “functional” is to “artistic”.

　　[D] “humble” is to “noble”.

　　[答案] C

　　[解题思路]

　　本题对应信息在文章的最后一段，在“our paper plates instead of china”之前的一句话是对这句话的最好注脚，即“he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful”，其中useful和beautiful分别是functional和artistic的同义词，答案为C。A、B、D选项的表述都没有文章依据。

　　[题目译文]

　　根据文章最后一段，“纸盘”相对于“瓷盘”的关系就好像是

　　[A]“暂时”对“永远”

　　[B]“激进”对“保守”

　　[C]“功能性的”对“艺术性的”

　　[D]“低贱”对“高贵”