新概念英语第四册55-02

第二个as后面，母语总体的词汇总量——被吸收到家庭语言中的儿语

over against 对比，与……比较

orders = different levels 不同层面，不同阶层

have had 虚拟

autonomously auto 自动 autonomous自治的

figure 省略用法=figure of speech 比喻

no more than 正好，恰好 = just

observation 观察，证明

life history 生平

first and foremost = above all 最重要，首先

accommodation 适应

pattern 行为模式

standard 规范，标准

hand down = pass on 流传下来

group 种族 = race

born into 出生于

globe = earth

s as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue over against those words of his own baby talk that are taken up into the vernacular of his family. When one seriously studies the social orders that have had the opportunity to develop autonomously, the figure becomes no more than an exact and matter-of-fact observation. The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviour. By the time he can talk, he is the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities, its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities.