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  3. 根据以下材料，回答题 The men and women of Anglo-Saxon Englandnormally bore one name on...

根据以下材料，回答题 The men and women of Anglo-Saxon Englandnormally bore one name on...

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问题 根据以下材料，回答题
The men and women of Anglo-Saxon Englandnormally bore one name only. Distinguishing epithets were rarely added.These might be patronymic, descriptive or occupational. They were, however,hardly surnames. Heritable names gradually became general in the threecenturies following the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was not until the 13th and14th centuries that surnames became fixed, although for many years after that,the degree of stability in family names varied considerably in different partsof the country.
British surnames fall mainly into four broadcategories: patronymic, occupational, descriptive and local. A few names, it istrue, will remain puzzling: foreign names, perhaps, crudely translated, adaptedor abbreviated; or artificial names.
In fact, over fifty per cent of genuineBritish surnames derive from place names of different kinds, and so they belongto the last of our four main categories. Even such a name as Simpson may belongto this last group, and not to the first, had the family once had its home inthe ancient village of that name. Otherwise, Simpson means "the son ofSimon", as might be expected.
Hundreds of occupational surnames are atonce familiar to us, or at least recognisable after a little thought: Archer,Carter, Fisher, Mason, Thatcher, Taylor, to name but a few. Hundreds of othersare more obscure in their meanings and testify to the amazing specialization inmedieval arts, crafts and functions. Such are "Day" (old English forbreadmaker) and "Walker" (a fuller whose job was to clean and thickennewly made cloth).
All these vocational names carry with them acertain gravity and dignity, which descriptive names often lack. Some, it istrue, like "Long", "Short" or "Little", aresimple. They may be taken quite literally. Others require more thinking; theirmeanings are slightly different from the modem ones. "Black" and"White" implied dark and fair respectively. "Sharp" meantgenuinely discerning, alert, acute rather than quick-witted or clever.
Place-names have a lasting interest sincethere is hardly a town or village in all England that has not at some timegiven its name to a family. They may be picturesque, even poetical; or they maybe pedestrian, even trivial. Among the commoner names which survive withrelatively little change from old-English times are "Milton" (middleenclosure) and "Hilton" (enclosure on a hill).

This passage is mainly about ________.查看材料
选项 A.the importance of surnames
B.the origin and culture of Britishsurnames
C.the dignity of having a proper surname
D.the meanings of British surnames
答案B
解析主旨题。本文第一段讲英国姓氏的发展，第二、三、四段讲英国姓氏的分类及起源，第五、六段讲英国姓氏的含义。A、C项没提英国，首先排除。D项“英国姓氏的含义”，只是文章的一个方面，也排除。B项概括较为全面．故选B。
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