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Test:LSAT Reading
Adapted fromThe Art of Public Speakingby Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (1915)
Our English has changed with the years so that many words now connote more than they did originally. This is true of the word "monotonous." Fromhaving but one tone, it has come to mean more broadly,lack of variation.
The monotonous speaker not only drones along in the same volume and pitch of tone, but uses always the same emphasis, the same speed, the same thoughts—or dispenses with thought altogether.
单调,红衣主教和最常见的罪孽的public speaker, is not a transgression—it is rather a sin of omission.
Emerson says, "The virtue of art lies in detachment, in sequestering one object from the embarrassing variety." That is just what the monotonous speaker fails to do—he does not detach one thought or phrase from another; they are all expressed in the same manner.
To tell you that your speech is monotonous may mean very little to you, so let us look at the nature—and the curse—of monotony in other spheres of life, then we shall appreciate more fully how it will blight an otherwise good speech.
If the Victrola in the adjoining apartment grinds out just three selections over and over again, it is pretty safe to assume that your neighbor has no other records. If a speaker uses only a few of his powers, it points very plainly to the fact that the rest of his powers are not developed. Monotony reveals our limitations.
In its effect on its victim, monotony is actually deadly—it will drive the bloom from the cheek and the luster from the eye as quickly as sin, and often leads to viciousness. The worst punishment that human ingenuity has ever been able to invent is extreme monotony—solitary confinement. Lay a marble on the table and do nothing eighteen hours of the day but change that marble from one point to another and back again, and you will go insane if you continue long enough.
| 1. | The author begins the passage with the changing definition of "monotony" in order to__________. |
reinforce the idea in the reader's mind that monotony is the largest problem public speakers face
draw the reader back to the older definition of monotony
create a sense of mystery about the real meaning of monotony
make a larger point about the way that language changes in history
confuse the reader as to the real meaning of the word "monotony"
