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No reference book, perhaps no book of any kind except the Bible, is so widely used as "the dictionary". Even houses that have few books or none at all possess at least one dictionary; most business offices have dictionaries, and most typists keep a copy on their desks; at one time or another most girls and boys are required by their teachers to obtain and use a dictionary.

Admittedly, the dictionary is often used merely to determine the correct spelling of words, or to find out the accepted pronunciation, and such a use is perhaps not the most important from an intellectual point of view. Dictionaries may, however, have social importance, for it is often a matter of some concern to the person using the dictionary for such purpose that he should not suggest to others, by misspelling a word in a letter, or mispronouncing it in conversation, that he is not "well-bred", and has not been well educated. Yet, despite this familiarity with the dictionary, the average person is likely to have many wrong ideas about it, and little idea of how to use it profitably, or interpret it rightly. For example, it is often believed that the mere presence of a word in a dictionary is evidence that it is acceptable in good writing. Though most dictionaries have a system of marking words as obsolete, or in use only as slang, many people, more especially if their use of a particular word has been challenged, are likely to conclude, if they find it in a dictionary, that it is accepted as being used by writers of established reputation. This would certainly have been true of dictionaries a hundred years or so ago. For a long time after they were first firmly established in the eighteenth century, their aim was to include only what was used by the best writers, and all else was suppressed, and the compiler frequently claimed that this dictionary contained "low" words. Apparently this aspect of the dictionary achieved such importance in the mind of the average person that most people today are unaware of the great change that has taken place in the compilation of present-day dictionaries. Similarly, the ordinary man invariably supposes that one dictionary is as good and authoritative as another, and, moreover, believes that "the dictionary" has absolute authority, and quotes it to clinch arguments. Although this is an advantage, in that the dictionary presents a definition the basic meaning of which can't be altered by the speaker, yet it could be accepted only if all dictionaries agreed on the particular point in question. But ultimately the authority of the dictionary rests only on the authority of the man who compiled it, and, however careful he may be, a dictionary-maker is fallible: reputable dictionaries may disagree in their judgments, and indeed different sections of the same dictionary may differ. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage？ A．The Bible is the most widely used reference book. B．The dictionary is the most widely used reference book. C．The dictionary is actually the more widely used book than the Bible. D．The Bible is used as widely as the dictionary.

时间：2023-10-07 14:13:39

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