根据以下材料，回答题ThemenandwomenofAngl-名校题库网

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 tha

A.a name shared by all the members of afamily
B.a word in front of a person's name toshow their rank or profession
C.an offensive word or phrase that is usedabout a person or group of people
D.an adjective or phrase that is used to describesomebody/something's character or most important quality

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答案： D

本题解析：

词义题。根据第一段的前四句话“The men and women ofAnglo-Saxon England normally bore one name only. Distinguishing _epithets wererarely added. These might be patronymic, descriptive or occupational. Theywere, however, hardly surnames."，盎格鲁一撒克逊时期的英国人．无论男女通常都只有一个名字，他们的名字后很少加有区别的epithets。这些epithets可能是源于父名的、描述性的或与职业有关的词语，但在那时还不是姓。A项“家族所有成员共用的一个名字”与distinguishing矛盾，排除；B项错在in front of；C项错在all offensiveword or phrase，原文没提；D项“用来描述某人／某事的特征或重要品质的形容词或短语”符合文意。故选D。