【推荐1】Throughout history，people have been interested in knowing how language first began，but no one knows exactly where or how this happened._______，we do know a lot about _______，the languages of today and also the languages of _______ times. There are _______ about three thousand languages in the world today. Chinese is the language _______ the most speakers. English，Russian and Spanish are also spoken by many millions of people._______，some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.

There are several important _______ of languages in the world. For example，most of the languages of _______ are in one large family _______ the Indo­European language family. The original language of this family was spoken about 4,500 years ________.Many of the present languages of Europe and India are modern ________ of the language of 4,500 years ago.

Languages are ________ changing. The English of today is very different ________ the English of 500 years ago.Over time some even ________ completely. About 1,000 years ago ________ was a little known relative of German ________ on one of the borders(边界) of Europe.

If a language has ________ speakers or if it is very old，there may be ________ in the way it is spoken in different areas. That is，the language may have several ________.Chinese is a good example of dialect differences. Chinese has been spoken for thousands of years by many millions of speakers. The differences among the dialects of Chinese are so great that speakers of Chinese from some parts of China ________ understand speakers from other parts.

【推荐2】Recently, a couple in New Zealand were forbidden from naming their baby son 4Real. Even ____ New Zealand has quite free rules about____children, names beginning with a____are not allowed. They decided to call him Superman____.

In many countries around the world, ____names for children are becoming more popular. In Britain, you can call a child almost____you like. The only restrictions on parents____to offensive(冒犯的) words such as swear words.

____parents choose names which come from____culture. For example, there have been six boys named Gandalf____the character in the Lord of the Rings(指环王) novels and films. ____, names related to sport are fairly common –____1984, 36 children have been called Arsenal(阿森纳) after the football team. Other parents like to____names, or combine names to make their own____names, a method demonstrated (证实的) by Jordan, the British model, ____recently invented the name Tiaamii for her daughter by____names Thea and Amy (the two grandmothers).

Some names which were previously____as old-fashioned have____popular again, but the most popular names are not the strange____. The top names are fairly____, for example, Jack, Charlie and Thomas for boys and Grace, Ruby and Jessica for girls.

【推荐3】Language studies traditionally have paid much attention to verbal and written language. But recently they have begun to consider language without _______ , for people regard nonverbal(非言语的) _______ as having meaning. Nonverbal acts either accompany verbal messages are used _______ . They may support or even contradict _______ messages. They are more likely to be used _______ because they are habitual and routine behaviors.

In some _______ , people express more non-verbally than verbally. If you ask an obviously depressed person, “What’s wrong?”, and he answers, “Nothing. I’m fine,” you probably won’t _______ him. When an angry person says, “Let’s _______ the subject. I don’t want to talk about it anymore!” actually he hasn’t _______ communicating. His withdrawal and ____________ continue to convey emotional meaning.

One study showed that 93 percent of the ____________ was communicated by the tone of the ____________ and facial expressions, while only 7 percent of the speaker’s attitude was conveyed by words. It is ____________ that we express our emotions and attitudes more non-verbally than verbally.

Nonverbal communication expresses ____________ or feeling beyond words. Universal emotions, such as happiness, fear, and sadness, are expressed in a ____________ nonverbal way throughout the world. There are, however, nonverbal differences across cultures that may be a source of confusion for foreigners. For example, feelings of friendship exist everywhere but their expression varies. It may be acceptable in some countries for men to embrace each other and for women to hold hands; in other countries these acts of affection may be shocking.

What is acceptable in one culture may be completely unacceptable in another. In order to correctly interpret another culture’s style of communication, it is necessary to study the “silent language” of that culture.

【推荐2】Dr. James Naismith is known worldwide as the inventor of basketball, one of the world’s greatest sports ever.

James Naismith was born in 1861 in Ontario, Canada. After graduating from McGill University in Montreal, Naismith first _____ as Kansas Jayhawks’ athletic director. Then the young man _____ on to the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, the USA in 1891, where the sport of basketball was _____.   In Springfield, Naismith was faced with the _____ of finding a sport that was suitable to play inside during the Massachusetts _____ for the students, when it was too cold to go outside. Naismith _____ to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that only _____ strength. He needed a game that could be played _____ in a relatively (相对地) small space.

Naismith _____ to work. The first game ball was a soccer ball. The first baskets were peach baskets that Naismith cleverly thought of ______ on the wall. From there, the history of basketball began. ______, there were 9 men in each team, but the objective (目标) was still the ______ — to pass the ball to other ______ of your team and put the ball into the opposing team’s net, or basket. From there, basketball ______ rapidly like wildfire. During 1895, high schools and colleges began to play the game, and by 1898, the ______ Basketball League had been founded. After the first game was played, Naismith ______ 13 rules, but many more were yet to come.

______ the creation of basketball, James Naismith had ______ in other fields, mainly in sports physiology and what we would today ______ sports science. Naismith watched his sport, basketball, ______ to many nations and in 1936 basketball became an event at the Berlin Olympics. Today basketball has grown to become one of the world’s most popular sports.

【推荐1】Should you listen to music when you work?

Do you like to listen to music when you work?

Ask this question at a party, and you’ll probably get ______ responses. Some will say they love it, claiming that it improves their performance; others will say they find it distracting (分散注意力的) and cannot work ______with music playing in the background.

Interestingly enough, our research has found that both of these viewpoints can be true. It just ______ on what sort of work you’ re doing.

In a recent study, we brought participants into our lab to perform a variety of tasks. They included a(n)   ____ task-searching through word lists and crossing out words containing the letter “a” and a more difficult task — memorizing word pairs and ______ the word to its partner. Some participants completed all of the tasks in silence, ______ others completed the tasks with instrumental music that was either loud or soft, and either simple or complex, the latter meaning music with more instruments being played.

We found that participants who listened to simple music or no music performed about the same on the easy task. However, participants who listened to ______ music performed best on the easy task.

On the contrary, participants performed worse on the more difficult task when they listened to any music, regardless of complexity or volume, compared to those who didn’t listen to any music.

We suggest that people have limited mental resources from which both ______ and tasks can draw. We can become ______ and our minds may wander when these resources are not fully used. But we also can become over-excited and ______when these resources are used up.

【推荐2】Workers aren’t allowed to go into a huge underground computer center_________they step up to a machine that_______ a quick picture of the tiny blood vessels(管)inside their eyes.

If the machine can’t_______the picture with images in its computer, the worker is _______ by security(安全的)guards.

Each person has his own pattern of blood vessels in his or her eyes. And unlike a key, the pattern can’t be _______ .

Old-fashioned keys and locks may soon be things of the past.

High-tech security devices(装置) are being_______at military bases, computer centers, nuclear plant and banks. Companies that_______the machines say they’ll someday be used in people’s homes and cars.

Already, a Japanese firm has fixed devices that _______people’s fingerprints in 360 new homes. The machines open the doors only for the_______of the houses.

The new security devices are selling well because thieves and spies are getting better at breaking________buildings and computers that are protected by________. Since________can steal or copy a fingerprint or eye pattern, the new machines are ________.

________new machines recognize voice patterns. Two American companies use voice-recognition machines to keep an eye on their computers.

Inexpensive voice-recognition machines may someday ________locks on cars. The doors would open only for the owners. The devices would ________the owners________$ 270.

Although the up-to-date devices are ________, scientists must still solve a(n)________problem. How will a boy borrow his dad’s car without borrowing dad’s ________?

【推荐3】It’s Wednesday at Lismore South Public School, in northern New South Wales, Australia. A group of eight-year-olds practise _______ with four-legged friend Maggie. Sandy-haired Charlie says he likes her “because she’s so calm”．

Maggie, too, is eight human-years old and _______ enjoys Story Dogs, which is now in 239 Australian schools. Owner, Anne Meagher, says Maggie was rather _______ and good at escaping when she first adopted (领养) her.Now Maggie can stay still and patiently allows readers to _______ books on her stomach.

“It’s a simple enough idea, reading to a dog, but somehow the children _______ and find reading easier,” Anne says. “Maggie _______ listens to the children read. She doesn’t _______ them or correct them. She’s non－judgmental.But the facts show she is helping children _______. I haven’t had one student in two years who hasn’t improved. I think we create a space where they can feel _______ to make mistakes and have a __________.”

“Story Dogs is __________,” says Janine Sigley who, with Leah Sheldon, came up with the program, to make reading __________ for children, so they become confident (自信的) lifelong readers.

“Schools have reported not only improved reading but also __________ self-confidence among readers who become more prepared to join classroom activities,” Janine says. “Story Dogs is helping to build up kids’ interest in reading, and once a child __________ to read, they can do so much__________ at school.”