Learning a new language is like you’re going through the jungle with a knife and creating a path. When you learn two languages at once, you’re cutting your way through the jungle to create two paths, which requires twice the discipline (自律), time and motivation.
But it is possible. A 2020 study published in the International Journal of Multilingualism found that Chinese students learning English and Russian at the same time achieved similar mastery in English compared to a control group that just studied English. This is likely because they have already made enormous efforts. A 2017 study suggests that bilinguals (双语者) can learn new languages faster than single-language learners.
The biggest challenge of learning two languages at the same time is finding enough time and opportunities to study them. But to know just how many efforts and resources to put into it, you’ll need to decide what you want to achieve with the languages you’re planning to adopt. Becoming professor-level fluent in Polish is going to take a really long time, but if you want to be able to have conversations while you’re traveling, that won’t take as much time.
To help you distribute (分配) your time and energy more effectively, and get a better idea of what your study plan will look like, it’s important to understand how difficult a particular language is for a native English speaker. While it can take up to 2,200 hours to learn languages like Arabic and Mandarin, if you grew up speaking English, it’ll be easier for you to pick up Czech and German, for example. The easiest languages for native English speakers to learn include Spanish French, and Portuguese, which require between 600 and 750 hours of class to achieve professional mastery.
If it feels too discouraging to go full speed ahead on both languages right away, it might be easier to understand basic grammar and vocabulary for one language before adding another one to the mix.
1. Why can bilingual learners do as well as single-language learners?| A．Bilingual learners are cleverer. |
| B．Bilingual learners work harder. |
| C．Bilingual learners are more interested in languages. |
| D．Bilingual learners have a better learning environment. |
| A．The occasions of using the languages. |
| B．The steps to learn the languages. |
| C．The professors teaching the languages. |
| D．The purpose of learning the languages. |
| A．French. | B．German. | C．Mandarin. | D．Portuguese. |
| A．Learning Two Languages at Once | B．Ways of Leaning a New Language |
| C．Language Talent of Chinese Students | D．Difficulty in Learning Language |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Some people learn a second language easily. Other people have trouble learning a new language. How can you help yourself learn a new language, such as English?
◆Be patient.
You do not have to understand everything all at once.
◆Practice your English.
For example, write in a journal every day. You will get used to writing in English, and you will feel comfortable expressing your ideas in English. After several weeks, you will see that your writing is improving.
◆
Be positive about learning English and believe that you can do it. If you believe that you can learn, you will learn.
◆Keep a record of your language learning.
After each class, think about what you did. Did you answer a question correctly? Did you understand something the teacher explained? Perhaps the lesson was difficult, but you tried to understand it.
It is important to practice every day and make a record of your achievements. You will enjoy learning English, and you will have more confidence in yourself.
| A．Feel confident about learning English. |
| B．Write these achievements in your journal. |
| C．Besides, you must speak English every day. |
| D．Making mistakes is an unavoidable part in your life. |
| E．Share your achievement with your parents and friends. |
| F．It is natural for you to make mistakes when you learn something new. |
| G．The following are several tips to make learning English a little easier and more interesting. |
【推荐2】How to Speak English Fluently
Immerse(沉浸)yourself in English every day
There’s a special language learning method called “immersion”. With immersion, you try to surround yourself with the language as much as you can in your day-to-day activities.
Accept that English grammar has a lot of exceptions
Sometimes, you can find patterns in English grammar, but other times English doesn’t make sense at all. It’s easy to get stuck on learning how to speak English properly if you try to find a reason for everything.
Learn intonation, body language and gestures
Intonation is the “rise and fall” or tone changes in how a person speaks. Body language is how a person uses their own body to support (or go against) what they mean. Gestures are hand and body movements that work together with what someone is saying.
Share your opinions online
To really learn English speaking, you need to learn how to express yourself in English. Even if you have ideas for conversations, it can be hard to know how to put them into your own words. You can practice this by participating in conversations online.
Get direct feedback
To improve your speaking, you can ask directly for feedback. Since you usually can’t do this with casual conversations, it might be worth setting up a language exchange, where you can ask the person to tell you directly if any of your sentences sounds awkward or unnatural.
| A．Sometimes, English is just strange! |
| B．There are many options for practicing your writing skills. |
| C．Listen carefully when someone asks you a question in English. |
| D．It’s not easy to learn these three things because they seem very natural. |
| E．Posting on social media and leaving comments on articles are good approaches. |
| F．Studying English for an hour once a week isn’t usually enough to make any real progress. |
| G．There are even apps for this, like Go Correct, where you can connect with English teachers. |
【推荐3】If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice: There are four skills in learning English. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.
Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence, the meaning of the unfamiliar words, etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example, in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.
As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.
For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.
If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically, and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.
1. According to the author, which should you improve first among the four skills?| A．Reading and listening. | B．Reading and writing. |
| C．Writing and speaking. | D．Speaking and listening. |
| A．meet by accident | B．discover |
| C．find on purpose | D．look for |
| A．everyone should listen to VOA or BBC programs every day |
| B．you needn’t practice listening if you keep on reading every day |
| C．being good at reading is helpful in improving your listening |
| D．you should take notes of whatever you are hearing |
| A．choose suitable listening materials |
| B．deal with new words in reading |
| C．improve your English as quickly as possible |
| D．become fluent in speaking and writing English |
【推荐1】It’s a typical cold English Sunday afternoon in March. The light is slowly fading, but all-over British people are working in their gardens. They’re digging, cutting leaves and planting new seeds. By summer, their gardens will be full of bright colours.
The British love their gardens. A British newspaper recently asked people for their opinions about them. Seventy percent of the people felt it was important to spend time in the garden, and over half of these described gardening as the most enjoyable thing they ever did.
Only one in ten houses in Britain do not have a garden. People who live in houses without gardens often rent land cheaply from the government to grow flowers or vegetables. You can, of course, just grow house plants inside or on your balcony.
In the nineteenth century, however, gardening became a hobby. About the same time, better transport meant people could buy different kinds of seeds and plants for their gardens. Although roses, sunflowers, onions and tomatoes are often grown in British gardens, they originally grew wild in other countries.
In many villages and towns there are competitions for the gardens that are best looked-after. This year the winner was a little village in Northern Ireland called Ahoghill. It’s already won four prizes for its beauty. People also take part in competitions to grow the largest vegetables, but don’t expect to win: Britain’s biggest carrot is almost six metres long.
1. We can learn from the first three paragraphs that ________.| A．most British families have their own gardens |
| B．British people only work in their gardens on warm days |
| C．British people spend quite a fortune on their gardening hobby |
| D．in the UK, old people love gardening more than young people do |
| A．Gardens were mainly used to produce food to eat. |
| B．Gardening became a popular activity for poor people. |
| C．Transportation development added variety to garden plants. |
| D．Local garden plants were introduced to overseas countries. |
| A．How to look after a garden. | B．What British gardens look like. |
| C．The history of gardening in the UK. | D．The British public’s love of gardens. |
【推荐2】More than half of the world’s population are city residents, and, by 2050, the United Nations predicts that seven in ten people will be. Architects are having to consider how architecture influences our emotional well-being in urban settings.
According to Colin Ellard, a research psychologist at Waterloo University, Canada, there is a lot of evidence which shows “the profound impact that the design of buildings has on how we feel, how we treat one another, and our overall psychological well-being”. A study from the University of Heidelberg concluded that people raised in the countryside are less likely to have mental disorders than those raised in the city. The city of Vancouver in Canada, which is surrounded by mountains and ocean, recognises the need to connect with nature. It has included protecting ocean and mountain views in its urban planning guidelines. For example, tall buildings are set up in strategic locations that don’t block scenic views for downtown residents.
The British designer Thomas Heatherwick wants to make architecture less soulless and boring. He told The Guardian, “We need to fearlessly demand interestingness and make buildings that enrich our senses.” He has listed seven characteristics of a boring building. These include being too flat and straight. He says lack of depth means light and shadow cannot play on surfaces, while straight lines are at odds with nature and make buildings dull.
However, making buildings interesting is not always easy, as architect Rafael Vinoly found out in 2013 when he created the 37-store y skyscraper in London. The building was admired for its curved exterior walls covered in reflective glass. However, it acted like a magnifying glass and reflected light which melted nearby cars and almost set fire to a carpet. A screen had to be added to prevent the building causing further damage.
So, for your own well-being, surround yourself with buildings that bring you joy, and ideally a view of nature.
1. Why are tall buildings located in certain places in Vancouver?| A．To protect people’s mental health. | B．To follow the tradition of the city. |
| C．To caution people against disorder. | D．To reveal the prosperity of the area. |
| A．One with straight lines. | B．One having flat surfaces. |
| C．One having a security system. | D．One with innovative patterns. |
| A．Boldness. | B．Creativity. | C．Practicality. | D．Flexibility. |
| A．To call on people to live in big cities. |
| B．To compare buildings in different cities. |
| C．To stress the importance of healthy emotion. |
| D．To convince people of emotional impact by buildings. |
【推荐3】For a long time, comedy has been referred to as a profession for men only. But this has changed in recent years. Many female comics have made themselves outstanding on the stage not by ignoring the issues of gender (性别) inequality, but by bringing them to light.
Yang Li, 28, a stand-up comedy for about three years, focuses on the difficulties females face. For example, recently she bitingly joked about how women are represented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “In the film, The Avengers, there are six heroes, and only one of them is a woman, whose superpower is the ability to slow down her aging. How exactly can she be designed to save the world by surviving until all the bad guys die?” she said.
Despite getting more important roles, women still face challenges in the comedy industry. “I’ve found that the audience tend to be more judgmental about a female comedian’s appearance,” said Yang Mengqi, an outstanding comic. To avoid unwelcome attention, female comics have to be especially smart in choosing what clothes they wear to perform.
The other challenge is that females are sometimes taken less seriously, despite plenty of evidence of their talent and dedication in the field with males in the majority. Maple Zuo is a comic who performs in both English and Mandarin. “It’s hard to fit in when I’m the only female comedian at a show.” said Zuo, who has toured internationally. “Every time there’s a comedy scene party, they are naturally divided up into two groups: one for the male comics, the other for their girlfriends, she said. “I always end up hanging out with the girlfriends.”
Even so, many Chinese female comics feel optimistic about their future. Yang said, “When people ask what has motivated me to stick with stand-up comedy, my response is simple: I hope to use whatever influence I have to improve gender equality.”
1. Why did Yang Li joke about the role of the woman hero in The Avengers?| A．The woman hero is less brave than male heroes. |
| B．The woman hero has the power to defend the world. |
| C．There is only one woman surviving in the world. |
| D．The role shows the negative image about women. |
| A．They are particular about clothing. | B．They are not always valued. |
| C．They have a talent for acting. | D．They are often treated critically. |
| A．Confused. | B．Content. | C．Disturbed. | D．Hopeful. |
| A．To introduce the development of the comedy industry |
| B．To comment on the roles women comics play. |
| C．To present the challenges that female comics face. |
| D．To argue for the achievements of female comics. |
