Language learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and later starters are often long listeners. Most children will “obey” spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word “obey” is hardly right as a kind of the wanting and happy understanding usually shown by the children. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gestures（手势）and by making questioning noises.
Any attempt（尝试）to study the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words, leads to great difficulties. It is agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises divide themselves as particularly（特别 ；尤其）expressive as pleasure, pain, friendliness, and so on. But since these can’t be said to show the baby’s meaning to communicate, they can hardly be regarded as early forms of language. It is agreed, too, that from about three months they play with sounds for enjoyment, and that by six months they are able to add new words to their store. This self-imitation leads on to easy imitation（模仿）of sounds made or words spoken to them by other people. The problem then arises（发生；出现）as to the point at which one can say that these imitations can be considered as speech.
It is a problem we need to get our teeth into. The meaning of a word depends on what a particular person means by it in a particular situation; and it is clear that what a child means by a word will change as he gains more experience of the world. Thus the use, at seven months, of “mama” as a greeting for his mother cannot be dismissed as a meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at another time for his father, his dog, or anything else he likes. Playful and meaningless imitation of what other people say continues after the child has begun to speak for himself. I doubt, however, whether anything is gained when parents take advantage of this ability in an attempt to teach new sounds.
1. How do most children behave before learning the language at an early age?| A．They ask questions by repeating the words. |
| B．They take in language through different amounts of listening. |
| C．They understand and respond to adults’ oral instructions. |
| D．They are eager and delighted to cooperate with the adults. |
| A．may have difficulty in their listening |
| B．probably do not hear enough language spoken around them |
| C．often take a long time in learning to listen properly |
| D．usually pay close attention to what they hear |
| A．words have different meanings for different people |
| B．the changeover（变更）takes place gradually |
| C．the meaning of words changes with age |
| D．children’s use of words is often meaningless |
| A．Parents need not teach their children new sounds. |
| B．Children no longer imitate people after they begin to speak. |
| C．Children still enjoy imitating after they can speak. |
| D．Children who are good at imitating no longer need parents’ help. |
相似题推荐
Never too old to learn
活到老学到老
Very few of us become smooth in another language by studying it in high school.
I went to university and then moved across the country, had a hard job, married and raised children. I made an effort to keep the little bit of French that I learned in school, but finally realized that this was pointless. I fully realized that new languages are best learned when young, and that our abilities in that regard go down with age.
However, just before my 50th birthday, I signed up for French classes. After I was tested to see which group I belonged in, I was placed at almost the starting level. When I looked around at my first Saturday morning class, I was struck by how many of the students were learning French as a third, fourth, or even fifth language. I used to think it was impossible to learn a new language, but some people can learn them easily. I discovered that some language skills weaken as we get older.
While I’d always thought of myself as a quick learner, that was no longer the case. I learned new words very slowly. What I learned one week seemed to slip away as soon as I learned the next skill. I looked up the same words and language structures over and over again.
Now, a couple of years in, I can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first try, read a novel if the language is not too difficult, and hold up my end of a conversation if it doesn’t go too fast.
I can still achieve many things, who knows what?
I’ve learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I’ve met people from around the world and all walks of life who have the courage to make fools of themselves in order to learn something new. I’ve been taught by patient teachers from many corners of the world, including France, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.
Listening to the news as it is presented to the people of France, I have a new understanding of how something can look completely different from another view. I’ve learned that a language is not just a set of words, but a way of thinking.
But most of all, I’ve learned that it really is never too late to learn something new.
1. When did the writer first realize that new languages are best learned when young?| A．In high school. | B．In university. | C．After moving across the country. | D．After having children. |
| A．They were all beginners. |
| B．They were all older than the writer. |
| C．They were all learning French as a second language. |
| D．They were all learning French as a third, fourth, or fifth language. |
| A．It was easy for everyone. | B．It was impossible for everyone. |
| C．It was easy for some people. | D．It was impossible for the writer. |
| A．Remembering new words. | B．Understanding grammar. |
| C．Speaking with native speakers. | D．Reading scientific novels. |
| A．It is easier for young people to memorize new vocabulary. |
| B．Old people are less patient with themselves to learn new things. |
| C．Our abilities to learn a language go down with age. |
| D．Young people are more motivated to learn new languages. |
【推荐2】The expression "down to earth" means being open and honest. It is easy to get on with someone who is down to earth. A down-to-earth person is the opposite of someone who acts important or proud.
Down-to-earth people could be important members of society. But they do not consider themselves to be better than others who are less important. A person who is filed with his own importance and pride is said to have his nose in the air.
Americans use another expression that is similar in some ways to down to earth. The expression is both feet on the ground. Someone with both feet on the ground is a person with a good understanding of realty(现实). He may have dreams, but he does not allow them to have influence on his understanding of what is real.
The opposite kind of person is one who has his head in the clouds. Someone with his head in the clouds is a person whose mind is not on what is happening in real life. Such a person may be called a day-dreamer.
When we have both our feet on the ground and when we are down to earth. we do not have our noses in the air. We act honestly and openly to others. Our lives are like the ground below us-solid(牢固的)and strong.
1. A down-to-earth person could be _______ .| A．social and proud | B．good and opposite |
| C．real and important | D．strong and changeable |
| A．眉飞色舞 | B．目中无人 | C．瞻前顾后 | D．春风得意 |
| A．get along with other people easily | B．learn from those who are down to earth |
| C．be a good dreamer with quick mind | D．have both your feet on the ground |
【推荐3】Before you read this story, let's take a look at a sentence inChinese:“研表究明，汉字序顺并不定一影阅响读。”Did you notice that some of the characters in this sentence are in the wrong order'? You might not realize it, but your brain can read and understand most sentences, even when the words are in the wrong order.This may have something to do with psychology, according to Chen Qingrong from Nanjing Normal University.When we're first learning how to read, we read word by word, But after we become more experienced, we read in full phrases and even sentences. People can read five to six words at one time, Chen told the Yangtse Evening Post Also, as experienced readers, we take the things we're familiar with for granted. We don't pay as much attention to small details, such as word order.
Therefore, when we read the sentence at the beginning of this article, the content was familiar to us. So we read it the way we think it should be in our memory, with all the words in the right order. This is like when we see a person with long hair we assume* the person is a girl withouttaking a closer look, according to Chen.
This can be also seen in many other languages, such as English. Read the following sentence: "This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef. but the word as a wlohe."
It is believed that humans remember the meanings of words mostly by their shape and layout, rather than the order of the letters, Matt Davis of Cambridge University told the Independent.
However, we cannot read scrambled* sentences as quickly and efficiently as we read the normal text, according to Daily Telegraph.
1. According to the passage, if the words in a sentence are in the wrong order, we may .| A．correct them immediately | B．not notice the wrong order |
| C．not understand the sentence | D．have to ask others for help |
| A．they read sentences word by word | B．they understand the content easily |
| C．they pay lots of attention to small details | D．they read several words together at a time |
| A．pay more attention to details | B．take a close look at the sentences |
| C．read according to our experience | D．read familiar contents more slowly |
| A．explain why people can understand scrambled sentences |
| B．give suggestions on how to remember the meanings of words |
| C．tell us that humans care more about the shape and layout of words |
| D．stress that it's necessary to know the order of the letters in a sentence |
【推荐1】①Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to their young trees?
②Professor Simard, forest ecologist (森林生态学家) from the University of British Columbia, explains how trees are much more complex (复杂的) than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin (达尔文) thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard and her team have made a new discovery and showed just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their group work and support, passing around necessary nutrition (营养) like Nitrogen (氮) and carbon “depending on who needs it”.
③Nitrogen and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌) networks. This makes sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive nutrition to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is cut down, it influences all.
④Simard talks about “mother trees”. These are usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. These “Mother Trees” are connected to all the other trees in the forest by this network of fungi, and may manage the resources of the whole trees and plants in the forest. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the young trees, transporting important nutrition to them so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “Mother Trees” without paying attention to these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances to save the whole forest.
⑤“We didn’t take any notice of it” Simard says sadly. “Mother trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chances.” If we could explain the message clearly to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.
1. The underlined sentence “the opposite is true” in Paragraph ② probably means that trees ________.| A．compete for survival | B．protect their own wealth |
| C．depend on each other | D．provide support for dying trees |
| A．they look the largest in size in the forest | B．all the other trees depend on them |
| C．they pass on nutrition to dying trees | D．they transport important nutrition to young trees after dying |
| A．how “tree societies” work | B．how trees grow old |
| C．how forestry industry develops | D．how young trees survive |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．Charles Darwin had the same opinion as Simard. |
| B．trees communicate with each other less deeply than we think. |
| C．if “Mother Trees” are cut down, they make no difference to the forest. |
| D．nitrogen and carbon play an important role in the forest ecological system. |
【推荐2】It is a question people have been asking for ages—is there a way to turn back the aging process in people? For centuries, people have been looking for a “fountain of youth.” The idea is that if you find a magical fountain, and drink from its waters, you will not age.
Researchers in New York did not find an actual fountain of youth, but they may have found a way to turn back the aging process. It appears the answer may be hidden right between your eyes, in an area called the hypothalamus (下丘脑). The hypothalamus is part of your brain. It controls important activities within the body. They include growth, reproduction and the way we process food.
Researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that hypothalamus neural stem cells also influence how fast aging takes place in the body.
What are stem cells? They are simple cells that can develop into specialized cells, like blood or skin cells. Stem cells can also repair damaged tissues and organs.
Dongsheng Cai is a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was the lead researcher in a study on aging in mice. He and his team reported their findings in the journal Nature.
“Aging speed is controlled, can be controlled by a particular place in the body, which is the hypothalamus. And it can be controlled by a particular type of cells, which are hypothalamus stem cells.” He adds that when the hypothalamus starts aging, so does the body. “So when hypothalamus function is in decline, particularly the loss of hypothalamus stem cells, and this protection against the aging development is lost, it eventually leads to aging.”
Using this information, the researchers began trying to activate, or energize, the hypothalamus in laboratory mice. They did this by injecting the animals with stem cells. Later, the researchers examined tissues and tested for changes in behavior. They looked for changes in the strength and coordination of the animals’ muscles. They also studied the social behavior and cognitive (认知的) ability of the mice. The researchers say the results show that the treatment slowed aging in the animals.
“When we injected the hypothalamus stem cells, which were derived from young mice, we injected them to the middle-aged mice and that was, in fact, to slow down aging. So the mouse aged slowly and they also have increased their lifespan, which is longevity.”
But these results were just from studying mice in a laboratory. If the mice can live longer, does that mean people could have longer lives? The next step is to see if the anti-aging effects also work in human beings. “If we can translate what we have seen in animals to humans, I think humans, they can function better during later ages, later stage of aging.”
Cai and his team say their studies may have other benefits. They say the findings could lead to new ways to help doctors identify and treat any number of age-related health issues.
1. What do we know about the hypothalamus?| A．It’s located in the eyes. |
| B．It starts aging due to the increase of its stem cells. |
| C．It plays key role in controlling the aging process. |
| D．It functions well when the body starts aging. |
| A．They strengthened the muscles of the mice. |
| B．They examined tissues and tested the behavior of mice. |
| C．They injected the stem cells into the younger mice. |
| D．They changed the social behavior and cognitive ability of the mice. |
| A．The decrease of hypothalamus stem cells can lead to aging. |
| B．They have found a way to turn back the aging process. |
| C．The finding has been applied to human being. |
| D．The brain controls growth, reproduction and the way we process food. |
| A．Inject stem cells of young mice into humans. |
| B．Research on the cognitive psychology. |
| C．Help human beings live longer. |
| D．Do similar experiments on human beings. |
| A．How human being age |
| B．A new discovery about cells |
| C．Hypothalamus—the fountain of youth |
| D．The ways of slowing down aging |
For years, it has been a difficult question for scientists. But a US research group may have finally answered it—the secret lies in a protein(蛋白质)called FKF1. This helps plants to know when the days become long and when they get short. Then they can tell the seasons are changing.
Researchers found the FKF1 protein when they were studying a plant called Arabidopsis(拟南芥). It is sensitive(敏感的)to sunlight, and can be made active by sunlight.
Plants produce this protein every day in the late afternoon all year. If there is no light at this time, for example in winter when the sun goes down early, the protein won’t be active. But when spring comes and the days get longer, the FKF1 protein can be made active by day light and the plants “know” it is time to flower. “If there is light in the late afternoon, plants will know that the days are getting longer and that it is the best time for flowers to come out,” explained Takato Imaizumi, leader of study. But when conditions are poor for growing, such as during autumn or winter when the weather is cold and days are short, plants won’t flower.
Although researchers have only studied how the FKF1 protein works in the Arabidopsis, they believe that it is the same with many other plants, including crops such as rice and wheat. This could be useful to the agricultural industry.
“If we can control when flowers come out, we might be able to increase crop production,” Imaizumi said.
1. The passage is mainly about ____.
| A．how plants “know” when to flower |
| B．what people can do with plants |
| C．how seasons are changing |
| D．what kind of plant Arabidopsis is |
| A．answering a question |
| B．controlling the clours of flowers |
| C．planting flowers in the garden |
| D．studying a plant called Arabidopsis |
| A．it rains in spring |
| B．there is light in the late afternoon |
| C．it is getting dark |
| D．the sun goes down early |
| A．other plants also know when to flowers |
| B．flowers are more valuable than fruits and vegetables |
| C．people have known how to control when flowers come out |
| D．if the weather is cold and days are short, plants will flower |
【推荐1】Our ancestors used stars to guide them on a clear night. Now we have navigation systems (导航系统) to help us find our way, with the latest being the Beidou Navigation Satellite (卫星) System(BDS).
The BDS is completely built by Chinese engineers. With the last satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center flew into space on Jun 23, 2020, the network of 59 satellites has been completed. On July 31, 2020, Beidou started providing full-scale services (全方位服务). It’s difficult to imagine what those satellites can’t do in our daily lives.
When you unlock one of the Hellobike’s bicycles, you are using the BDS. This popular bike-sharing company came out with two new bike models which have the positioning service this year. Users can also find shared bikes more exactly thanks to Beidou.
However, the BDS doesn’t just work on way. As the largest space-based system in China, Beidou uses a special two-way communication system, including its ability to receive messages sent by people from areas with poor communication signals. It isn’t for users to chat online. Instead, it plays a role when disasters like earthquakes happen and communications don’t work.
After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, all ground-based communication tools couldn’t work. Though Beidou could only send 120 characters(字符) in just one message at that time, communication between these poor areas and helping centers was successful. Now, it can sent 1, 200 Chinese characters in a message. It is widely used in areas such as disaster alarms, and information release.
Now, Beidou is more and more widely used in our everyday life. As SunJiadong, former chief designer of the BDS said, “Beidou can be used in more industries than you can imagine.”
1. In the old days, people use _________ to guide them on a clear night.| A．the moon | B．the sun | C．the BDS | D．stars |
| A．23 | B．31 | C．59 | D．120 |
| A．战争 | B．灾难 | C．选举 | D．奇迹 |
| A．The BDS first started working on June 23, 2020. |
| B．The BDS can provide us with a lot of helpful services. |
| C．People can find their lost bicycles thanks to Beidou. |
| D．The BDS can send 120 Chinese characters in a message now. |
| A．the BDS | B．great engineers | C．shared bikes | D．an earthquake |
Each team member builds character. They learn to cooperate (合作). They learn to make good decisions. They work hard. They practice every day. They learn to follow the rules.
Each team member has a position (位置). Each position is part of winning. No one player has the ability to win the game for the team. Only if the team works together does a team win. People often say, “
Whether the team wins or loses, at the end of the game they congratulate the other team. That is called sportsmanship. While they fight to win during the game, it is just a game. They cannot be angry with the other team. If they are, they’ll hear from their coach.
Some coaches say that if you go into a classroom at their school you’ll be able to tell the players. It is not that they are bigger than the other students. It is the ones who are helping other students work. Teamwork is part of their lives.
1. Schools build football teams mainly to help students _____.
| A．get good grades | B．become leaders |
| C．build good values | D．improve football skills |
| A．I never take part in the game. |
| B．I am not a member of the team. |
| C．A famous star is the key to success. |
| D．Teamwork comes first during the game. |
| A．The captain | B．The coach | C．The headmaster | D．The monitor |
| A．taller | B．bigger |
| C．more helpful | D．more talented |
【推荐3】Big Brothers Big Sisters is based on the power of friendship. It is a program which provides friendship and fun by matching vulnerable young people (ages 7-17) with a volunteer adult who can be both a role model and a supportive friend.
Volunteer tutors come from all walks of life — married, single, with or without children. Big Brothers and Big Sisters are not replacement parents or social workers. They are tutors: someone to trust, to have fun with, to talk and go to when needed.
A Big Sister and Little Sister will generally spend between one and four hours together three or four times each month for at least twelve months. They enjoy simple activities such as a picnic at a park, cooking, doing sports or going to a football match. These activities improve the friendship and help the young person develop self-respect, confidence and life direction.
Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations can be found throughout the world. It is the largest and most well-known provider of tutor services internationally and has been operating for 25 years.
Emily and Sarah have been matched since 2008. Emily is a 15-year-old girl who has experienced some difficulties being accepted by her schoolmates at school. “I was pretty sure there was something wrong with me.”
Emily’s mum came across Big Brothers Big Sisters and thought it would be of benefit to Emily by “providing different feedback about herself other than just depending on schoolmates to measure (测量) her self-worth.”
Sarah wanted to get involved (使参与) in a volunteer program. “I googled it and found out how to be a part of it. I thought it would be fun for me to get involved in making time to do something because sometimes it is all work and no play.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters has been of great benefit and enjoyment to both Emily and Sarah. They love and look forward to their time together and the partnership has certainly helped Emily be more comfortable in being the wonderful and happy girl she is!
1. According to the passage, “vulnerable young people” are probably those who are ________.| A．popular at school | B．rather weak physically |
| C．easily hurt emotionally | D．confident in themselves |
| A．72 hours | B．48 hours | C．36 hours | D．24 hours |
| A．She felt a bit bored with her life. |
| B．She used to be a volunteer. |
| C．She needed a part-time job. |
| D．She wanted to get a difficult job. |
| A．To offer students public services. |
| B．To help students improve their grades. |
| C．To organize funny sport activities for young people. |
| D．To provide partnership and fun for young people. |
