1 . Can you imagine there being a community where boys and girls growing up together can finally speak different languages? In Ubang Nigeria, it really happens. It’s not exactly clear what percentage of the words in the men’s and women’s languages are different, but there are enough examples to make sentences sound different when spoken by the opposite sex. For “clothing”, men use the word “nki”, while women say “ariga”; “kitchi” means tree for men, while women say “okweng”. These are not just some slight pronunciation differences, but totally different words. “It’s almost like two different lexicons (词汇集),” a language expert, Chi Chi Undle said. “There are a lot of words that men and women share in common, but there are others which are totally different depending on your sex. They don’t sound alike, and don’t have the same letters. They are completely different words.”
Interestingly, both men and women are able to understand each other perfectly in Ubang, as both boys and girls grow up around their parents and get to learn both languages, but by the age of 10, boys are expected to speak in the male tongue. It seems that there is a stage the male will reach and he discovers he is not using the rightful language. When he starts speaking the men’s language, you know the maturity is coming into him.
No one really knows how or why the double-language tradition of Ubang began. Chi Chi Undie believes the two languages are the result of a “double-sex culture” where men and women operate in two separate spheres (范围) and live in separate worlds that rarely come together. However, she admits this is a weak theory, as the double-sex culture is present in many parts of Africa, where there are no different languages for men and women.
Today, with English words constantly entering the lexicon of young Nigerians, Ubang’s two languages are in danger of being lost forever. Worse still, neither the male nor female language is written down, so they both rely on young people passing them down to the next generation.
1. What do we know about languages in Ubang?| A．Word differences account for a high percentage. |
| B．Men and women speak totally different languages. |
| C．Word differences partly exist between the opposite sex. |
| D．Men and women pronounce differently on the same word. |
| A．Their lexicons sound alike. |
| B．They learn both languages at school. |
| C．The men can speak two different languages. |
| D．They are exposed to both languages in their childhood. |
2 . Although many Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is good, most would admit that their spoken English is poor. Whenever I speak to a Chinese student they always say, “My spoken English is poor.” However, their spoken English does not have to remain “poor”! I would like to suggest that there may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.
First, they fail to find suitable words to express themselves because of a limited vocabulary. Obviously the better answer is to expand their vocabulary. However, you can speak with a limited vocabulary, if your aptitude is positive. Others will follow you as long as you use the words that you know.
Second, they are afraid of making mistakes. Sometimes they make mistakes when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. Yet students should remember that their goal should be FLUENCY (流利) NOT ACCURACY (准确性). Your aim in writing is to be accurate following the rules for grammar and using the right words and spelling them correctly. However, in speaking your aim is fluency. You want to get your message across, to talk to someone in English, as quickly and as well as you can, even though sometimes you may use a wrong word or tense, but it doesn’t matter because the person you are speaking to will understand you and take into consideration any mistakes he hears.
The third reason is that not enough attention is paid to listening. You have one mouth but two ears! All that hearing was necessary for you to start speaking.
Forth, most Chinese students are reactive (反应式的) rather than proactive (积极主动的) language learners. Instead of actively finding out opportunities (机会) to improve their spoken English, they passively wait for speaking opportunities to come to them and wonder why their English always remains poor. If you have this proactive outlook, then you will see English opportunities wherever you go.
If you do not use your English out of the classroom you will forget what English you know. Remember: USE IT OR LOSE IT! You can learn how to speak English better by speaking English more.
To improve their spoken English, students should do the following things EXCEPT ______.
| A．try to be as reactive as possible in learning English |
| B．try their best to enrich their vocabulary |
| C．try to avoid being afraid of making mistakes |
| D．pay more attention to listening before opening mouth |
