| A．He majors in Italian. | B．He wants to become a linguist. |
| C．He doesn’t like to do programming. | D．He is interested in language learning. |
| A．Italian. | B．German. |
| C．Japanese. | D．Chinese. |
3 . Lily
Studying abroad is an area that is becoming increasingly interesting for researchers, as more students are choosing to do a semester, a year or even a degree in another country. In my research, I set out to establish whether young people attending a course abroad acquire more global awareness than students enrolled on similar courses in their home country, Using a comparative study of 50 Canadian undergraduates, half of whom studied abroad for varying lengths of time, there were shown to be considering gains in global awareness and these were not only noted by the students themselves but also their tutors.
Thomas
My research project asked ten students starting a year of study abroad to keep a daily record of their experiences. Having begun the diary a month before leaving home they continued it for a month after they returned. The primary reason for studying abroad in all cases was to polish their language skill. The students were allowed to write as freely as they wished by were asked to include comments on their language learning experience as well as on the strategies they used to cope with living in a new culture. Analysing the diaries, we found remarkably similar patterns. All the participants demonstrate a gradual recognition and acceptance of difference in other cultures and a new objectivity about their own culture as a result of their experience.
Jasmine
This paper reports on some research carried out last year into why students choose a period of study abroad, their reasons for selecting a specific destination, their behaviour when abroad and the extent to which the experience matches their expectations. Having administered a questionnaire to 1,000 international students studying at a number of universities in Australia, we got 696 responses. An initial analysis of the responses has revealed some interesting data suggesting that the key factor affecting all the areas we were investigating was the individual's personality and study interests. Country of origin and 'gender proved less significant than expected.
Jimmy
This research looked at the career paths of 35 young business people who had spent part of their university course at a foreign educational institution in order to ascertain whether those people had acquired greater cross-cultural perspectives through their experience of study abroad. Concerned about the lack of cultural awareness of their staff, a group of US business corporations proposed the research. The results are less conclusive than expected, but they do suggest that a period of study in a foreign country may help students to develop the cross-cultural awareness that US employers currently seek.
1. The passage is mainly about four researchers' findings on ________.| A．the reasons for young students to study abroad |
| B．the impact and effects of studying in another country |
| C．the trend of more students furthering their study abroad |
| D．the interest of students who once studied in another country |
| A．Lily | B．Thomas | C．Jasmine | D．Jimmy |
| A．Most of the researchers found the students global awareness increased. |
| B．All of the researchers took a reserved attitude towards studying abroad. |
| C．None of the researchers thought gender played a role in students' choice. |
| D．Only one of the researchers did research on the subjects' career development. |
4 . Learning a second language is tricky at any age (and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to open that dusty French book). Now, in a new study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reading fluency in a second language seems to plummet: 10.
The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it’s “nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native - level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after 10. But that doesn’t seem to be because language skills go downhill. “It turns out you’re still learning fast. It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,” says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.
Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they’re better able to adapt and respond to new information. “All learning involves the brain changing,” Hartshorne says, “and children’s brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing.”
Kids may also be more willing to try new things (and to potentially look foolish in the process) than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to default（默认）to the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank slate（石板）.
These findings may seems discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 -- when language learning ability starts to drop off -- seems relatively old. “People fared better when they learned by immersion（沉浸）, rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where our desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that’s not an option, you can mimic an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities,” Hartshorne says. By doing so, it’s possible to become conversationally proficient -- even without the advantage of a child’s brain.
1. The word “plummet” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “____”.| A．plunge | B．rise | C．end | D．vary |
| A．Age 10 -18 is the best time to learn a second language. |
| B．Children are too young to grasp a second language. |
| C．Communicating with native speakers enables you to master all the language skills. |
| D．Adults go beyond the critical period for learning a second language. |
| A．Adults are less influenced by their mother tongues |
| B．Adults are only too willing to experience something awkward in the process. |
| C．Adults spend more time responding to new information. |
| D．Adults prefer an immersive environment to a classroom in learning a second language. |
| A．the approaches to learning a second language |
| B．the best age to learn a second language. |
| C．why kids learn a second language more easily than adults |
| D．whether adults can learn a second language like their younger selves |
| A．Interesting. | B．Boring. | C．Difficult. | D．Amazing. |
I used to joke that I spoke French like a three-year-old — until I met a French three-year-old and couldn’t hold up my end of the conversation. This was after a year of intense study, including at least two hours a day with self-instruction software and weekend classes, followed by two weeks of an immersion program (沉浸式教学) at one of the top language schools in France.
My failure was in fact quite unremarkable. Despite advertising claims,
In the last few years, I was unable to hold a list of four grocery items in my mind. So to reassure
After a year of struggling with the language, I retook the cognitive assessment, and the results shocked me. My scores had skyrocketed,
What might explain such an improvement? Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Northwestern University noted that the cognitive tasks
If my experience is any indication, you might be better off studying a language. Not only is that a far more useful and enjoyable activity
