1 . Have you ever thought of the reasons why we had better learn a second language? As a matter of fact, in today’s highly-connected world, there are many benefits of it. Here are a few of them.

It helps you better understand the world.

Learning a language isn’t just about learning words and grammar.     1    . Learning new languages can broaden your horizons(眼界)and bring you closer to people of different nationalities. You may develop a deep appreciation for another culture, or become friends with someone totally different from you.

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As you learn and get better at the language, you’ll find that you have increased self-awareness and more confidence using your second language, which can also make you more attractive to others! Truly, people will respect the fact that you’re learning another language. Native speakers will be impressed with your efforts, friends and family will be proud of you and strangers will be interested in your story.

It makes you smarter.

Believe it or not, it is said that learning a second language improves your memory and strengthens your problem-solving abilities.     3    . The more you use your brain to learn, the more powerful your brain will become.

You can help more people.

    4    ! Perhaps it’s obvious, but speaking another language allows you to help more people. There are volunteer programs around the world where multilingual(多语言的) speakers are valuable to the team. Being the bridge of communication between cultures is a great feeling, and the joy you’ll get from helping someone in need will make all the hard work of learning the language worth it.

There are so many positive effects of learning a second language.     5    .

6 . Music first or language? If you think about it, the spoken word has a sort of musicality to it. The way we pronounce, our voice changes, our word choices, and even the volume and speed at which we speak all have a musical effect.

In the scholarly paper Music and Early Language Acquisition (获得), researchers attempted to prove that in order to speak, people must first have an understanding of music. The authors argue that spoken language should be described as “a special type of music”.

By these standards, music is not a pointless part of life at all; it is necessary to all communication between humans. The researchers go on to point out that our brains process language musically, so there is much to be said of studying music alongside language, and at a very young age.

According to professor of theory and music composition Anthony Brandt, children as young as newborns have a basic understanding of music. In an interview with Medical News Today, Brandt said that the sounds of language, not the meaning of it, are what infants (婴儿) first learn. It is later on that they are able to associate those sounds with what they mean. Brandt, who co-authored the research paper mentioned above, said that newborns can break down parts of sound like tone and rhythm (节奏). Therefore, exposure to music trains babies’ brains for language comprehension and the art of speaking.

Brandt and his co-authors also found that infants cannot really tell what their native language is when compared to other languages, and the same is true with music. Once a baby has reached that one-year mark, he or she will start to distinguish the speech and music that are most closely associated with their own family and society. “This is why exposing infants to several languages and types of music is so important,” Brandt said, “The more sounds they hear, the wider their base of understanding of sounds, language and music as they grow older.”

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart,” Nelson Mandela said. So it is important for us to master a new language. Although learning a new language can be very     1     (challenge), it’s     2     (definite) rewarding.

Building language skills doesn’t happen overnight. But     3     the help of dependable learning sources and regular practice, you might get there sooner than you think. What’s the best way to learn a language?

Immersing (浸没) yourself in a language is arguably the most     4     (effect) way to learn a language. Immersion-based learning is indeed the most natural way to pick up new words, phrases and expressions. Of course, it would be better to be in the country     5     the language is spoken. But if you can’t travel at the moment, don’t worry. There are other ways to immerse yourself in a language you’re learning. For example, the best language learning apps that focus on immersion. They will allow you     6     (listen) to native speakers.

When it     7     (come) to the best way to learn a language, as     8     matter of fact, it’s important to know that you need to find the way to learn a language that works best for you. Although the methods     9     (mention) above are suitable for everyone, you need to pay attention to     10     (you) learning habits as well.

10 . Four Tips to Improve Your English Vocabulary

Learning vocabulary is a big part of learning a language. The more English words you learn, the better you can communicate your needs, ideas, thoughts and feelings to others in English.     1     Here are four tips for better vocabulary learning.

It’s a really good idea to write down useful new vocabulary.     2     Plus, lots of people learn better when they see things written on paper, rather than just hearing them.

●Revise new vocabulary regularly.

So, you’ve got an English notebook full of useful vocabulary to remember. But did you know that if you don’t look again at the new words and phrases, you only remember on average 20-25 percent of them?     3    

So make five minutes each day to revise your English vocabulary. The more you look backwards, the faster you go forwards!

●Learn from context.

“Context” means the text that comes before and after a particular word.     4     It helps you guess the meaning of words you don’t know, it shows you how a word is used in a sentence, and it helps you remember the word for longer.

This means learning vocabulary by reading and listening is more effective than trying to study word lists. It also means that it’s better to make a note of how a word is used in a sentence rather than just the word on its own.

Researchers have found that you need to see or hear a word on average ten times to remember it. But you learn it much faster when you’re actively using a word.

So, besides getting as much exposure to English as you can,take every opportunity to communicate in English with other people.