It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.
The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.
Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?
U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.
Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.
Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it

  1. 1.

    What does the underlined sentence imply?

    1. A.
      Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day
    2. B.
      Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages
    3. C.
      Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous
    4. D.
      Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing
  2. 2.

    The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __

    1. A.
      good memory
    2. B.
      hard work
    3. C.
      unique brain
    4. D.
      learning methods
  3. 3.

    The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___

    1. A.
      had an unusual brain
    2. B.
      was born with great talent
    3. C.
      had worked hard at languages
    4. D.
      expected too much of himself
  4. 4.

    The author seems to agree that ___

    1. A.
      it is not hard to learn foreign languages
    2. B.
      hard work plays a part in language learning
    3. C.
      there is no such thing as a talent for languages
    4. D.
      hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language
DBAB
試題分析:文章通過舉了幾個會說好幾種語言的人,可以看出有的人是非常勤奮,有的人似乎大腦非同尋常,但歸根結(jié)底努力是分不開的。
1.推理題:從劃線的句子:我們可以看出Mezzofant 一分鐘學(xué)一個單詞,一天6小時,學(xué)11年,這是an impossible task 可知Mezzofant 的語言學(xué)習(xí)能力是讓人驚訝的。選D
2.推理題;文章第四段的句子:believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability.可知語言學(xué)習(xí)是需要努力的,后面舉例這個匈牙利女翻譯的例子,可知選B
3.細(xì)節(jié)題:從倒數(shù)第二段的句子:the scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language.可知Krebs有著不尋常的大腦。選 A
4.推理題:從文章的最后一段的句子:there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it. 可知作者認(rèn)為學(xué)習(xí)語言需要勤奮。選B。
考點:考查文化類短文
點評:文章通過舉了幾個會說好幾種語言的人,可以看出有的人是非常勤奮,有的人似乎大腦非同尋常,但歸根結(jié)底努力是分不開的。本文要求考生理解文章的主旨,通過題目篩選答案,讀者應(yīng)當(dāng)知道如何去做或按照某種方式傳遞思考問題。推理判斷題的答案不可能在文章中直接找到,因此推理時我們務(wù)必要忠于原文,在文章中尋找并確定可推論的依據(jù)。
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科目:高中英語 來源:湖南省師大附中2010屆高三第七次月考(英語) 題型:閱讀理解

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【小題1】The passage mainly discusses__________.
           

A.how sex differences are demonstrated in social relations
  
B.how hormone determines sex differences
  
C.why there are differences between males and females
  
D.why men and women have different social roles
【小題2】Which of the following is true of women's nurturing nature according to the passage?
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【小題3】The Harvard Law School example in paragraph 3 suggests that_________.
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【小題4】Which of the following statement is true according to paragraph 4?
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【小題2】Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?
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【小題1】Human beings should care about the environment because _________ .

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科目:高中英語 來源:2011屆山西省晉中市高三上學(xué)期四校聯(lián)考英語卷 題型:閱讀理解

Like most big projects, learning to manage your mother well is what you should do. Here are what I believe the best steps towards a better relationship with her. They are not necessarily surprising or revolutionary, but they have worked for many people. Try them.
Remember your mother’s age. As children, we often do not think of our mother as having an age. Even when we become conscious of her as an individual, age does not change our view; she is still our mother. Knowing our mother’s age, not just in numbers of years but in terms of her psychological and physical state, often helps us to understand her better.
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Remember that your mother has a past. A key step in managing our relationship with our mother is to find out about her early life.In learning about our mother’s past, we know that it can encourage us to think about her whole life.
Ask your mother about your childhood history. My grandparents died when I was young. If you are fortunate enough to have living family, think of your life as a jigsaw puzzle and ask as many questions as you can to put the picture together. Understanding your roots and your childhood can help you know more clearly who you are, as part of a family which you share with your mother.
Remember that managing your mother is really about managing yourself. Taking any measure to managing our mother is the issue of how we manage ourselves. No matter how difficult we find her, it is important to remember that it is not her behavior itself that is causing us discomfort, but the way we feel about her behavior. We should follow the way of her life. At the heart of managing your mother is being able to accept your flawed self. Only then are you able to accept your mother-----with all her failings.
64. 【小題1】What does the underlined phrase “a jigsaw puzzle” mean?

A.拼圖玩具B.瀏覽迷宮C.填充字謎D.游戲人生
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A.You will have a better relationship with your mother if you respect her opinion.
B.Knowing your mother’s age is a useful piece of advice.
C.The key measure of managing our mother is how we manage ourselves.
D.It is unreasonable to expect our mother to change totally from the way she was brought up.
66. 【小題3】The main purpose of writing the text is _______.
A.to give information about how you think of your mother
B.to improve the relationship with your mother
C.to keep a sense of humor about your mother all day long
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