sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring language skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.
Linguists(语言学家)suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.
Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about Man’s brain compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of , say, a teddy-bear(玩具熊)with the sound pattern “teddy-bear”.
But speech has to be stimulated, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling(牙牙学语), grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s non-verbal signals is essential to the growth and development language.
11. Frederick II’s experiment was violent because_________.
A) he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak
B) he ignored the importance of mothering to the infant
C) he was unkind to the nurse
D) he wanted his nurses to say no mother tongue
12. The reason some children are backward in speaking today that_________.
A) their mothers do not respond to their attempts to speak
B) their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them
C) they do not listen carefully to their mothers
D) their brains have to absorb too much language at once.
13. By “critical times” in Paragraph 3 the author means__________.
A) difficult periods in the child’s life
B) moments when the child becomes critical to its mother
C) important stages in the child’s development
D) times when mothers often neglect their children
14. Which of the following in NOT implied in the passage?
A) Ability to learn to speak a language is inborn in man
B) Children do not need to be encouraged to learn to speak
C) Early language starters are not necessarily highly intelligent
D) Most children learn their language in definite stages
15. If the mother does not respond to her child’s signals_________.
A) the child will never be able to speak properly
B) the child will stop giving out signals
C) the child will invent a language of his own
D) the child will make little effort to speak
Passage Four
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.
Americans who remember “the good old days” are not alone in complaining about the educational system in this country. Immigrants(移民) complain ,too. Lately a German friend was filled with anger when he learned that the mathematics test given to his son on his first day as a college freshman included multiplication and division. Japanese businessmen in Los Angeles send their children to private schools staffed by teachers imported from Japan to learn mathematics at Japanese levels, generally considered at least a year more advanced than the level here.
But I wonder: If American education is so poor, why is it that this is still the country of innovation(创新)?
When I was 12 in Indonesia, I had to memorize the name of all the world’s major cities, from Kabul to Karachi. At the same age, my son, who was brought up by a Californian, thought that Buenos Aires was Spanish for good food. However, unlike children of his age in Asia and Europe, my son had studied creative geography. When he was only 6, he
drew a map of the route that he traveled to get to school, including the streets, the traffic signs and the houses that he passed.
Dissatisfied American parents forget that in this country their children are able to experiment freely with ideas; without this they will not really be able to think or to believe in themselves.
Critics of American education cannot grasp one thing: freedom. America, I think, is the only country that extends even to children the license to freely speak, write and be creative. Our public education certainly is not perfect, but it is a great deal better than any other. I think I have found the answer to my question.
16. From the text we learn that_________.
A) both Americans and immigrants are dissatisfied with the quality of American education
B) the author shares the general idea that American education is worse than education in many other countries
C) Japanese schools in America require their American teachers to teach mathematics at Japanese levels
D) the author’s German friend was a little displeased because the mathematics test for his son was too easy.
17. Which of the following is NOT true?
A) The author most probably was an immigrant from Asia and received some school education there.
B) Buenos Aires must be the name of a city, as are Kabul and Karachi.
C) Children in other countries are not likely to learn creative geography.
D) The knowledge of geography of the author’s son shows that American education is poor.
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