Speaking two languages can actually help offset(抵消) some effects of aging on the brain, a new study has found.
Researchers tested how long it took participants to switch from one cognitive(认知的) task to another, something that’s known to take longer for older adults, said lead researcher, Brian Gold, a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky.
Gold’s team compared task-switching speeds for younger and older adults, knowing they would find slower speeds in the older population because of previous studies. However, they found that older adults who spoke two languages were able to switch mental activities faster than those didn’t. The study only looked at life-long bilinguals, defined in study as people who had spoken a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old.
Gold and his team asked 30 people, either bilingual or monolingual, to have a series of tests. They found that bilingual people were not only able to switch tasks faster, they had different brain activity than their monolingual peers.
Kristina called bilingualism "a beautiful natural experiment”, because people grow up speaking two languages, and studies have shown that they get certain cognitive benefits from switching between languages and determining which to respond with based on what's going on around them.
Gold said he grew up in Montreal, where he spoke French at school and English at home, prompting relatives to question whether his French language immersion（专心）would somehow hinder his ability to learn English.
"Until very recently, learning a second language in childhood was thought of as dangerous," he said. "Actually, it's beneficial.”
1.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Researchers found that bilingual people can slow down the speed or aging on the brain and respond fast.
B. Researchers found that bilingual people respond slowly.
C. Researchers found that speaking two languages is important.
D. Researchers found that bilingual people are great.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Older bilinguals can’t respond faster in mind.
B. Young bilinguals can respond faster in mind than those monolinguals.
C. Older adults speaking a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old can respond faster than those who don't.
D. Bilingual children respond slower in mind than those monolinguals.
3.In Gold’s opinion, learning a second language in childhood is______.
A．dangerous to children
B. not beneficial to children
C. dangerous but beneficial to children
D. not dangerous but beneficial to children
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题
Speaking two languages can actually help offset(抵消) some effects of aging on the brain, a new study has found.
Researchers tested how long it took participants to switch from one cognitive(认知的) task to another, something that’s known to take longer for older adults, said lead researcher, Brian Gold, a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky.
Gold’s team compared task-switching speeds for younger and older adults, knowing they would find slower speeds in the older population because of previous studies. However, they found that older adults who spoke two languages were able to switch mental activities faster than those didn’t. The study only looked at life-long bilinguals, defined in study as people who had spoken a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old.
Gold and his team asked 30 people, either bilingual or monolingual, to have a series of tests. They found that bilingual people were not only able to switch tasks faster, they had different brain activity than their monolingual peers.
Kristina called bilingualism "a beautiful natural experiment”, because people grow up speaking two languages, and studies have shown that they get certain cognitive benefits from switching between languages and determining which to respond with based on what's going on around them.
Gold said he grew up in Montreal, where he spoke French at school and English at home, prompting relatives to question whether his French language immersion（专心）would somehow hinder his ability to learn English.
"Until very recently, learning a second language in childhood was thought of as dangerous," he said. "Actually, it's beneficial.”
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Researchers found that bilingual people can slow down the speed or aging on the brain and respond fast.
B. Researchers found that bilingual people respond slowly.
C. Researchers found that speaking two languages is important.
D. Researchers found that bilingual people are great.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Older bilinguals can’t respond faster in mind.
B. Young bilinguals can respond faster in mind than those monolinguals.
C. Older adults speaking a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old can respond faster than those who don't.
D. Bilingual children respond slower in mind than those monolinguals.
3. In Gold’s opinion, learning a second language in childhood is______.
A．dangerous to children
B. not beneficial to children
C. dangerous but beneficial to children
D. not dangerous but beneficial to children
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Speaking two languages can actually help offset(抵消) some effects of aging on the brain, a new study has found.
Researchers tested how long it took participants to switch from one cognitive(认知的) task to another, something that’s known to take longer for older adults, said lead researcher, Brian Gold, a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky.
Gold’s team compared task-switching speeds for younger and older adults, knowing they would find slower speeds in the older population because of previous studies. However, they found that older adults who spoke two languages were able to switch mental activities faster than those didn’t. The study only looked at life-long bilinguals, defined in study as people who had spoken a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old.
Gold and his team asked 30 people, either bilingual or monolingual, to have a series of tests. They found that bilingual people were not only able to switch tasks faster, they had different brain activity than their monolingual peers.
Kristina called bilingualism "a beautiful natural experiment”, because people grow up speaking two languages, and studies have shown that they get certain cognitive benefits from switching between languages and determining which to respond with based on what's going on around them.
Gold said he grew up in Montreal, where he spoke French at school and English at home, prompting relatives to question whether his French language immersion（专心）would somehow hinder his ability to learn English.
"Until very recently, learning a second language in childhood was thought of as dangerous," he said. "Actually, it's beneficial.”
1.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Researchers found that bilingual people can slow down the speed or aging on the brain and respond fast.
B. Researchers found that bilingual people respond slowly.
C. Researchers found that speaking two languages is important.
D. Researchers found that bilingual people are great.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Older bilinguals can’t respond faster in mind.
B. Young bilinguals can respond faster in mind than those monolinguals.
C. Older adults speaking a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old can respond faster than those who don't.
D. Bilingual children respond slower in mind than those monolinguals.
3.In Gold’s opinion, learning a second language in childhood is______.
A．dangerous to children
B. not beneficial to children
C. dangerous but beneficial to children
D. not dangerous but beneficial to children
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Speaking two languages can actually help offset(抵消) some effects of aging on the brain, a new study has found.
Researchers tested how long it took participants to switch from one cognitive(认知的) task to another, something that’s known to take longer for older adults, said lead researcher, Brian Gold, a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky.
Gold’s team compared task-switching speeds for younger and older adults, knowing they would find slower speeds in the older population because of previous studies. However, they found that older adults who spoke two languages were able to switch mental activities faster than those didn’t . The study only looked at life-long bilinguals, defined in study as people who had spoken a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old.
Gold and his team asked 30 people, either bilingual or monolingual(只懂一种语言的人) , to have a series of tests. They found that bilingual people were not only able to switch tasks faster， they had different brain activity than their monolingual peers.
Kristina called bilingualism "a beautiful natural experiment”, because people grow up speaking two languages,and studies have shown that they get certain cognitive benefits from switching between languages and determining which to respond with based on what's going on around them.
Gold said he grew up in Montreal, where he spoke French at school and English at home, prompting relatives to question whether his French language immersion would somehow hinder his ability to learn English.
"Until very recently, learning a second language in childhood was thought of as dangerous," he said. "Actually, it's beneficial. "
1.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Researchers found that speaking two languages is important.
B. Researchers found that bilingual people respond slowly.
C. Researchers found that bilingual people can slow down the speed or aging on the brain and respond fast.
D. Researchers found that bilingual people are great.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Older bilinguals can’t respond faster in mind.
B. Older adults speaking a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old can respond faster than those who don't.
C. Young bilinguals can respond faster in mind than those monolinguals.
D. Bilingual children respond slower in mind than those monolinguals.
3.In Gold’s opinion, learning a second language in childhood is______ .
A． dangerous to children
B. not beneficial to children
C. dangerous but beneficial to children
D. not dangerous but beneficial to children
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world．But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism （双语能力） are even more important than being able to converse with a wider range of people．Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter．It can have a deep effect on your brain, improving skills not related to language and even protecting against a serious mental disorder in old age．
This view of bilingualism is different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century．Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interruption that prevented a child's school work and ability to think and understand things．They were not wrong about the interruption: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual \s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system disturbs the other．But this interruption, researchers are finding out, isn't so much a disturbance．It forces the brain to solve inside conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its thinking muscles．
The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment．"Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often—you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language," says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompea Fabra in Spain．
"It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving．" In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr．Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, showing that they did better in it．
1.From the passage we can learn that experts used to believe that ______．
A．interruption forced a bilingual's brain to strengthen its thinking ability
B．a second language stopped children's studying as well as mental development
C．using two languages annoyed the children who have trouble in learning skills
D．language systems were busy in a bilingual's brain when he was using languages
2.The underlined word "switch" in Paragraph 3 probably means "______"．
A．change B．use C．speak D．study
3.What is the author's attitude towards bilingualism?
A．Cautious． B．Doubtful． C．Concerned． D．Favourable．
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．How Bilinguals Use Languages
B．What Bilingualism Is Really about
C．Why Bilinguals Are More Intelligent
D．When People Learn a Second Language
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Listen to the two girls by the window. What language _____?
| A．did they speak | B．were they speaking | C．are they speaking | D．have they been speaking |
高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Speaking in Clicks
Click sounds, such as those found in some languages in Africa, make perfectly good consonants. So why do they appear so rarely in most human speech? One culprit may be anatomy(骨骼).
Previous studies have suggested that in some speakers of click languages, the alveolar ridge(齿龈) the rounded bump between the upper teeth and the roof of the mouth-is small or even absent. In recent research, Scott Moisik of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Dan Dediu of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, built biomechanical models that simulated clicks in vocal tracts(声道) with alveolar ridges of varying sizes. Their results, published in January in the Journal of Language Evolution, showed a clear disadvantage for tracts with large edges. These allowed less air to be trapped in the mouth, requiring more muscular force to produce a click.
The authors interpret this finding as support for an anatomical bias against clicks. They believe the bias is probably weak at the individual level; people with large alveolar ridges can still learn click consonants or that their pronunciations may be wrong. Amplified over generations, this bias might explain why such consonants are so rarely found in language worldwide.
These results are not the first to challenge the traditional premise among linguists that language evolution is largely immune to external factors. Several other researchers have recently argued that geographical context, environmental conditions and genetics could all play a role. But Moisik and Dediu’s work goes a step further by singling out a single feature of human anatomy and quantifying its contribution to a particular type of speech sound.
Susanne Fuchs, senior researcher at the Leibniz Center of General Linguistics in Berlin, who was not involved in the work, says the study’s conclusions are valid. But she cautions that they may present a chicken-and-egg problem: “The palate( 味蕾) shape of an individual matures from early childhood to puberty and , may be affected by frequent productions of clicks,” Fuchs says, “Therefore, over the course of history, it may well be that vocal tract properties and click productions developed in parallel.
1.The underlined word “one culprit” in Paragraph 1 means _____.
A.something that must cause suffering
B.something that may be the cause
C.something that could be concluded
D.something that never happened before.
2.According to the findings by Moisik and Dediu, who can make click sounds easily?
A.People with a small or absent alveolar ridge.
B.People with strong muscles inside the mouth
C.People with a normal alveolar rid.
D.People with a large alveolar ridge.
3.Which of the following statements is true?
A.People with large alveolar ridges cannot learn click language.
B.Having less air trapped in the mouth makes it easier to produce a click.
C.Both Moisik and Dediu believe that language evolution is largely independent of external factors.
D.Language evolution may be subject to geographical context, environmental conditions and genetics.
4.What is Susanne Fuchs most likely to agree with?
A.The conclusions of the study by Moisik and Dediu are unreliable.
B.Vocal tract properties and click productions might evolve at the same time.
C.Frequent productions of clicks decide the palate shape of an individual.
D.The palate shape of an individual decides whether one can produce click sounds.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
You can make yourself _____ in English pretty well if you keep on speaking the language.
A. understand B. understanding C. to understand D. understood
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The media today can draw public attention to situation ________ help is actually needed.
A．that B．which C．what D．where
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
All of us can give others a hand as long as we are willing to do so. Actually, there are some people doing kind things all the time. Spreading kindness, one good deed at a time, is Karla Gibson’s mission. “I wish everyone could join me. There are so many ____ things going on in the world; I mean every day,” said Karla.
Karla had the ____ and sense of duty in December of 2013. The single mother of three said she tended to feel depressed around the holidays, so she ____ to do something to cheer others up. She started a Facebook page and ____ her good deeds each day, from feeding the homeless to giving Easter gifts to the incarcerated (囚犯). She hoped to ____ others.
“We have to do something. Our ____ can make a difference in someone’s day. You ____ know when someone might be having their worst day, and then something like buying them a coffee can change their whole attitude,” Karla ____.
Karla’s greatest ____ so far had to do with coffee. On September 27th, Karla’s birthday, she went to her local Starbucks and gave the ____ $127 to pay for other people’s drinks. She sat at the end of the drive-through holding a ____ that read, “Have a great day.” She ended up ____ about 23 customers. “It was really fun. It was ____ one of the best birthdays ever.” she said. Her kindness that day didn’t go ____. One couple was so grateful that they surprised her with flowers and balloons to show their ____.
Karla’s acts of kindness have become a ____ affair. Her two sons are always ____ others. “Sometimes I’ll ask Kyle, ‘So, did you do anything extra nice today?’ and his answers are like ‘Somebody ____ something in the hallway and I picked it up’ or ‘I held the door for someone’, that kind of thing,” said Karla.
It’s because of Mom that the boys think it’s ____ to give a hand to others. “I think it’s a great idea of hers. It’s always nice to help someone out ____ they really need it,” said Karla’s 15-year-old son Chad.
1.A.good B.bad C.new D.casual
2.A.commitment B.appointment C.preference D.success
3.A.managed B.agreed C.hesitated D.decided
4.A.did B.mentioned C.shared D.missed
5.A.greet B.inspire C.introduce D.remember
6.A.kindness B.happiness C.stories D.sadness
7.A.still B.often C.never D.even
8.A.whispered B.explained C.reported D.replied
9.A.surprise B.challenge C.concern D.moment
10.A.cashier B.customer C.beggar D.secretary
11.A.mark B.sign C.symbol D.flag
12.A.paying for B.picking up C.paying off D.picking out
13.A.occasionally B.usually C.probably D.hardly
14.A.unoccupied B.unnoticed C.unorganized D.unquestioned
15.A.wisdom B.existence C.generosity D.appreciation
16.A.society B.love C.holiday D.family
17.A.encouraging B.inviting C.helping D.affecting
18.A.dropped B.bought C.found D.fell
19.A.strange B.lucky C.cool D.funny
20.A.after B.though C.unless D.when
高二英语完形填空困难题查看答案及解析
—Hello! Is that Mr. Clark? This is Liu When speaking.
—Hello! Mr. Liu. Can I help you?
—I’m on my way to your house now, but I have lost my way.
— ________1.________ Where are you now, Mr. Liu?
—I don’t know exactly. I think I’m somewhere on Dong An Road.________2.________
—A bookstore on Dong An Road.________3.________
—Yes, it is. And I can see a restaurant at the other corner.
—Now I’m almost sure where you are. You turned at the second corner. You should have turned at the first corner from the railway station.
—Is that so?________4.________
—There you’ll find a one-way traffic sign. That’s where you have to turn to the left, there is a six-story house. My room is on the third floor.
—I’m sure I won’t have any trouble this time. Thanks
— ________5.________
A．Then I’ll go back to the first corner.
B．See you tomorrow.
C．Are you tired and hungry?
D．That’s too bad.
E.I’m calling you from a bookstore.
F.I’ll be waiting for you.
G.It’s at a corner, isn’t it?
高二英语信息匹配中等难度题查看答案及解析