2. 考研
  3. Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent ye

Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent ye

admin2019-09-15  8
问题    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 are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. 【R1】__________
   This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. 【R2】__________
   They were not wrong about the interference: 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 obstructs the other. 【R3】__________
   Collective evidence from a number of studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function—a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind—like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.
   Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? 【R4】__________ But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.
   The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. 【R5】__________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, indicating that they were more efficient at it.
   Bilingualism’s effects also extend into the twilight years. In a recent study of 44 elderly Spanish-English bilinguals, scientists led by the neuropsychologist Tamar Gollan of the University of California, San Diego, found that individuals with a higher degree of bilingualism—measured through a comparative evaluation of proficiency in each language—were more resistant than others to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease: the higher the degree of bilingualism, the later the age of onset.
   [A] Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.
   [B] "Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often," 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."
   [C] Nobody ever doubted the power of language. But who would have imagined that the words we hear and the sentences we speak might be leaving such a deep imprint?
   [D] Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.
   [E] Until recently, researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore distractions in other contexts.
   [F] But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.
   [G] These bilinguals seem to be more adept than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of mental puzzles and their bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age.
【R2】
选项
答案D
解析 空格前指出，上一段关于双语的观点与20世纪时期的观点很不一样。联系上一段讲到的通双语的好处，推测空格处可能会讲通双语的坏处。空格后是下一段，开头提到了the interference，说明上一段已经介绍过这种interference，故推断空格处应该会提及与interference有关的内容。D指出专家学者一直认为第二语言是一种干扰，会影响孩子在学术和智力上的发展。D讲的是通双语的坏处，与上述分析相符。特别注意D中还出现了关键词an interference，与下文的the interference相对应。综上所述，确定答案为D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/ZW87FFFM
0

考研英语一

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)