主题二 世界的语言②

Ⅰ. 阅读理解

If you were to move to a new country with a different language and bring along the fam⁃ily dog， your pet would likely have a hard time understanding commands from the locals，according to a new study looking at how dogs’ brains react to different languages.

The new study was conducted by lead author Laura Cuaya， a neurobiologist at EotvosLordnd University in Hungary， who recently moved from Mexico to Tokyo alongside her dogKun⁃kun.

Cuaya and her team trained 18 dogs， including Kun⁃kun， to lie motionless in an MRImachine so the researchers could scan their brains. As the dogs were being scanned， the re⁃searchers played the dogs three different recordings： a Spanish reading from the famouschildren’s book The Little Prince; a Japanese reading from the same book; and a series ofhuman noises that did not resemble speech at all. All of the dogs had been exposed to onlyone of the two languages， meaning one was familiar to them and the other was unfamiliar.MRI scans revealed that dogs’ brains can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar lan⁃guages， making them the first⁃known， and so far only， non⁃human animals to be able to tellthe difference between human languages.

During the experiments， the researchers also found that older dogs showed more activi⁃ty in the secondary auditory cortex of the brain， suggesting they were better at differentiat⁃ing familiar and unfamiliar languages than younger dogs.“I think that the main reason thatolder dogs are better at differentiating languages is the amount of exposure to the lan⁃guage，” Cuaya said.“Older dogs have had more opportunities to listen to humans whilethey talk.”

What makes dogs unique is that they do not need to be trained to distinguish betweenhuman languages.“Their brains detected the difference naturally， perhaps due to the do⁃mestication process，”Cuaya said.“While it is possible that many species can distinguishbetween human languages， dogs are one of the few that are interested in hearing us.”

1. What does the new study find？

A. Dogs may settle into a new environment easily.

B. Dogs can face language barriers in a foreign country.

C. Dogs are more sensitive to languages than other non?human animals.

D. Dogs fail to understand their owners in a new environment.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly tell us about the study？

A. Its background. B. Its benefit.

C. Its process. D. Its purpose.

3. What does Cuaya intend to convey in the last paragraph？

A. Domestication helps dogs better live with humans.

B. Dogs are closely related to humans.

C. Humans should be more friendly to dogs.

D. Training plays an important role in raising dogs.

4. What can be the best title for the text？

A. Dogs can bring surprising health benefits

B. Dogs are good translators in a new environment

C. Dogs often exposed to humans are more intelligent

D. Dogs can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar human languages

Ⅱ. 补全信息

How to learn a language in just weeks

When you are willing to study abroad， you need to learn the language; otherwise youwill miss out on the best part！. Therefore， I want to give you some tips on how tolearn a language in just weeks， and have fun while doing it.

Free Podcasts （播客）

Search for free language podcasts and listen to them whereever you go， in the car or inthe bus， while you exercise， do dishes and in bed before you are going to sleep..Instead， just get used to the pronunciation and try to remember the words without any pres?sure.

KISS—Keep it Simple， Stupid

Yeah， that’s right—no grammar！ Always remember， when a foreignercomes up to you and asks you something like： Where find toilet I？ You will still understand what he or she means， right？ Grammar does matter， but it is more important that people willunderstand the basic meaning of what you are saying than perfect grammar use. Don’t youagree？

Make a list of 150 very important words and expressions that are essential for every⁃day communication. Write them on flash cards and put them into categories， such as： whichexpressions to use on the road， at home， in class， with friends， etc. . I always putsome in the kitchen and bathroom over the sink and read them， while I was doing dishes orbrushing my teeth.

I hope these tips on how to learn a language in just weeks in an interesting， interactiveand practical way were helpful to you.

A. You can also write these words on sticky notes and put them up all over your room

B. Try not to focus too much on grammar rules， pronunciation and exceptions

C. Focus on important words

D. But you can speak the language whenever possible and try not to be afraid of  mis⁃takes

E. Use the language for everyday communication

F. But studying vocabulary lists and grammar rules is boring

G. You don’t have to memorize them

Ⅲ. 完形填空

When I moved to Australia at the age of eight， I learned the worst part of crossing lan⁃guage lines was adjusting to live—to the rapid rhythms and many language bar⁃riers. Once puzzled， the best I could do was wait for a topic change or a long pause toa foothold （立足点）. Tripping over loose words andsentences， Inever got far.

This was a problem because there were many things I did notabout mynew home—why strangers were called“mates”， why none of the food was spiced， etc. Un⁃able to ask  questions in fluent English， let alone to raise， I began to wear asmile and withdraw into the private corners of my mind. I struggled to， but the differences between my peers and me seemed to pose a distance toogreat to.

Thingsfor me when I joined my primary school debate team. I had beenattracted to the activity by the promise of —a few minutes in which I couldspeak uninterruptedly. But I also a trove of wisdom （智慧寶库）， including anew way of thinking about empathy.

I chased thesefor 15 years， winning two world championships andthe Harvard and  Australian national debate teams along the way. Theled me to become a newspaper reporter and now a law student who can speaklocal English fluently. It left me convinced that can help us learn a new lan⁃guage better and improve our lives in these hard times.

1. A. performances B. conversations C. interviews D. broadcasts

2. A. regain B. lose C. maintain D. provide

3. A. proper B. long C. complex D. broken

4. A. forget B. promote C. understand D. expect

5. A. objections B. confidence C. awareness D. incomes

6. A. broad B. cheerful C. distant D. mysterious

7. A. come down B. turn up C. drop out D. fit in

8. A. judge B. bridge C. keep D. calculate

9. A. changed B. ended C. worsened D. continued

10. A. praise B. instruction C. comfort D. attention

11. A. accepted B. discovered C. proved D. challenged

12. A. fortunes B. honors C. insights D. dreams

13. A. coaching B. introducing C. cheating D. amusing

14. A. freedom B. kindness C. appearance D. experience

15. A. volunteering B. planning C. debate D. reflection

Ⅳ. 语法填空

Armenian musician Astrid Poghosyan takes great pride in the Chinese name she picked for 1._________ （her）， Ma Xingxing. “Xingxing” literally meaning stars 2. _________（inspire） by her Armenian first name， while“Ma”is taken from Ma Chao， a fa⁃mous warrior from China’s Three Kingdoms Period.

Poghosyan always puts all her energy into the projects in 3. _________she is involved，because she believes that every little effort will help her realize her music?related dreams.

“Music knows no borders， and cultural exchanges via music are 4._________ （extreme） im⁃portant during the pandemic，”she said.

Having worked in China for 12 years， Poghosyan has now become a real China hand，5._________ （experience） in the country’s language and culture. Such 6. _________multi⁃cultural background has greatly helped her stand out at her present job.

Her love for Chinese culture， 7. _________（include） Jackie Chan’s movies and stories of  Mulan， helped her go through the difficult language⁃learning process. As she  graduallyadapted herself 8._________ the Chinese language and culture， she also started to explore the  colorful city life of Shanghai.

“Since I first came to Shanghai， I 9. _________（be） impressed by the kindness andfriendliness of the  people here. Everyone I met gave me a big smile， whether sanitationworkers （环卫工人） on  the streets or cashiers in 10._________ （convenient） stores. Theirsmiles have made me feel the  warmth of the city，”she said.

Ⅴ. 书面表达

假定你是李华，你校英语翻译爱好者协会成功举办了中华诗词英译大赛，请你代表协会在本次活动的颁奖仪式上进行总结发言。内容包括：

1. 表示祝贺；

2. 回顾本次活动；

3. 表达希望。

注意：

1. 词数80左右；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear schoolmates，

Its my great honor to make a concluding statement here.____________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thats all. Thank you！

Ⅵ. 读后续写

阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Magen double⁃checked the words on her spelling test. If she got 100 percent today，

she’d win her class’First⁃Quarter Spelling Challenge and a brand⁃new dictionary that camewith videos and other cool stuff. Plus， Ms McCormack had promised to do a handstand （手倒立） if anyone got a perfect score.

Three more words to go. N⁃i⁃c⁃e⁃l⁃y. Q⁃u⁃i⁃c⁃k⁃l⁃y. H⁃o⁃n⁃e⁃s⁃t⁃y. Wait！ She’d  spelledhonesty， not honestly！ She erased“⁃ty”and wrote“⁃ly”before handing in her paper. MsMcCormack graded the papers while the students were at rest.

After a break， Magen hurried into the classroom， sitting in her seat nervously. Ms Mc⁃Cormack walked to the front of the room and cleared her throat.“Congratulations， Magen！You did it！”Then， as if she were an Olympic gymnast， Ms McCormack’s feet flipped intothe air. The whole class erupted！

Ms McCormack presented Magen with her prize. A big smile spread across Magen’sface as she read the label on the box： To Magen Carter， for her perfect first⁃quarter score inspelling.

“Everything OK？”Mom asked as Magen burst through the front door after school.

“Everything’s perfect！”Magen shouted， showing Mom her spelling test and prize.

Mom hugged her.“Well done， Magen.”

Magen scooped up （抱起） her cat.“Can you spell nicely， Casper？ And quickly andhonestly， and...”It suddenly occurred to her that she had misspelled the word. Rooted tothe spot， Magen reflected on how she could tell the whole class she shouldn’t have earnedthe prize at all. She dashed into her room and pulled out the test paper.“If I put the miss?ing‘t’ back in， no one would ever know，”she thought. Recalling the joyful moment， a mix⁃ture of guilt and unwillingness overwhelmed her.

注意：续写词数应为150左右。

Paragraph 1：

Aware that there was something wrong with Magen， Mom knocked on the door and entered her room.______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph 2：

The next day， arriving early at school， Magen pushed open the door of Ms McCormack’s office.____________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________