The first language of Mina

王婷

米娜餐厅位于北京市郊区，不仅因其安静的氛围和常见的艺术家而闻名，还因其听障服务员的手语交流方式而独具特色。

主题语境：手语与生活 篇幅：362词 建议用时：7分钟

1 Mina's Restaurant in the Songzhuang suburb ofBeijing is distinctive not only for its impressively quietatmosphere and frequently seen artists but for its deafwaiters.

2 Sign language is the first language at Mina'sRestaurant， and even though most employees are deaf，the restaurant runs in good order serving Sichuan?style dishes. Since 2008 when it firstopened， Mina's Restaurant has provided jobs for more than 60 hearing?impaired people，which helps to solve the problem of deaf people's employment.

3 The owners are a couple with kind hearts—Mi Na and Su Qing. Su was a TV directorand had made a documentary film called The Age of Sign Language， with Mi， his wife. Miused to be a costume designer and art auctioneer. She is now a cook taught by her father.“Su Qing and I have done a wide range of jobs， but shooting films and documentariesis what we enjoy and keep doing in our spare time，” Mi said. It later became the reasonfor opening the restaurant.

4“ It's a long story，” Mi recalled， describing the experience of Su's eldest brother， whobecame deaf as a result of drug misuse when he was young. His parents could not payenough attention to the boy after he lost his hearing. They had no idea how to raise a deafchild. Su， however， remained on good terms with his brother， and even learned signlanguage by himself， which enabled him to understand deaf people.

5 He remained curious about the silent world， so when he later got the chance to shoota documentary， he immediately decided to make one about this unique group of people，and The Age of Sign Language was born.“ At that time I was young and bold enough to tryanything new in Beijing， so I made up my mind to open a restaurant，” Mi said.“ I had neverthought about hiring deaf employees until Su proposed the idea.”

6 The couple believed artists would be the majority of their customers， as many of themlive in Songzhuang.“ Artists seem more tolerant of others， so I accepted his idea，” Mi said.When the restaurant was opened in 2008， they had only four deaf waiters. Over the past 14years， around 60 deaf people have worked there.

Reading Check

Detail

1. Why is Mina's Restaurant unique in Beijing？

A. It is owned by artists.

B. It employs deaf waiters.

C. It runs in good order.

D. It serves Sichuan?style dishes.

Detail

2. What can we know about Minas Restaurant according to the text？

A. Employees of it are all deaf.

B. It provides jobs for deaf people.

C. It made people understand the deaf.

D. Employees of it all use sign language.

Detail

3. What inspired Su Qing to make a documentary？

A. His love for cooking.

B. His job as a TV director.

C. His interest in art auctions.

D. His curiosity about the silent world.

Inference

4. What is Mi's attitude to the idea of hiring deaf employees？

A. Uncaring. B. Negative.

C. Supportive. D. Suspicious.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

“Su Qing and I have done a wide range of jobs， but shooting films and documentariesis what we enjoy and keep doing in our spare time，” Mi said. 米說：“苏青和我做过各种各样的工作，但拍摄电影和纪录片是我们喜欢的，并且在业余时间一直在做的事情。

【点石成金】本句中，what引导的是一个表语从句，what在表语从句中作宾语。

Ⅱ. Fill in the blanks with the words and phrases in the box in proper forms.

distinctive even though as a result of unique make up one's mind

1. Millions of people are threatened with starvation________drought and poor harvests.

2. I have many facts to chew upon before I________.

3. His past experience made him________suited to leading the campaign.

4. Jamaican reggae music is quite________from North American jazz or blues.

5. He's the best teacher________he has the least experience.