It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.
The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.
Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?
U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.
Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.
Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it. What does the underlined sentence imply?
| A．Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day. |
| B．Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages. |
| C．Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous. |
| D．Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing. |
The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.
| A．good memory | B．unique brain | C．hard work | D．learning methods |
The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.
| A．had an unusual brain |
| B．was born with great talent |
| C．had worked hard at languages |
| D．expected too much of himself |
The author seems to agree that ___.
| A．it is not hard to learn foreign languages |
| B．hard work plays a part in language learning |
| C．there is no such thing as a talent for languages |
| D．hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language |
Motherhood Is a Career to Respect
A woman renewing her driver’s license at the Country Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”
“Of course I have a job,” said Emily, “I ’m a mother.”
“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation…‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.
One day I found myself in the same situation. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. “What is your occupation?” she asked.
The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate(研究员) in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in mid-air.
I repeated the title slowly, then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement(声明) was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
“Might I ask,” said the clerk with interest, “just what you do in your field?”
Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t), in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up(激励) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants—ages 13,7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6-month-old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable(不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother”.
Motherhood… What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.How did the female clerk feel at first when the writer told her occupation?
| A．Cold-hearted. | B．Open-minded. |
| C．Puzzled. | D．Interested. |
How many children does the writer have?
| A．3 | B．4 | C．7 | D．13 |
Why did the woman clerk show more respect to the writer?
| A．Because she thought the writer did admirable work. |
| B．Because the writer cared little about rewards. |
| C．Because the writer did something that she had little knowledge of. |
| D．Because she admired the writer’s research work. |
What is the point of the article?
| A．To show that how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it. |
| B．To show that the writer had a grander job than Emily. |
| C．To argue that motherhood is a worthy career. |
| D．To show that being a mother is hard and boring work. |
For some students, especially those from poor families, taking a job is not a matter of choice, but necessity. They need to work to save for college, or even to supplement family income. Counselors should help students who have a real need to work improve time management skills and seek employment that helps their educational goals.
“College costs are high, and young adults also want the amenities (便利设施) that extra money brings,” according to John B. Boshoven, counselor for continuing education at Community High School in Michigan. However, he warns, “School is my students’ full-time job.”
Studies show that students who work are more confident and possess better time management skills than students who are not employed. In addition to offering a paycheck, some independence, and satisfaction, a part-time job can provide teenagers with both training and experience. Working teaches students about responsibility and can also reinforce (充实) what they are learning in school. “Colleges want to find candidates who demonstrate maturity, responsibility, independence, and initiative, and good workers certainly demonstrate those important character traits,” Boshoven says. “Employers can write excellent recommendation letters for the students who have worked for them.”
On the other hand, experts agree that students who work more than 15 to 20 hours per week often experience lessened school success, which can lead to dropping out entirely. Working long hours can also limit opportunities to build friendships and explore interests that enhance a teenager’s intellectual and emotional development.
The major point that students should keep in mind is the importance of balance. Dan Crabtree, college and career counselor at Wheaton Academy in Illinois, explains, “We want our students to establish a healthy balance in life and work to maintain it throughout their lives.” If working will interfere with completing school work, participating in extracurricular activities, spending time with family and friends, or getting enough rest, it may not be a wise decision.What’s the purpose of the passage?
| A．To show how students can find a part-time job. |
| B．To discuss the issue of students’ part-time work. |
| C．To stress the importance of students’ part-time work. |
| D．To explain what is a part-time job. |
In Boshoven’s opinion, students _____.
a. should take their studies as the first priority
b. can benefit from part-time work
c. can form healthy habits in their lives
d. shouldn’t depend on their families financially
| A．bc | B．bd | C．ab | D．ac |
According to the passage, we know that _____.
| A．without counselors' help, few students can get employed |
| B．teenagers show strong interest in part-time work |
| C．experts encourage students do more part-time work |
| D．too much part-time work can lead to bad academic performance |
What can be concluded from the passage?
| A．Students should balance part-time work well with other things. |
| B．Part-time work is important for most students at college. |
| C．Experts’ advice is the key to finding a good part-time job. |
| D．All in all, students had better not spend time on part-time work |
Life on earth depends on water, and there is no substitute for it. The current assumption is that our basic needs for water—whether for drinking, agriculture, industry or the raising of fish—will always have to be met. Given this premise (前提), there are two basic routes we can go; more equal access to water or better engineering solutions.
Look at the engineering solutions first. A lot of my research concentrates on what happens to wetlands when you build dams in river basins, particularly in Africa. The ecology of such areas is almost entirely driven by the seasonal changes of the river—the pulse of the water. And the fact is that if you build a dam, you generally spoil the downstream ecology. In the past, such problems have been hidden by a lack of information. But in the near future, governments will have no excuses for their ignorance.
The engineers’ ability to control water flows has created new kinds of unpredictability, too. Dams in Africa have meant fewer fish, less grazing and less floodplain (洪泛区) agriculture, none of which were expected. And there average economic life is assumed to be thirty years. Dams don’t exist forever, but what will replace them is not clear.
The challenge for the future is to find new means of controlling water. Although GM technology(转基因) will allow us to breed better dry-land crops, there is no market for companies to develop crops suitable for the micro-climates of the Sahel and elsewhere in Africa. Who is going to pay for research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World? What’s the main idea of this passage?
| A．The engineering solutions to water resource and their limitation. |
| B．The challenge for the future. |
| C．The basic means of controlling water. |
| D．The challenge for developing crops. |
The author suggests that governments will have no excuse for their careless ignorance in the future because _____.
| A．The ecological destruction will be known to the public by researchers |
| B．The ecological destruction will no longer be a problem in the future |
| C．The future is an information age |
| D．Governments will face greater challenge in the future |
Which of the following statements is NOT true for meeting our basic needs for water?
| A．Water resource should be used more reasonably. |
| B．More dams should be built in river basins. |
| C．More wetlands should be protected from destruction. |
| D．More dry-land crops could be developed in Africa. |
The last sentence probably implies that _____.
| A．No one will invest in developing locally appropriate crops in Africa |
| B．Researchers have no interest in developing dry-land crops |
| C．Research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World may be profitable |
| D．There is less water resource in the Third World |
Crowd controls could soon become an important skill for climbers on Mount Everest, as important as physical strength or watching the weather. In a single day last week, nearly 40 people reached the top of the world --- a record. Reports from base camp spoke of queues at dangerous ridges and crowds as people passed each other in the final dash for the 8, 848 meters top.
More traditional mountaineers tease about the circus atmosphere surrounding Everest in recent years, and there are warnings that the crowds are making the mountain more dangerous. In 1996, 14 died on the mountain when the members of several groups were trapped at high altitudes by sudden snowstorms. Bad weather in early May led to this year’s jam on the summit ridge, but the loss, luckily, was light. Just four climbers died, including a Nepali Sherpa who had made 11 previous successful climbing.
Traditionalists are also worried about the growing tendency of climbers to set records and achieve “firsts”, rather than simply climb the mountain. This year’s crop of mountaineers included the oldest man, 64-year-old Sherman Bull from Connecticut, and the youngest, 16-year-old Temba Tsheri Sherpa of Nepal. An American with only one arm was on the mountain this year; an Indian with no legs also tried but failed. Erik Weihennieyer, an American, became the first blind person to reach the top of the world. His fellow climbers stayed in front of him on the way up, describing the type of land and ringing bells.
Nepal（尼泊尔）views Mount Everest as something of a cash cow. The government charges journeys a minimum of $ 70,000. That is probably why officials in Katmandu are ignoring concerns about overcrowding and talking about even more climbers coming next year. But a celebration of the 48th anniversary of the first conquest of Everest, by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was cancelled after violent strikes. Tumultuous（动乱的）Nepali politics, it seems, could be just the crowd-control measure that Everest needs.What is the problem that the climbers have to face in recent years?
| A．Bad Weather. | B．Technology. | C．Overcrowding. | D．Physical strength. |
What is the main idea of the second paragraph?
| A．The risks of mountain climbing. |
| B．The consequence of overcrowding. |
| C．The challenge that climbers have to face. |
| D．The damage that snowstorms have caused. |
Several climbers are mentioned in Paragraph 3 to show ______.
| A．their great courage | B．their common motivation |
| C．their different identity | D．their outstanding achievements |
What is the attitude of the Nepali government towards overcrowding?
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Disapproving. | D．Worried. |
One of the most difficult questions to answer is how much a job is worth. We naturally expect that a doctor’s salary will be higher than a bus conductor’s wages. But the question becomes much more difficult to answer when we compare a miner with an engineer, or an unskilled man working on an oil-rig（钻探平台）with a teacher in a secondary school. What the doctor, the engineer and the teacher have in common is that they have devoted several years to studying in order to obtain the necessary qualifications for their professions. We feel instinctively that these skills and these years should be rewarded. At the same time we recognize that the work of the miner and the oil-rig laborer is both hard and dangerous, and that they must be highly paid for the risks they take.
Another aspect we must take into consideration is how socially useful a man’s work is. Most people would agree that looking after the sick or teaching children is more important than, say, selling second-hand cars. Yet it is almost certain that the used-car salesman earns more than the nurse and the schoolteacher.
Indeed, this whole question of just rewards can be turned on its head. You can argue that a man who does a job which brings him personal satisfaction is already receiving part of his reward in the form of a so-called “psychic（精神的）wage”, and that it is the man with the boring, repetitive job who needs more money to make up for the soul-destroying repetitiveness of his work. It is significant that the jobs like nursing and teaching continue to be poorly paid, while others, such as those in the world of sport or entertainment, carry financial rewards out of all proportion to their social worth.
Although the amount of money that people earn is largely determined by market forces, this should not prevent us from seeking some way to decide what is the right pay for the job. A starting point would be to try to decide the ratio（比率）which ought to exist between the highest and the lowest paid. The picture is made more complicated by two factors: firstly by the welfare benefits which every citizen receives, and secondly by the taxation system which is often used as an instrument of social justice by taxing high incomes at a very high rate indeed. Most countries now regard a ratio of 7:1 as socially acceptable. If it is less, the highly-qualified people carrying heavy responsibilities will become disappointed, and might even end up by leaving for another country. If it is more, the difference between rich and poor will be so great that it will lead to social unrest. Why do people naturally expect that doctors should be well-paid?
| A．Their work requires greater intelligence. |
| B．They are under constant pressure at work. |
| C．They work harder than most other people. |
| D．They have studied for years to get qualified. |
In Paragraph 2 and 3, the author indicates that __________.
| A．the talented should do more important work |
| B．unskilled jobs have less social responsibility |
| C．those with more socially useful jobs earn less |
| D．people want to pay more to important services |
Which of the following statements would the author agree?
| A．It’s difficult to define the social value of a job. |
| B．The market will decide what the right pay is for a job. |
| C．People should find a proper ratio between high and low pay. |
| D．Those receiving high salary should carry heavy responsibilities. |