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At a Loss for Words

Imagine a friend is heading out to face a difficult task. As a last word before they disappear, you want to encourage them. What might you say? If you are speaking English, the likeliest choice is “good luck”.

If you stop to think about it, that is a little odd. Though you might indeed hope luck smiles on your friend, neither they nor you can do much about the probability. 【小题1】 That is why the French, in this situation, say “bon courage”, not “good luck”.

English does not allow you to pair any old adjective with any old noun in a fixed expression. You may wish someone “good morning”, “good afternoon” or “good night”, but not “good weekend”. 【小题2】 However, in other languages it is perfectly usual.

【小题3】 English-speakers wish each other a happy birthday, but speakers of many other languages say “congratulations” as if the birthday girl had done something impressive merely by surviving another year. The Dutch also say “gefeliciteerd” to members of the family, including the one who really deserves congratulating: the mother. This is close to obligatory(义务的)while it would come as a strange surprise in English.

It is tempting to draw deep cultural conclusions from the presence of this or the absence of that in a language. 【小题4】 For example, the English do say the typical French words bon voyage and bon appétit, and there’s no reason to stop there. Congratulate your mother-in-law on your wife’s birthday, and you can prepare for a delighted smile back. It may seem awkward or tricky at first but you can make it stick if you try.

A.Special occasions are another way in which languages differ.
B.It is natural to be critical of languages that lack expressions you think necessary.
C.What you really want to wish them is courage not fortune.
D.Having no English equivalent is annoying for those who are used to it.
E.You can say that phrase if you like, but your neighbour would look at you strangely.
F.But not having a word for something doesn’t mean you can’t coin one—or borrow it.
2022·上海奉贤·一模
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In this article, I’m going to show you certain aspects of the Chinese language and explain why they make learning the language a lot easier than you might think.

No verb conjugations (变化)

When you learn English, you need to remember how the verb changes with the subject and time. In Chinese, there are no verb inflections (词尾的屈折变化) at all. 【小题1】.

No grammatical cases

In English, we make a difference between how pronouns are used depending on if they are the subject or the object of a sentence. 【小题2】. None of that in Chinese!

Flexible parts of speech

When learning English, you need to remember different forms of the words depending on what part of speech they belong to. For example, we say “ice” (noun), “icy” (adjective) and “to ice” (verb). These look different. 【小题3】. You don’t know which one it is unless you know the context. This means that speaking and writing becomes much easier since you don’t need to remember so many different forms!

【小题4】

Word order in Chinese can be a little bit tricky, but it becomes much easier at more advanced levels. As a beginner, there are a few patterns you need to learn, and once you’ve done that, you can just fill in the words you’ve learnt and people will be able to understand. It also helps that the basic word order is the same as in English: subject—verb—object.

What all these boil down to is that learning Chinese needn’t be all that hard. Yes, reaching an advanced level takes a lot of time and effort. 【小题5】

A.Relatively easy word order
B.The same subject—verb—object order
C.In short, it is very easy to learn Chinese well
D.We say “he talks to her”, while “him talks to she” is wrong
E.In Chinese, though, these could all be represented by one single word “ice”
F.For example, you can use “look” for any person and refer to any period of time
G.But getting to basic conversational fluency is easy for anyone who really wants it

Once you can speak another language, it will open many doors. Here are five excellent reasons why you should learn a foreign language.

Improve your brain healthy. 【小题1】 These benefits include a longer attention span, memory improvement, better focus and concentration, and increased listening skills.

Increase your job opportunities. Many companies operate in countries around the world. 【小题2】 As well as increasing the number of jobs you can get, the ability to speak a different language also sets you apart from other candidates for potential jobs.

Help you make friends and build relationships. Speaking a different language helps meet new people who also speak that language. 【小题3】 As well as building relationships with people who speak that language, it also gives the opportunity to learn more about other cultures. You can participate in exciting and engaging conversations about topics which you may have never discussed before.

【小题4】 When you learn a new language, your brain automatically finds a way to learn more efficiently. Whether you want to learn multiple languages or simply gain more skills, mastering a foreign language can kick your brain into gear to adapt to learning new knowledge and information.

Improve your confidence. During the process of learning a new language, you can learn from your mistakes, find out more about yourself, and challenge yourself. 【小题5】 Practicing this language is a great way to get over your insecurities and find it easier to talk to others.

A.Improve your holiday selection.
B.Help you become a better learner.
C.You don’t need to rely on translated films or books any longer.
D.Learning a foreign language can do wonders to your courage and determination.
E.This can result in lifelong friendships that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to make.
F.Many studies have shown there are plenty of benefits of learning a foreign language.
G.Therefore, hiring employees who can speak at least one foreign language is vital to the company.

How do the world’s only flying mammals(哺乳动物) communicate? Researchers have observed young bats adopting new “dialects” simply by hearing them repeatedly, making them one of the few animals known to be capable of voice learning. “These bats may help us clarify the development of speech learning skills,” says Yosef Prat, a PhD at Tel AvivUniversity.

For one year, researchers raised 14 Egyptian fruit baby bats with their mothers in controlled area, surrounding each young bat with two different voices: the natural call of its mother and a distinct recording that varied in loudness or tone. They found that the baby bats in each group developed a dialect like the recording. “The general assumption in this field is that most animals develop their born voices in despite of what they hear, and that human voice learning abilities have developed as time goes by,” says Mr. Prat. “The finding that bats learn the common dialect in their rest place was unusual. ”

Scientists know little about the origin of spoken language, which is believed to have appeared in humans within the past 500,000 years. A diversity of theories attempts to give a detailed clarification of this skill, but none have done so conclusively.

“Studying voice communication and voice learning in animal models is a very useful way to approach the problem,” says Olga Feher, an assistant professor at the University of Warwick in England.

But animal voice s and human speech are very different things, says Jamin Pelkey, a professor at Ryerson University. “All species communicate. Unlike other animals, though, human beings are able to use sound patterns for functions that are far stranger—functions that are imaginative, theoretical, and critical. When speech is involved in these stranger functions, that is what we mean by spoken ‘language’. ‘‘

【小题1】How do young bats pick up their “language” according to the research?
A.By hearing it constantly.B.By interacting with partners.
C.By learning from researchers.D.By repeating it with their mothers.
【小题2】Why does Mr. Prat think the findings unusual?
A.It is distinct from the general assumption.
B.It helps people understand human voice leaning.
C.It proves animals only develop their inborn voices.
D.It makes the previous assumption more convincing.
【小题3】What does the underlined word “problem” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.Illustrating the origin of animal voices.
B.Giving a full account of spoken language.
C.Helping animals develop their born voices.
D.Telling the differences between animal voices and human speech.
【小题4】What does professor Pelkey think of researching young bats?
A.It is not so relevant to understanding human speech.
B.It promotes people to use imaginative sound patterns.
C.It is essential for analyzing animal voice learning skills.
D.It helps people explore more functions of spoken language.

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