Question

Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of Frederick in the 13th century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the babies died before the first year. But clearly there was more than language deprivation (剝奪，喪失). What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed, to mop up language rapidly. There are critical times, it seems when children learn more rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.
Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.
Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern “teddy bear”.
But speech has to be developed, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s nonverbal (非語言的) signals is basic to the growth and development of language.
小題1:Frederick’s experiment was extreme because _________.

A．he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak

B．he wanted his nurses to say another language

C．he was unkind to the nurses

D．he ignored the importance of mothering to the babies

小題2:The reason that some children are backward in speaking is most likely that _________.

A．they do not listen carefully to their mothers

B．their mothers do not respond to their attempts to speak

C．their brain has to absorb too much language at once

D．their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them

小題3:In paragraph 3, by “critical times” the author means _________.

A．difficult periods in the child’s life

B．moments when the child becomes critical towards its mother

C．important stages in the child’s development

D．times when mothers often neglect their children

小題4:If a child starts to speak later than others, he will _________ in future.

A．have a high IQ	B．be less intelligent
C．not necessarily be backward	D．be insensitive to verbal signals

小題5:If the mother seldom responds to her child’s signals, _________.

A．the child will be able to speak properly

B．the child will continue to give out signals

C．the child will invent a language of own

D．the child will make little effort to speak

Answer 1

小題1:D
小題2:B
小題3:C
小題4:C
小題5:D

試題分析：本文介紹了母親在孩子的語言學習中的重要作用，如果沒有了母親的存在和對孩子的教育，孩子在學習語言方面可能就會存在著很多的困難。
小題1:D 細節題。根據文章第一段Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue he told the nurses to keep silent.可知他忽視了對孩子來說母親照顧的重要性。故D正確。
小題2:B 推理題。根據文章第二段5,6,7行. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed, to mop up language rapidly.可知主要原因就是因為母親對孩子的回應不夠敏感導致了這種情況的出現。故B正確。
小題3:C 推理題。根據本句There are critical times, it seems when children learn more rapidly.可知照顧時間就是孩子學習最為迅速的時間，也是對孩子來說最重要的時間。故C正確。
小題4:C 推理題。根據文章倒數第三段there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.可知有一些例子來說明那些開始的比較晚的人最后也可能有很高的智商，說明C項內容正確。
小題5:D 推理題。根據文章倒數第四段最后If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.可知如果如果母親對孩子的回應不夠，孩子學習知識可能就會變的困難。故D正確。
點評：本文介紹了母親在孩子的語言學習中的重要作用，如果沒有了母親的存在和對孩子的教育，孩子在學習語言方面可能就會存在著很多的困難。推斷題測試考生在閱讀基礎上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據文章所述事件的邏輯關系，對未說明的趨勢或結局作出合理的推斷；或根據作者所闡述的觀點理論，對文章未涉及的現象、事例給以解釋。考生首先要仔細閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準確把握作者觀點。