Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently but think about it differently too, according to a new study.

 Researchers used a cartoon cat Sylvester to study how language was reflected (反映) in the gestures people made. Dr. Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol’s Department of Experimental Psychology (心理学), showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described the actions they had seen. He found speakers of the three different languages used different gestures to describe the same event, which appeared to reflect the way the structure of their languages expressed that event. For example, when describing a scene where the cat swings on a rope, the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory (弧形轨迹)  and the Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing the motion but not the arc.

Dr. Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no proper verb to express the English meaning “to swing”. While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the idea of movement with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.

Dr. Kita said, “My research suggests that speakers of different languages cause different spatial (空间的) images of the same event in a way that matches the expressive possibilities of their own languages. In other words, language influences (影响) spatial thinking at the moment of speaking.”

68. Researchers watched the gestures the people made because they wanted to know _____.

A. how language was reflected

B. whether they could express the same idea

C. whether they could describe what they had seen

D. how the structure of language changed

69. After watching the gestures of speakers of the three different languages, Dr. Kita concluded that _____.

A. Japanese and Turkish people couldn’t express the meaning of “swing”

B. English was obviously better than Japanese and Turkish

C.no word in Japanese and Turkish could express some ideas of English

D. every language had its own special way to describe things

70.What is mainly discussed in the text?

 A. Differences between languages.

 B. Differences between gestures.

 C. How people use different gestures to express the same event.

 D. That language influences the way people think.

 Bill and his family has been living in the six-family building for years.All the neighbours got along fairly well with each other until recently.

An old man and his wife used to live on the second floor.Bill’s mother and the old lady were good friends.Unfortunately the lady died last month.Her husband could not live alone,so he had his grandson move over and live with him.

The grandson has become a problem to all the neighbours,especially to Bill’s family.The walls of the building are thin and he is noisy.Bill is used to peace and quiet but the young man likes to listen to the radio late at night.Sometimes friends of his visit and they make a lot of noise.That is too much for Bill’s family.

Bill’s mother once asked the old man politely if he was able to sleep well at night,but obviously the man didn’t understand what she meant.If he did and spoke to his grandson,the young man obviously didn’t listen,since things haven’t changed any.Everyone in Bill’s family agrees that something must be done though they don’t want to hurt the kind old man.

Bill’s family got angry because ________.

A.the old lady had died

B.a young man moved in

C.the old man could not live alone

D.the grandson made a lot of noise

Which of the following statements is true?

A.The old man could not live without his wife’s help.

B.The old man and his wife were sometimes making trouble too.

C.Bill’s mother was kind to her neighbours.

D.Bill’s mother was the only one who likes the young man.

It seems that ________to solve the problem.

A.anyone is able                                                      B.only the grandfather is going

C.Bill’s mother is able                                             D.nobody is likely

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