Language learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and later starters are often long listeners. Most children will “obey” spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word “obey” is hardly accurate as a description of the eager and delighted cooperation usually shown by the children. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gesture and by making questioning noises.

Any attempt to study the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words leads to considerable difficulties. It is agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises sort themselves as particularly expressive as delight, pain, friendliness, and so on. But since these can’t be said to show the baby’s intention to communicate, they can hardly be regarded as early forms of language. It is agreed, too, that from about three months they play with sounds for enjoyment, and that by six months they are able to add new words to their store. This self-imitation(模仿) leads on to deliberate(有意的) imitation of sounds made or words spoken to them by other people. The problem then arises as to the point at which one can say that these imitations can be considered as speech.

It is a problem we need to get our teeth into. The meaning of a word depends on what a particular person means by it in a particular situation; and it is clear that what a child means by a word will change as he gains more experience of the world. Thus the use, at seven months, of “mama” as a greeting for his mother cannot be dismissed as a meaning-less sound simply because he also uses it at another time for his father, his dog, or anything else he likes. Playful and meaningless imitation of what other people say continues after the child has begun to speak for himself. I doubt, however, whether anything is gained when parents take advantage of this ability in an attempt to teach new sounds.

1. Before children start speaking _______.

A. they need equal amount of listening

B. they need different amounts of listening

C. they are all eager to cooperate with the adults by obey spoken instructions

D. they can’t understand and obey the adult’s oral instructions

2. Children who start speaking late _______.

A. may have problems with their listening

B. probably do not hear enough language spoken around them

C. usually pay close attention to what they hear

D. often take a long time in learning to listen properly

3. A baby’s first noises are _______.

A. an expression of his moods and feelings

B. an early form of language

C. a sign that he means to tell you something

D. an imitation of the speech of adults

4. The problem of deciding at what point a baby’ imitations can be considered as speech _______.

A. is important because words have different meanings for different people

B. is not especially important because the changeover takes place gradually

C. is one that should be properly understood because the meaning of words changes with age

D. is one that should be completely ignored(忽略) because children’s use of words is of-ten meaningless

5. The speaker implies _______.

A. parents can never hope to teach their children new sounds

B. children no longer imitate people after they begin to speak

C. children who are good at imitating learn new words more quickly

    He was the baby with no name. Found and taken from the north Atlantic 6 days after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, his tiny body so moved the salvage (救援) workers that they called him “our baby.” In their home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, people collected money for a headstone in front of the baby's grave (墓), carved with the words: “To the memory of an unknown child.” He has rested there ever since.

    But history has a way of uncovering its secrets. On Nov. 5, this year, three members of a family from Finland arrived at Halifax and laid fresh flowers at the grave. “This is our baby,” says Magda Schleifer, 68, a banker. She grew up hearing stories about a great-aunt named Maria Panula,42, who had sailed on the Titanic for America to be reunited with her husband. According to the information Mrs. Schleifer had gathered, Panula gave up her seat on a lifeboat to search for her five children -- including a 13-month-old boy named Eino from whom she had become separated during the final minutes of the crossing. "We thought they were all lost in the sea," says Schleifer.

    Now, using teeth and bone pieces taken from the baby's grave, scientists have compared the

DNA from the Unknown Child with those collected from members of five families who lost relatives on the Titanic and never recovered the bodies. The result of the test points only to one possible person: young Eino. Now, the family sees: no need for a new grave. "He belongs to the people of Halifax," says Schleifer. "They've taken care of him for 90 years."

                                            Adapted from People, November 25, 2002

56. The baby travelled on the Titanic with his___________.

   A. mother             B. parents            C. aunt                   D. relatives

57. What is probably the boy's last name?

   A. Schleiferi          B. Eino.            C. Magda.               D. Panula.

58. Some members of the family went to Halifax and put flowers at the child's grave on Nov. 5__.

      A.  1912             B. 1954              C. 2002                 D. 2004

59. This text is mainly about  how______________.

   A. the unknown baby's body was taken from the north Atlantic

   B. the unknown baby was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia

   C. people found out who the unknown baby was

   D. people took care of the unknown baby for 90 years


II.阅读(共两节,满分50分)
第一节 阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下面短文,从每题所给的A、B,C和D项中选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Like all other mothers who have small children, I, too, have to steal time-from my own children at home and from the children who know me as their teacher-just to put a few words down on paper. Many times I've wanted to write for myself, for other women, for my parents, for my husband, and especially for my children. I would have liked to leave a legacy (遗产) of words explaining what it has meant to have twins. One reason that there is not a great deal written about being a mother of a new baby is that there is seldom a moment to think of anything else but the baby's needs.
With twins, I did not have a spare hand to write with.
Before my twins were born, my days were long and I had nothing to write about. After the twins' birth I did have something to write about, but I found myself facing not a pen and paper but milk bottles.
Some nights, friends would visit. They would leave at 11 p.m., heading for bed, and for us the night was only just beginning. With twins, there is really no night. Each feeding lasts a long time. At 1:00 a.m., each of them would begin crying from hunger. At 4:00am, when I finally put them down, I felt exhausted.
Two years have passed since then and we've managed to live through it all. My days are still very full and even now there isn't one evening when I put the twins down for the night that I don't have a break. At last a little time for myself.
26. When did the writer have time but she didn't feel like writing anything?
A. Before the birth of her twins.
B. When she faced bottles of milk.
C. After her friends visited her home.
D. When she had to think about the babies' needs.
27. What does the writer mainly write about?
A. Her role as a wife.                         B. Her work as a writer.
C. Her experience as a mother.            D. Her feeling as a woman.
28. Why did the writer say the night was just beginning (in the 4th paragraph)?
A. Because her friends left her house too late.
B. Because she started to take care of the twins even at night.
C. Because her babies often cried and she woke up.
D. Because she could not sleep till four in the morning.
29. This passage is probably from a(n) ______.
A. blog          B. newspaper               C. guidebook               D. advertisement
30. What can we learn from the passage?
A. The writer was unhappy because of no time for writing.
B. The writer cared her babies more than her own interests.
C. The writer hated to be a mother of twins.
D. The writer could steal a little time at night.

“Can I see my baby?” the happy new mother asked. When the bundle was in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.
Time proved that the baby’ s hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was imperfect. When he rushed home from school one day and threw himself into his mother’s arms, she sighed(叹息), knowing that his life was to be unfortunate. He cried to his mum “A boy, a big boy... called me a freak (怪人).”
He grew up, handsome. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. “But you might communicate with other young people,” his mother blamed him, but felt a kindness in her heart.
Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, “You’ re going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it’ s a secret.” The operation was a great success, and a new person appeared.
Later he married and became a lawyer. One day, he asked his father, “Who gave me the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her.” “I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know... not yet.”
The years kept their secret, but the day did come. He stood with his father over his mother’ s casket棺材. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to show the mother had no outer ears.
“Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut,” his father whispered gently, “and nobody ever thought Mother less beautiful, did they?”
【小题1】Why did Mother gasp when she saw her newborn baby?

A.Because her son had a tiny face.
B.Because she saw her son crying.
C.Because her son was born imperfect.
D.Because her son was in her arms.
【小题2】Which word can describe Mother’ s feeling when the son threw himself into her arms?
A.Nervous.B.Sympathetic.C.Proud.D.Angry.
【小题3】We can infer that the person who donate the ears is_____.
A.A doctor.B.His father.C.His mother.D.A stranger.
【小题4】From the passage we know the followings are True except________
A.the mother felt sorry for the son without ears
B.the doctor didn’t like the baby
C.the boy meant everything to the mother
D.the father kept the secret until mother died
【小题5】The best title for the passage would be ________.
A.Mother’s hairB.An unforgettable memory
C.Who gave me the ears?D.Who is my best respectable person?

Health experts have long worried about the increasing rate of obesity in kids. It’s an important concern: Being very overweight or obese during childhood can lead to serious problems normally seen in adults, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Poor diets and a lack of exercise are usually the causes. But would you ever have imagined there might be a connection between the bacteria that lived in your guts (内脏)when you were a baby and the chance that you would become overweight?

Scientists in Finland recently found just such a link. In a recent study, they showed that overweight kids had different species of bacteria living in their guts.

You probably think of bacteria only as germs that can make you sick. While it’s true that some bacteria can make people ill, your body actually depends on some types of bacteria to help you digest food and extract nutrients from it. These “good” bacteria live in your guts, where they process the food you eat.

Human babies get these bacterial helpers from their moms. When a baby is born, some of the bacteria in the mother move into the baby’s body. Growing babies get additional “good” bacteria from the milk their mothers produce. And it turns out the bacteria might play an important role in regulating weight just six years later.

So how could these bacteria affect weight? The researchers still haven’t tested that question, but future tests might lead to an answer.

1.The “link” in Paragraph 2 refers to the relationship between _______.

A.bacteria and the chance of being overweight

B.obesity and diabetes

C.diets and the chance of being overweight

D.bacteria and exercise

2.Which of the following is NOT the function of “good” bacteria?

A.Helping to digest food.

B.Helping to take nutrients from food.

C.Helping to regulate weight.

D.Making a person ill.

3.The purpose of writing this passage is to _______.

A.introduce the role of bacteria in children’s weight

B.analyze the influence of obesity on kids

C.give advice on how to lose weight quickly

D.explain the function of bacteria in foods

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网