—______ have you studied English?   —For six years

          A How long        B How soon        C How often       D How far

　　If you ask some people, ‘How did you learn English so well?’ you may get a surprising answer: ‘In my sleep!’

These are people who have taken part in one of the recent experiments to test learn-while-you-sleep methods, which are now being tried in several countries, and with several subjects, of which English is only one．

　　Specialists say that this sleep-study method speeds language learning tremendously． They say that the average person can learn two or three times as much during sleep as in the same period during the day --- and this does not affect his rest in any way． A word of warning, however: sleep-teaching will only hammer into your head what you have studied already while you are awake．

　　In one experiment, ten lessons were broadcast over the radio at intervals (间歇) of a fortnight． Each lesson lasted twelve hours ---- from 8 p．m． to 8A．m． The first three hours of English grammar and vocabulary were given with the student awake． At 11 p．m． a soothing lullaby (使人镇静的催眠曲) was broadcast to send the student to sleep and for the next three hours the radio whispered the lesson again into his sleeping ears． At 2A． m． a sharp noise was sent over the radio to wake the sleeping student up for a few minutes of revision． Then he was lulled back to rest again while the radio purred on． At 5 o'clock his sleep ended and he had to go through the lesson again for three hours before breakfast．

1． Compared with other methods of learning the learn-while-you-sleep method is

A． slower．　　B． quicker． C． very easy．　　 D． very tiring．

2．During sleep-teaching you can

A． learn grammar and vocabulary you never learned before．

B． learn how to sleep better

C． listen to lessons again to know them better

D． learn how to sleep less．

3． How long did the experiment take to complete ?

A． two weeks　　　　B． twelve hours C． Twenty weeksD． forty nights

4． Sleep-teaching means listening to _______

A． a soothing lullaby． B． a lesson of English grammar and vocabulary．

C． a sharp noise． D． a whispered lesson．

5． The sleep-study method is being tried in many countries to teach

A． English． B． grammar and vocabulary．

C a number of subjects．　　 D． languages．

Babies understand what their mothers say, even when they speak a language their children have never heard before, scientists claim.
The researchers found that one-year-olds reacted in exactly same way to their mothers’ voices regardless of whether they were speaking English or Greek, showing what mothers have long known – that babies pick up on tone of voice rather than the words themselves.
The researchers, from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, observed babies as they watched their mothers perform actions with toys using the English words “whoops” and “there”. The scientists studied reactions from one-year-old babies to their mums’ voices even when they were speaking both English and Greek, and keeping the same tone of voice. The academics found that babies reproduced the same reactions regardless of whether they knew the language.  
Study leader Dr Merideth Gattis of Cardiff University’s School of Psychology says, “What this work showed was that children could have access to understanding simply through tone of voice. We did ‘whoops’ and ‘there’ in two languages and got exactly the same results.” The research, published in the journal Cognitive Development, was conducted on 84 babies aged between 14 and 18 months, over the course of a year, with none of the babies having any previous exposure to Greek.
Dr Gattis says that children respond to tone clues in their parents’ voices from an early age.
She says, “Tone of voice is a really useful signal of what someone is thinking. We never have direct access to other people’s minds, except the signals in language that they give out.” She says the study shows that it is less important what parents say than how they say it.
Dr Gattis adds, “A child may ask if you like his / her drawing, for example. You might say yes, but if you don’t sound enthusiastic, the meaning may not get across.” Before children begin to speak, parents should use exaggerated tone when speaking to them.
【小题1】According to the text, what have mothers long-known?

Babies understand what their mothers say, even when they speak a language their children have never heard before, scientists claim.

The researchers found that one-year-olds reacted in exactly same way to their mothers’ voices regardless of whether they were speaking English or Greek, showing what mothers have long known – that babies pick up on tone of voice rather than the words themselves.

The researchers, from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, observed babies as they watched their mothers perform actions with toys using the English words “whoops” and “there”. The scientists studied reactions from one-year-old babies to their mums’ voices even when they were speaking both English and Greek, and keeping the same tone of voice. The academics found that babies reproduced the same reactions regardless of whether they knew the language.  

Study leader Dr Merideth Gattis of Cardiff University’s School of Psychology says, “What this work showed was that children could have access to understanding simply through tone of voice. We did ‘whoops’ and ‘there’ in two languages and got exactly the same results.” The research, published in the journal Cognitive Development, was conducted on 84 babies aged between 14 and 18 months, over the course of a year, with none of the babies having any previous exposure to Greek.

Dr Gattis says that children respond to tone clues in their parents’ voices from an early age.

She says, “Tone of voice is a really useful signal of what someone is thinking. We never have direct access to other people’s minds, except the signals in language that they give out.” She says the study shows that it is less important what parents say than how they say it.

Dr Gattis adds, “A child may ask if you like his / her drawing, for example. You might say yes, but if you don’t sound enthusiastic, the meaning may not get across.” Before children begin to speak, parents should use exaggerated tone when speaking to them.

1.According to the text, what have mothers long-known?

A．Babies have a better understanding of English.

B．Babies pick up on tone of voice.

C．Babies like their mothers’ performances.

D．Babies like drawing from an early age.

2.Which of the following is TRUE, according to the study?

A．Tone of voice is the most useful sign of what someone is thinking.

B．After children begin to speak, tone becomes unimportant.

C．The babies acted the same way regardless of the language.

D．The research was conducted on 48 babies.

3.According to the text, Dr. Gattis believes that _________.

A．we have no access to other people’s minds

B．babies can’t understand what “yes” means

C．parents should always sound enthusiastic

D．how a parent speaks is more important than what he or she says

4.What’s the text mainly about?

A．The content of the journal Cognitive Development.

B．The famous works of Dr. Gattis.

C．Babies understanding their mothers through tone.

D．Babies having the potential to learn language well.

5.The text can be classified as _________.

A．a report          B．an advertisement    C．a handbook        D．a guide