.

       Language  learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and late 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 child. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gesture and by making questioning noises.

Any attempt to trace 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 indicative of delight, pain, friendliness, and so on. But since these cannot 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 out 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 meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at other times 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.

57．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 obeying spoken instructions

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

58．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 taken a long time in learning to listen properly

59．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

60．The problem of deciding at what point a baby’s 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 often meaningless

The idea of micropayments--- charging Web users tiny amounts of money for single pieces of online content--- was basically put to sleep toward the end of the dot-com boom. In December 2000, Clay Shirky, a professor in New York University’s interactive telecommunications program (电信交互程序), wrote a manifesto (宣言) that people still quote whenever someone suggests using the idea. “Micropayments will never work,” he wrote, mainly because “users hate them.”

   But wait. Without many people noticing, micropayments have arrived--- just not in the way they were originally imagined. The 99 cents you pay for a song on the Internet is a micropayment. So are the tiny amounts that some operators of small web sites can earn whenever someone clicks on the ads on their pages. Some stock-photography companies sell pictures for as little as $1 each.

   “Micropayments are here” said Benjamin M. Companie, a lecturer at Northeastern University, “they just have not developed in the way that everybody expected.”

    From the earliest days of the Web until around the time of Mr Shirky’s manifesto, the expectation was that a handful of companies would provide platforms---or perhaps a single platform--- that would enable Web users to pay a penny or a dollar for a bit of content such as a newspaper article, or a research report. Simply clicking a link would complete the transaction (转换).

   Sellers of content--- at the time, newspaper companies---were among the most interested in the idea as they looked for tax income that didn’t depend on advertising.

69．According to the first paragraph, we can infer that ________.

       A．people once failed to charge Web users

       B．all the Internet companies can’t earn profit

       C．it’s difficult for Web users to pay online

       D．micropayment costs people too much

70．Mr. Shirky predicted that ________.

       A．companies on the Internet would earn a lot of money

       B．Web users would never pay for the websites

       C．it was impossible to visit websites for free

       D．all the companies on the Internet would go bankrupt (破产).

71．You will have to pay for it, if you ________.

       A．visit some famous websites                 

       B．read latest news on the internet

       C．advertise for your products on some websites

D．download your favorite songs

72．What is expected by the sellers of content on the Internet?

      A．Better attitude from Web users.

      B．Understanding from Web users.

   C．A platform to help them realize micropayment.

D．More and more Web users.

Language learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and late 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 child. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gesture and by making questioning noises.

Any attempt to trace 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 indicative of delight, pain, friendliness, and so on. But since these cannot 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 out 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 meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at other times 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 obeying 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 taken 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’s 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 often meaningless

Some of the best-known names in the entertainment industry have taken part in an unprecedented telethon to help victims of the terrorist attacks in the United States.
The benefit(义演), called “America: a Tribute to Heroes,” was sponsored by all four major U.S television networks, ABC, CBS, FOIX and NBC. It was broadcast by three-dozen television, cable and radio networks across the country and aired live to more than a hundred countries around the world.
Hollywood stars joined music entertainers in asking listeners and viewers to pledge cash donations to charities helping the victims of the September 11^th attacks.
Actors, including Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise and Clint Eastwood, told stories of heroic acts by people who tried to save others from the burning World trade Center and the Pentagon. Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali made a rare public appearance in show of support.
The appeals alternated with performances by such popular entertainers as Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Steve Wonder, Paul Simon and the rock band U—2.
They appeared on stages in New York, Los Angeles and London, decorated with hundreds of burning candles.
Singer Billy Joel sang “ New York State of Mind” with a New York City firefighter’s hat on his piano. Sting dedicated his song “ Gragile” to a friend who died in the World Trade Center. Stevie Wonder condemned(指责) hatred in the name of religion before singing his song “ Love’s in Need of Love today”. Pledge phones were manned by dozens of other celebrities, including Jack Nicholson, Meg Ryan, Whoopic Goldberg, Cindy Crawford, Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone.
Organizers say the two-hour telethon raised millions of dollars. All participants, from stars to stagehands, worked without pay.
【小题1】 Those who appeared on stages were ______.