發(fā)布時(shí)間： 2017年05月22日

四級(jí)六級(jí)閱讀練習(xí)（54）：為什么學(xué)習(xí)雙語(yǔ)更聰明？

小編寄語(yǔ)：熟悉四六級(jí)閱讀理解題型的同學(xué)應(yīng)該都了解，英語(yǔ)四六級(jí)考試閱讀理解材料大多選自《時(shí)代》《衛(wèi)報(bào)》《今日美國(guó)》等外刊。要想閱讀理解這部分拿到高分，必須在平常多閱讀，掌握新詞匯，鍛煉閱讀速度。但對(duì)于很多同學(xué)來(lái)說(shuō)，如何每日在浩瀚的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)世界尋找合適的閱讀材料進(jìn)行分析解讀是一項(xiàng)很耗時(shí)間的事情。為此，　英語(yǔ)每日精選《衛(wèi)報(bào)》《時(shí)代》等外刊上的文章供大家進(jìn)行閱讀練習(xí)。

【今日閱讀推薦】本篇閱讀材料“為什么學(xué)習(xí)雙語(yǔ)更聰明？”選自《新聞周刊》旗下的《每日野獸》（原文標(biāo)題：Why It’s Smart to Be Bilingual 2011.8.7）。如果大家覺(jué)得比較簡(jiǎn)單，就當(dāng)作泛讀材料了解了解，認(rèn)識(shí)幾個(gè)新單詞或新表達(dá)方式也不錯(cuò)。如果大家覺(jué)得這些材料理解上有難度，不妨當(dāng)做挑戰(zhàn)自己的拔高訓(xùn)練，希望大家都有進(jìn)步^^

The brain’s real super-food may be learning new languages.

On a sweltering August morning, in a classroom overlooking New York’s Hudson River, a group of 3-year-olds are rolling sticky rice balls in chocolate sprinkles, as a teacher guides them completely in Mandarin.

This is just one toddler learning game at the total--immersion language summer camp run by the primary school Bilingual Buds, which offers a year-round curriculum in Mandarin as well as Spanish (at a New Jersey campus) for kids as young as 2.

Bilingualism, of course, can be a leg up for college admission and a résumé burnisher. But a growing body of research now offers a further rationale: the regular, high-level use of more than one language may actually improve early brain development.

According to several different studies, command of two or more languages bolsters the ability to focus in the face of distraction, decide between competing alternatives, and disregard irrelevant information. These essential skills are grouped together, known in brain terms as “executive function.” The research suggests they develop ahead of time in bilingual children, and are already evident in kids as young as 3 or 4.

While no one has yet identified the exact mechanism by which bilingualism boosts brain development, the advantage likely stems from the bilingual’s need to continually select the right language for a given situation. According to Ellen Bialystok, a professor at York University in Toronto and a leading researcher in the field, this constant selecting process is strenuous exercise for the brain and involves processes beyond those required for monolingual speech, resulting in an extra stash of mental acuity, or, in Bialy-stok’s terms, a “cognitive reserve.”

Bilingual education, commonplace in many countries, is a growing trend across the United States, with 440 elementary schools (up from virtually none in 1970) offering immersion study in Spanish, Mandarin, and French, in that order of popularity.

For parents whose toddlers can’t read Tolstoy in the original Russian, the research does offer some comfort: Tamar Gollan, a professor at University of California, San Diego, has found a vocabulary gap between children who speak only one language and those who grow up with more. On average, the more languages spoken, the smaller the vocabulary in each one. Gollan’s research suggests that while that gap narrows as children grow, it does not close completely.

The rule of thumb for improving in any language is simple practice. “The more you use it, the better off you are,” Gollan says. “Vocabulary tests, SATs, GREs—those are tests that probe the absolute limits of your ability, and that’s where we find that bilinguals have the disadvantage, where you know the word but you just can’t get it out.”

Gollan believes this deficit can be compensated for with extra study. A more complicated question is how and whether bilingualism may interact with other cognitive issues that can appear in early childhood, specifically attention disorders, says Bialystok. Because attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is linked to compromised executive functioning, it is unclear what impact learning a second language—which calls upon exactly these executive skills—might have on children with this condition. Research on this question is underway.

Some of the most valuable mental perks of bilingualism can’t be measured at all, of course. To speak more than one language is to inherit a global consciousness that opens the mind to more than one culture or way of life.

Bilinguals also appear to be better at learning new languages than monolinguals. London-based writer Clarisse Lehmann spent her early childhood in Switzerland speaking French. At 6, she learned English. Later she learned Spanish, German, and, during three years spent living in Tokyo, Japanese.

“There’s a witty humor in English that has a different sensibility in French,” she says. “And in Japanese, there’s no sarcasm. When I tried, it would be ‘We don’t understand what you’re trying to say.’?”

With five languages under her belt—and a working familiarity with Latin and Greek as well—Lehmann finally considers herself sufficiently multilingual. “Enough, enough!” she says. “I don’t want to learn any more languages.”

【重點(diǎn)單詞及短語(yǔ)】

sweltering adj. 悶熱的；酷熱的

chocolate sprinkle 巧克力粉

immersion n. 沉浸；專(zhuān)心

a leg up 占上風(fēng)；占有優(yōu)勢(shì)

rationale n. 基本原理

bolster n. & v. 支持；支撐

stem from

strenuous adj. 緊張的；費(fèi)力的；奮發(fā)的

monolingual adj. 單一語(yǔ)言的；僅用一種語(yǔ)言的

cognitive reserve 認(rèn)知儲(chǔ)備

commonplace 司空見(jiàn)慣的東西；普通的東西