In the UK, people have a reputation for being somewhat lazy when it comes to learning a second langu

In the UK, people have a reputation for being somewhat lazy when it comes to learning a second language. However, our research suggests learning a new language is beneficial to our brain.
To put language learning to the test, my colleagues and I teamed up with Dr Thomas Bak, a professor, and Antonella Sorace, a leading expert in language, both from the University of Edinburgh. We recruited 20 volunteers who had never tried to learn Spanish before and enrolled them on a language course taught by Lingo Flamingo, a non-profit organization.
Over four weeks, our volunteers attended classes three times a week, for two hours at a time, and had homework to complete. Before and after the course, they undertook cognitive(认知的) tests measuring attention, memory and mental flexibility. Volunteers had also been carefully selected according to their age so that we could compare the effect of language learning on older and younger people.
After the four-week course, there was an overall improvement for everyone in the cognitive tests. However, when we looked at the two age groups, the older participants had improved more than the younger ones. This is consistent with previous research, which showed that language learning led to improvements regardless of age, and that older people could improve even more over the same period of time.
The other interesting thing discovered in our experiment was that these improvements did not depend on how good our volunteers were at speaking Spanish. In the four weeks when we ran our study, none of our volunteers became fluent, but they did practice regularly, and this was enough to give them the cognitive benefits. This reinforces(加强) what Thomas and Antonella have found in other research—that practice is more important than proficiency, and that consistent practice means the cognitive benefits are maintained.
What's more, as well as offering cognitive improvements, there are other benefits that learning a new language can offer, both to our social life and our confidence.
8. What can we know about the 20 volunteers?
A. They couldn’t speak Spanish before the study.
B. They are from the University of Edinburgh.
C. They attended the course three hours a week.
D. They paid much money for language learning.
9. Why were the volunteers chosen according to age?
A. To compare different people’s learning abilities.
B. To see the effect of language learning on two age groups.
C. To make it convenient for teachers to instruct them.
D. To guarantee they can communicate more easily.
10. What mainly contributes to cognitive improvements according to the study?
A. Confidence in language learning.
B. Excellent fluency in Spanish.
C. Language learners’ social life.
D. Regular language practice.
11. What is the main idea of the text?
A. Learning a new language improves your brain.
B. It is possible to learn a new language at any age.
C. The elderly benefit more from language learning.
D. Cognitive abilities are improved through learning.
 
8. A    9. B    10. D    11. A
这是一篇说明文。文章介绍了研究发现学习一门新的语言可以提高认知能力。
8. A。细节理解题。根据第二段中“We recruited 20 volunteers who had never tried to learn Spanish before and enrolled them on a language course taught by Lingo Flamingo, a non-profit organization.”可知,这20名志愿者之前不会西班牙语。
9. B。细节理解题。根据第三段“Volunteers had also been carefully selected according to their age so that we could compare the effect of language learning on older and younger people.”可知, 这样选择的目的是看语言学习对两个年龄组的影响。
10. D。细节理解题。根据第五段“In the four weeks when we ran our study, none of our volunteers became fluent, but they did practice regularly, and this was enough to give them the cognitive benefits.”可知,有规律的练习足以让他们获得认知方面的好处。
11. A。主旨大意题。通读全文,根据文章第一段“However, our research suggests learning a new language is beneficial to our brain.可知,文章主要介绍学习一门新语言可以改善你的大脑。
 
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