主题二 世界的语言②

Ⅰ. 阅读理解

If you were to move to a new country with a different language and bring along the fam⁃ily dog， your pet would likely have a hard time understanding commands from the locals，according to a new study looking at how dogs’ brains react to different languages.

The new study was conducted by lead author Laura Cuaya， a neurobiologist at EotvosLordnd University in Hungary， who recently moved from Mexico to Tokyo alongside her dogKun⁃kun.

Cuaya and her team trained 18 dogs， including Kun⁃kun， to lie motionless in an MRImachine so the researchers could scan their brains. As the dogs were being scanned， the re⁃searchers played the dogs three different recordings： a Spanish reading from the famouschildren’s book The Little Prince; a Japanese reading from the same book; and a series ofhuman noises that did not resemble speech at all. All of the dogs had been exposed to onlyone of the two languages， meaning one was familiar to them and the other was unfamiliar.MRI scans revealed that dogs’ brains can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar lan⁃guages， making them the first⁃known， and so far only， non⁃human animals to be able to tellthe difference between human languages.

During the experiments， the researchers also found that older dogs showed more activi⁃ty in the secondary auditory cortex of the brain， suggesting they were better at differentiat⁃ing familiar and unfamiliar languages than younger dogs.“I think that the main reason thatolder dogs are better at differentiating languages is the amount of exposure to the lan⁃guage，” Cuaya said.“Older dogs have had more opportunities to listen to humans whilethey talk.”

What makes dogs unique is that they do not need to be trained to distinguish betweenhuman languages.“Their brains detected the difference naturally， perhaps due to the do⁃mestication process，”Cuaya said.“While it is possible that many species can distinguishbetween human languages， dogs are one of the few that are interested in hearing us.”

1. What does the new study find？

A. Dogs may settle into a new environment easily.

B. Dogs can face language barriers in a foreign country.

C. Dogs are more sensitive to languages than other non⁃human animals.

D. Dogs fail to understand their owners in a new environment.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly tell us about the study？

A. Its background. B. Its benefit.

C. Its process. D. Its purpose.

3. What does Cuaya intend to convey in the last paragraph？

A. Domestication helps dogs better live with humans.

B. Dogs are closely related to humans.

C. Humans should be more friendly to dogs.

D. Training plays an important role in raising dogs.

4. What can be the best title for the text？

A. Dogs can bring surprising health benefits

B. Dogs are good translators in a new environment

C. Dogs often exposed to humans are more intelligent

D. Dogs can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar human languages

Ⅱ. 补全信息

How to learn a language in just weeks

When you are willing to study abroad， you need to learn the language; otherwise youwill miss out on the best part！ 1 . Therefore， I want to give you some tips on how tolearn a language in just weeks， and have fun while doing it.

Free Podcasts （播客）

Search for free language podcasts and listen to them whereever you go， in the car or inthe bus， while you exercise， do dishes and in bed before you are going to sleep. 2 .Instead， just get used to the pronunciation and try to remember the words without any pres⁃sure.

KISS—Keep it Simple， Stupid

3 . Yeah， that’s right—no grammar！ Always remember， when a foreignercomes up to you and asks you something like： Where find toilet I？ You will still understand what he or she means， right？ Grammar does matter， but it is more important that people willunderstand the basic meaning of what you are saying than perfect grammar use. Don’t youagree？

4

Make a list of 150 very important words and expressions that are essential for every⁃day communication. Write them on flash cards and put them into categories， such as： whichexpressions to use on the road， at home， in class， with friends， etc. 5 . I always putsome in the kitchen and bathroom over the sink and read them， while I was doing dishes orbrushing my teeth.

I hope these tips on how to learn a language in just weeks in an interesting， interactiveand practical way were helpful to you.

A. You can also write these words on sticky notes and put them up all over your room

B. Try not to focus too much on grammar rules， pronunciation and exceptions

C. Focus on important words

D. But you can speak the language whenever possible and try not to be afraid of  mis⁃takes

E. Use the language for everyday communication

F. But studying vocabulary lists and grammar rules is boring