Question

It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.
The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.
Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?
U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.
Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.
Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.
【小題1】What does the underlined sentence imply?

A．Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.

B．Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.

C．Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.

D．Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.

【小題2】The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.

A．good memory

B．unique brain

C．hard work

D．learning methods

【小題3】The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.

A．had an unusual brain

B．was born with great talent

C．had worked hard at languages

D．expected too much of himself

【小題4】The author seems to agree that ___.

A．it is not hard to learn foreign languages

B．hard work plays a part in language learning

C．there is no such thing as a talent for languages

D．hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language

Answer 1

【小題1】D
【小題2】C
【小題3】A
【小題4】B

解析試題分析：文章介紹了人在學(xué)習(xí)語言存在的一些現(xiàn)象，有些人能撐握很多種語言，文中舉了兩個(gè)例子Giuseppe Mezzofanti spoke 72 languages. Emil Krebs spoke 60 languages.有兩種觀點(diǎn)來解釋這種現(xiàn)象。一種是有這種學(xué)習(xí)語言的天賦；他們天生善于學(xué)習(xí)語言，在大腦部分有不同于常人的地方。另一種情況是他們?cè)趯W(xué)習(xí)語言方面很刻苦，他們的大腦和普通人是一樣的。善于學(xué)習(xí)語言的人的大腦是否和普通人一樣還不夠清晰，但每個(gè)人用心去學(xué)習(xí)三四種語言都是不難的。
【小題1】D細(xì)節(jié)理解題。The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.句意為：Giuseppe Mezzofanti 是十九世紀(jì)的意大利人，能說七十二種語言，聽起來有點(diǎn)我荒謬，如果你假定每種語言有兩萬個(gè)單詞，那么Mezzofanti不得不一分種記一個(gè)單詞，每天六個(gè)小時(shí)，也要十一年的時(shí)間，是一件不可能的任務(wù)。所以他感覺這種學(xué)習(xí)語言的能力是令人吃驚的。
【小題2】C細(xì)節(jié)理解題。She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.句意思為：她（The Hungarian woman）她學(xué)習(xí)語言大多都是靠她自己，讀小說，看詞典或者是練習(xí)本等，所以此處應(yīng)是通過努力的工作而學(xué)到的。故答案應(yīng)為C。
【小題3】A細(xì)節(jié)理解題。The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language.科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，他的大腦叫著Broca’s area的部分和語言有關(guān)，說一種語言的人的這個(gè)大腦部分與Krebs’的這個(gè)部分是不同的，所以答案應(yīng)為A。有一種不同尋常的電腦。
【小題4】B大意理解題。Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it. 句意為：盡管學(xué)習(xí)語言的能力與先天是否有關(guān)還不是很清楚，但毫無疑問，通過我們的用心學(xué)習(xí)，我們大多數(shù)都能夠撐握二種三種甚至是四種語言。故答案應(yīng)為B。
【考點(diǎn)】考查社會(huì)現(xiàn)象類文章的閱讀理解。