单项选择题
From childhood to old age, we all use language as a means of broadening our knowledge of ourselves and the world about us. When humans first 1 , they were like newborn children, unable to use this 2 tool. Yet once language developed, the possibilities for human kind’s future 3 and cultural growth increased.
Many linguists believe that evolution is 4 for our ability to produce and use language. They 5 that our highly evolved brain provides us 6 an innate language ability not found in lower 7 . Proponents of this innateness theory say that our 8 for language is inborn, but that language itself develops gradually, 9 a function of the growth of the brain during childhood. Therefore there are critical 10 times for language development.
Current 11 of innateness theory are mixed, however, evidence supporting the existence of some innate abilities is undeniable. 12 , more and more schools are discovering that foreign languages are best taught in 13 grades. Young children often can learn several languages by being 14 to them, while adults have a much harder time learning another language once the 15 of their first language have become firmly fixed.
16 some aspects of language are undeniably innate, language does not develop automatically in a vacuum. Children who have been 17 from other human beings do not possess language. This demonstrates that 18 with other human beings is necessary for proper language development. Some linguists believe that this is even more basic to human language 19 than any innate capacities. These theorists view language as imitative, learned behavior. 20 , children learn language from their parents by imitating them. Parents gradually shape their child's language skills by positively reinforcing precise imitations and negatively reinforcing imprecise ones.
问答题
The National Endowment for the Arts recently released the
the results of its “Reading at Risk” survey, which described
movement of the American public away from books and
literature and toward television and electronic media.
According to the survey. “reading is on the decline on every 62.__________
region, within every ethnic group, and at every educational level.“
The day the NEA report released, the U.S. House, in a tie 63.___________
vote, upheld the government's right to obtain bookstore and
library records under a provision of the USA Patriot Act. The
House proposal would have barred the federal government
from demand library records, reading lists, book customer 64.___________
lists and other material in terrorism and intelligence investigations.
These two events are completely unrelated to, yet they 65.___________
echo each other in the message they send about the place of
books and reading in American culture. At the heart
of the NEA survey is the belief in our democratic 66.__________
system depends on leaders who can think critically, analyze
texts and writing clearly. All of these are skills promoted by 67.__________
reading and discussing books and literature. At the same time,
through a provision of the Patriot Act, the leaders of our
country are unconsciously sending the message that reading
may be connected to desirable activities that might 68._________
undermine our system of government rather than helping
democracy flourish.
Our culture's decline in reading begin well before the 69._________
existence of the Patriot Act. During the 1980s' culture wars,
school systems across the country pulled some books from
library shelves because its content was deemed by parents 70.__________
and teachers to be inappropriate. Now what started in schools
across the country is playing itself out on a nation stage and 71.________
is possibly having an impact on the reading habits of the
American public.
its-their
