首页
登录
职称英语
Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in
Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in
游客
2024-12-03
18
管理
问题
Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turned out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia(痴呆)in old age.
This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.
They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.
The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind — like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.
Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore distractions in other contexts. But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than mono-linguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.
The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. "Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often — you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language," says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompea Fabra in Spain. "It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving." In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals in completing monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were efficient at it.
The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age, and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life. [br] The fact that interference is now seen as a blessing in disguise means that ______.
选项
A、it has led to unexpectedly favourable results
B、its potential benefits have remained undiscovered
C、its effects on cognitive development have been minimal
D、only a few researchers have realized its advantages
答案
A
解析
本题询问“把‘干扰’说成是a blessing in disguise”是什么意思。该词组的字面义是“伪装下的幸事”。第3段倒数第2句提到,研究表明,这种语言的interference不是一种handicap“障碍”,而是a blessing in dis—guise;最后一句提到,这种看似不利的“干扰”实际上可以让大脑得到更多的锻炼,从而增强认知能力。因此,A“带来意料之外的好结果”符合题意。
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3870921.html
相关试题推荐
TheofficiallanguagesofNewZealandareEnglishandA、French.B、Maori.C、Spanis
Therichnessofourlanguagesisconsideredbymanytobethedistinctivean
Therichnessofourlanguagesisconsideredbymanytobethedistinctivean
Therichnessofourlanguagesisconsideredbymanytobethedistinctivean
Therichnessofourlanguagesisconsideredbymanytobethedistinctivean
Therichnessofourlanguagesisconsideredbymanytobethedistinctivean
Thatexperienceinfluencessubsequentbehaviorisevidenceofanobviousbu
Thatexperienceinfluencessubsequentbehaviorisevidenceofanobviousbu
Thatexperienceinfluencessubsequentbehaviorisevidenceofanobviousbu
Thatexperienceinfluencessubsequentbehaviorisevidenceofanobviousbu
随机试题
A、Listentoothers’advice.B、Sticktoyourownmind.C、Becarefultostartyour
F公司成功中标S市的电子政务工程。F公司的项目经理李工组织相关人员对该项目的工作
某招标项目,在一次招标准备会议中,产生了四种观点,其中()观点正确的是。A、
下列哪项不是卵巢瘤的并发症A.蒂扭转 B.囊肿破裂 C.红色变性 D.感染
A.到达集尘极的尘埃带正电 B.带电尘埃在运动中所受电场力不变 C.电场方向
在PTH作用后几分钟内可引起血钙升高,其原因是A.促进肾小管对钙的重吸收 B.
毛细血管内增生性肾小球肾炎电镜下可见 A.上皮细胞足突消失B.上皮下驼峰样沉积
2月中旬,豆粕现货价格为2760元/吨,我国某饲料厂计划在4月份购进1000吨豆
能疏肝解郁的药物有A.蝉蜕 B.薄荷 C.升麻 D.柴胡 E.葛根
在材料采购合同的交货检验中,属于物理试验方法的有()A、手触 B、拉伸试验
最新回复
(
0
)