首页
登录
职称英语
In a wealthy neighbourhood in Seoul, anxious parents drag frightened toddler
In a wealthy neighbourhood in Seoul, anxious parents drag frightened toddler
游客
2023-09-14
72
管理
问题
In a wealthy neighbourhood in Seoul, anxious parents drag frightened toddlers into Dr Nam Woo’s office and demand that he operate on the children’s tongues. It is a simple procedure: Just a snip (剪开) on a membrane and the tongue is supposedly longer, more flexible and—some South Koreans believe—better able to pronounce such notorious tongue-teasers for Asians as the English word "rice" so it doesn’t sound like "lice".
"Parents are eager to have their children speak English, and so they want to have them get the operation," said Nam, who performs about 10 procedures a month, almost all on children younger than 5.
In this competitive and education-obsessed society, fluent and unaccented English is the top goal of language study and is pursued with fervor.
It is not unusual for 6-month-old infants to be put in front of the television for as long as five hours a day to watch instruction videos, or for 7-year-olds to be sent out after dinner for English cram courses.
South Korean parents will spend the equivalent of a month’s salary on monthly tuition at English-language kindergartens and up to U.S.$50 an hour for tutors. Between the after-school courses, flashcards, books and videos, English instruction is estimated to be a U.S. $3-billion-a-year industry—and that doesn’t include the thousands of children sent abroad to hone their skills.
In another display of linguistic zeal, the Seoul city government recently set up a hotline for citizens to call if they see English spelling or grammar mistakes on public signs. "Learning English is almost the national religion," said Jonathan Hilts, host of a popular English-language talk sow on South Korea’s Educational Broadcasting System.
The most controversial aspect of the English craze is the tongue surgery, which critics say is unnecessary. No statistics exist in South Korea about the number of such operations, which usually are done in private clinics. However, doctors say the procedure’s popularity has soared with the boom in English instruction. Linguists sneer at the idea that South Koreans’ tongues are too short to speak English properly.
"Since Westerners are taller they might have longer tongues. But this operation lengthens the tongue by only a millimeter or two and that has nothing to with it. The real problem for South Koreans, as for Japanese, is that their own languages make no distinction between Ls and Rs, so their ears cannot detect the difference." [br] The underlined word "hone" in paragraph 4 most probably means ______.
选项
A、sharpen
B、grind
C、boost
D、acquire
答案
C
解析
“hone”的原意是“用磨刀石打磨”,语境中是与skills搭配,所以可引申为“boost”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3013404.html
相关试题推荐
Personalityistoalargeextentinherent—Atypeparentsusuallybringabou
Permissiveparentswould______.[br]Whatdoestheword"corrupt"(Line5,Para
Permissiveparentswould______.[br]WhichofthefollowingstatementsisNOTt
Permissiveparentswould______.[br]Thefactthatparentscheckthecontentso
Permissiveparentswould______.[br]WhichofthefollowingstatementsisNOTt
Permissiveparentswould______.[br]Thefactthatparentscheckthecontentso
[originaltext](32)Thefamilyischanging.Inthepast,grandparents,parent
[originaltext](32)Thefamilyischanging.Inthepast,grandparents,parent
[originaltext]Thereisapopularbeliefamongparentsthatschoolsarenol
[originaltext]Thereisapopularbeliefamongparentsthatschoolsarenol
随机试题
Formilesaround,theneighborhoodswereemptyandsilent.Storesweredark,
Throughouthistory,peoplewithdisabilitieshaveoftenbeensubjectedtocr
Smalldogsgenerallylivelongerthanbigdogs.Butbodysizeisn’ttheonly
专项应急预案中信息报告程序的内容有()。A、确定报警系统及程序 B、确定现
变电验收管理规定中,基建工程试运行期间应不少于(____)小时,由运维单位、参建
一般而言,股份制金融机构资金成本最高的筹资方式是( )。A.发行债券 B.长
利润表结构分析是以产品销售收入净额为100%,计算其他各项指标占该指标的百分比来
在某一时段内履行的履约义务,若能合理确定履约进度的,企业应于资产负债表日按照合同
桥上行车路面标高至桥跨结构最下缘之间的距离是()。A.桥梁高度 B.桥下
关于一级建造师执业范围的说法,正确的是( )。2014 A.注册建造师不得
最新回复
(
0
)