Question

Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.

Keeping it in the family

“You understand grandmother when she talks to you, don’t you, darling?” The girl nods. I met her, her Japanese mother and English father on a plane to Japan. The parents were eager to ____ their experience of bringing up their daughter bilingually (使用双语地) in London. It isn’t easy: the husband does not speak Japanese, so the child hears the language only from her mother, who has come to ____ that the girl will reply in English. This can be painful. Not sharing your first language with loved ones is hard. Not passing it on to your own child can be especially tough. Many immigrant parents feel a sense of ____.

Children learn languages easily, but this doesn’t mean that ____ exposure is enough. They must hear a language quite a bit to understand it—and use it often to be able to speak it comfortably. This is mental work, and a child who doesn’t have an intention to speak a language will often avoid it. So languages often die when parents move abroad. In the past, governments discouraged immigrant families from keeping their languages. These days, officials tend to be ____; some even see a valuable resource in immigrants’ language abilities. Yet many factors ensure that children still lose their parents’ languages, or never learn them. A big one is institutional ____. A child’s time spent with a second language is time not spent on their first. So teachers often discourage parents from speaking their languages to their children. Parents often ____ obey, worried about their children’s education. This is a(n) ____, for children really can master two languages or even more. Research does indeed suggest their vocabulary in each language may be somewhat smaller for a while, but other studies hint at intellectual advantages among bilinguals. They may be more skillful at complex tasks, better at maintaining attention.

Even without those side effects, ____, a bilingual child’s connection to another culture is a good thing in itself. How to ____? When both parents share the native language, the strategy is often to speak that at home, and the national language outside. But when they have ____ languages, perhaps the most common approach is “one parent, one language”. Francois Grosjean, a language expert from Switzerland, ____ the necessity. He recommends reserving occasions on which the only language that may be spoken is the one that needs ____. Sabine Little, a language expert at the University of Sheffield, puts the emphasis elsewhere. Making the native language yet another task ____ by parents can lead to rejection, she argues. She recommends letting the child form their own ____ connection to the language, for languages are not just another thing to be drilled into a young mind, but a matter of the heart.

1.A. conceal B. publicize C. discuss D. imagine

2.A. accept B. argue C. decide D. ensure

3.A. excitement B. inferiority C. failure D. injustice

4.A. momentary B. maximum C. repeated D. continued

5.A. less stimulated B. less controlling C. more relieved D. more discouraging

6.A. engagement B. feature C. prejudice D. pressure

7.A. cheerfully B. faithfully C. immediately D. reluctantly

8.A. instance B. shame C. ambition D. suggestion

9.A. though B. hence C. besides D. otherwise

10.A. keep it up B. carry it on C. figure it out D. bring it about

11.A. multiple B. different C. foreign D. target

12.A. removes B. challenges C. emphasises D. ignores

13.A. preservation B. restriction C. rejection D. connection

14.A. performed B. imposed C. shared D. recommended

15.A. skillful B. powerful C. apparent D. emotional

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.A

5.B

6.D

7.D

8.B

9.A

10.D

11.B

12.C

13.A

14.B

15.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。在双语家庭里，因为一些原因孩子不能传承移民或外籍父母的母语。这是令人惋惜的，因为双语儿童是在某些方面是有优势的。最后作者介绍了语言专家对此的看法和建议。

1.考查动词词义辨析。A. conceal隐藏；B. publicize宣传；C. discuss 论述；谈论；D. imagine 想象。根据后文“ It isn’t easy: the husband does not speak Japanese, so the child hears the language only from her mother,”可知这对父母用双语抚养女儿的经历不简单，所以他们才很想谈论（discuss）他们的经历，选C。

2.考查动词词义辨析。A. accept 接受； B. argue争论；C. decide决定；D. ensure 确保。根据本句可知只有女孩的妈妈说日语，妈妈不得不接受（accept）女孩会用英语回答她的事实。选A。

3.考查名词词义辨析。A. excitement兴奋；B. inferiority自卑；C. failure失败；D. injustice 不公平。根据前文“Not sharing your first language with loved ones is hard. Not passing it on to your own child can be especially tough.”可知不能与所爱之人分享母语以及不能将母语教给孩子对于这些移民的父母是痛苦的，他们中很多人会有一种挫败（failure）感。选C。

4.考查形容词词义辨析。A. momentary片刻的;短暂的；B. maximum最高的;最大的;C. repeated重复的；D. continued 持续的。前文Children learn languages easily,表明孩子很容易学会一门语言。但是，这并不意味着短暂的（. momentary）接触就足够（让孩子学会某种语言）。A项符合语境，故选A项。

5.考查形容词词义辨析。A. less stimulated不那么刺激的；B. less controlling不那么有控制欲的；C. more relieved更轻松的；D. more discouraging 更令人泄气的。根据前文“ In the past, governments discouraged immigrant families from keeping their languages.”可知政府过去不鼓励移民家庭保留其母语。根据后文“some even see a valuable resource in immigrants’ language abilities”可知有些官员甚至在移民的语言能力中发现了宝贵的资源，说明政府的态度发生了改变，现在不那么控制（less controlling）移民家庭是否保留母语。故选B。

6.考查名词词义辨析。A. engagement婚约 ；约会, 约定；B. feature特征特色；C. prejudice偏见；D. pressure压力。根据后文“So teachers often discourage parents from speaking their languages to their children.”可知所以教师总是不鼓励父母和孩子讲自己的母语。这是一种制度上的压力（pressure）。故选D。

7.考查副词义辨析。A. cheerfully兴奋地；B. faithfully 忠实地；C. immediately立刻；D. reluctantly 不情愿地。根据“worried about their children’s education.”可知父母因为担心孩子的教育，所以他们会遵从老师的话。根据前文“Not passing it on to your own child can be especially tough.”可知不能把母语传给孩子对于父母来说是痛苦的。所以这些父母应该是不情愿地（ reluctantly）遵从。故选D。

8.考查名词词义辨析。A. instance实例;事例；B. shame 令人惋惜的事；羞耻；C. ambition野心；D. suggestion 建议。根据“for children really can master two languages or even more”可知这些孩子们本可以掌握两种或更多语言，所以这是一件令人惋惜的事（shame）。故选B。

9.考查副词义辨析。A. though 尽管；即使；B. hence因此；所以；C. besides除此以外；D. otherwise 否则不然。句意：即使没有这些附加优势，掌握双语的儿童和亲人以及另一种文化的连接本身就是一件好事。根据句意，without those side effects和a bilingual child’s connection to another culture is a good thing in itself.之间是转折的关系。A选项though放在这里切题，故选A项。

10.考查词组辨析。A. keep it up 保持优秀成绩；B. carry it on继续；坚持；C. figure it out弄清楚；解决；D. bring it about导致；发生。根据上下文，这里所有选项的it指的是前文中的“a bilingual child’s connection to another culture”，即与亲人以及另一种文化的连接。所以后面问题是问“如何使这个发生呢？”故选D。

11.考查形容词词义辨析。A. multiple涉及多人的;有多种用途的；B. different不同的；C. foreign外国的; D. target。根据后文的“one parent, one language”可知父母说着不同的（different）语言，才能做到和父母各讲一种语言。选B。

12.考查动词词义辨析。. A. removes移动；搬动；B. challenges挑战；C. emphasizes强调；D. ignores 忽视。根据后文“He recommends reserving occasions on which the only language that may be spoken is the one that needs ——.”可知这位语言学家支持在家里讲父母的母语，所以他应该是强调（emphasizes）这样做的重要性。故选C。

13.考查名词词义辨析。A. preservation保存；B. restriction限制；约束；C. rejection拒绝；D. connection联系。这位语言学家支持在家里讲母语的，所以他建议能够讲母语的场合（也就是家里）要保存（preservation）。故选A。

14.考查动词词义辨析。A. performed表演；B. imposed强制实施；强加；C. shared分享；D. recommended 推荐。根据后文“can lead to rejection,”可知父母的某种行为会引起孩子的反感。引起孩子反感的原因就是这种传承语言的任务是父母强加(impose)给孩子的。故选B。

15.考查形容词词义辨析。A. skillful有技巧的；灵巧的；B. powerful有势力的；有影响力的；C. apparent显然的；D. emotional情感上的;情绪上的。根据后文“but a matter of the heart.”可知语言与心灵有关，所以孩子要与语言建立起情感上的（emotional）的联系。故选D。