Question

    In 2009, Dr. Kathleen Wermke and her colleagues made headlines with a study showing that French and German newborns produce distinctly different “cry melodies,” reflecting the languages they heard in womb (子宫). Today, Dr. Wermke’s lab houses a collection of around a half-million recordings of babies from as far a field as Cameroon and China.

The analysis of these recordings has produced further insights into the factors that shape a baby’s first sounds. Newborns whose mothers speak tonal languages, such as Mandarin, tend to produce more complex cry melodies. Swedish newborns, whose native language has what linguists call a “pitch accent,” produce more sing-songy cries.

Hearing and imitating are fundamental to language development. By the third trimester, a fetus (胎儿) can hear the rhythm and melody of its mother’s voice — known as “prosody”. It is the defining characteristic of language for the fetus. After they are born, young babies mimic many different sounds. But they are especially shaped by the prosody they heard in the womb, which becomes a handy guide to the strange sounds coming from the people around them. Through stress, pauses and other clues, prosody cuts up the stream of sound into words and phrases – that is, into speech.

“These studies redouble the lab’s broader effort to map the typical development of a baby’s cries, as well as vocalizations like cooing and babbling.” Dr. Kathleen Wermke said. “Knowing what typical development looks like and what factors can influence it helps doctors address potential problems early on.”

1.The underlined word “mimic” in Paragraph 3 refers to ______.

A.imitate B.learn

C.hear D.gain

2.What is Dr. Kathleen Wermke’s attitude towards the studies？

A.Ambiguous B.Doubtful

C.Neutral D.Approving

3.What would be the best title for the text?

A.Mandarin is the most complex tonal language

B.Swedish newborns produce more simple cry sounds.

C.Newborn babies cry in different languages

D.Hearing is fundamental to language development

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要讲了出生在不同国家、还不会说话的宝宝，哭声会不一样。德国一个研究团队发现，胎儿在母体内已经会受到语言环境的影响。因此，婴儿啼哭的声调也会和母语的特征一致。

1.

词义猜测题。根据第三段Hearing and imitating are fundamental to language development. By the third trimester, a fetus (胎儿) can hear the rhythm and melody of its mother’s voice — known as “prosody”. 听力和模仿是语言发展的基础，在孕期的第三个阶段，胎儿能听出他妈妈声音的节奏和旋律，即“韵律”。所以在婴儿出生后是模仿不同的声音，这里符合A选项“模仿”。故选A项。

2.

推理判断题。根据最后一段博士说的话Dr. Kathleen Wermke said. “Knowing what typical development looks like and what factors can influence it helps doctors address potential problems early on.”了解常规发展情况，以及哪些因素对此有影响，有助于医生尽早发现潜在病症。所以这里凯瑟琳·韦姆克博士对这些研究的态度是赞同的态度。故选D项。

3.

主旨大意题。根据第一段“In 2009, Dr. Kathleen Wermke and her colleagues made headlines with a study showing that French and German newborns produce distinctly different “cry melodies,” reflecting the languages they heard in womb (子宫).” 2009年，凯瑟琳博士和她的同事因为一项研究上了各种媒体头条，他们的研究发现，法国和德国的新生儿发出的啼哭旋律有明显区别，并与他们在胎儿时，听到的语言一致。后面整篇文章都在讨论不同国家婴儿啼哭声不同的原因和影响，所以主旨是新生儿有不同的啼哭声。“新生儿会用不同的语言哭泣”最适合作为文章标题。故选C项。