Question

    How the languages of the world appeared is largely a mystery. Considering that it might have taken thousands of years, it is attractive to see how deaf people can create novel sign languages unconsciously. Interestingly, children played an important role in the development of these novel languages. However, how exactly this happened has not been documented.

In a series of studies, researchers attempted to recreate exactly this process. Children were invited to stay in two different rooms and an online connection was set up between them.After a brief familiarization with the set- up, the researchers sneakily (偷偷地）turned off the sound and watched as the children found new ways of communicating that go beyond spoken language.

The children's task was to describe an image with different themes in a coordination game. With concrete things-like a hammer or a fork-children quickly found a solution by imitating the matching action, for example, eating, in a gesture. But the researchers repeatedly challenged the children with new, more abstract pictures. In the course of the study, the images to be described became more and more complex, which was also reflected in the gestures that the children produced. In order to communicate, the children invented separate gestures for actors and actions and began to combine them-thus creating a kind of small local grammar.

How does a language come into being? Based on the present study, the following steps appear reasonable: first, people create reference to actions and objects through signs that resemble things. The precondition for this is a common ground of experience between interaction partners. Partners also coordinate (配合）by imitating each other so that they use the same signs for the same things. The signs thus gain interpersonal and eventually common meaning. Over time, the relationships between the signs and things become more abstract and the meaning of the individual signs becomes more specific. Grammatical structures are gradually introduced when there is a need to communicate more complex facts. However, the most remarkable aspect of the current studies is that these processes can be observed under controlled circumstances and within 30 minutes.

1.How did the researchers carry out the experiment?

A.By making the communication in total silence.

B.By inferring to and copying the documented scene.

C.By observing children communicate face to face.

D.By listening secretly to the communication of children.

2.What should children do in the studies?

A.Show how to do different things with different tools.

B.Take several oral examinations on foreign languages.

C.Describe things to others without spoken languages.

D.Name some abstract objects which they have never seen.

3.What is the process of creating a language?

A.Signs→Accepted meaning→Interpersonal meaning→Language

B.Interpersonal meaning→Accepted meaning→Signs→Language

C.Accepted meaning→Interpersonal meaning→Signs→Language

D.Signs→Interpersonal meaning→Accepted meaning→Language

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.The development of novel sign languages.

B.The first steps of the making of languages.

C.The role children play in creating languages.

D.The circumstances of languages coming into being.

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】

本文是说明文。世界语言是如何出现的仍旧是一个谜，儿童在这些新语言的发展中起着重要的作用，这是如何发生的呢？文章介绍了为揭开这个谜底进行的研究，阐述了语言产生的过程。

1.

细节理解题。根据第二段的After a brief familiarization with the set- up, the researchers sneakily (偷偷地）turned off the sound and watched as the children found new ways of communicating that go beyond spoken language.(在对这套装置进行了短暂的熟悉之后，研究人员偷偷地关掉了声音，观察孩子们找到不用口语就能交流的方式。)可知，实验是在完全沉默的交流中进行的。故选A。

2.

细节理解题。根据第二段最后的the children found new ways of communicating that go beyond spoken language.(孩子们发现了不用口语就能交流的方式。)第三段的The children's task was to describe an image with different themes in a coordination game. （孩子们的任务是在一个协调游戏中描述不同主题的图像。）可知，儿童在研究中不使用口语描述事情给他人。故选C。

3.

细节理解题。根据最后一段的Based on the present study, the following steps appear reasonable: first, people create reference to actions and objects through signs that resemble things. The precondition for this is a common ground of experience between interaction partners. Partners also coordinate (配合）by imitating each other so that they use the same signs for the same things. The signs thus gain interpersonal and eventually common meaning. Over time, the relationships between the signs and things become more abstract and the meaning of the individual signs becomes more specific. Grammatical structures are gradually introduced when there is a need to communicate more complex facts.可知，首先，人们通过类似事物的符号来创造对行为和物体的参照。这样做的前提是互动伙伴之间有共同的经验基础。合作伙伴也通过互相模仿来协调，这样他们就可以在同样的事情上使用相同的符号。这些符号因此获得了人际关系和最终的共同意义。随着时间的推移，符号和事物之间的关系变得更加抽象，单个符号的含义也变得更加具体。当需要交流更复杂的事实时，语法结构会逐渐引入。因此创造语言的过程是：符号——人与人之间的意义——被接受的意义——语言。故选D。

4.

主旨大意题。第一段讲述以问题的形式提出语言如何产生的这一话题，二、三两段通过一项研究说明语言产生的过程，最后一段总结了语言形成的基本步骤。因此推断本文主要讲述语言产生的最初的步骤。故选B。