Language learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and later starters are often long listeners. Most children will “obey” spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word “obey” is hardly accurate as a description of the eager and delighted cooperation usually shown by the child. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gesture and by making questioning noises. Any attempt to study the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words leads to considerable difficulties. It is agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises sort themselves as particularly expressive as delight, pain, friendliness, and so on. But since these can’t be said to show the baby’s intention to communicate, they can hardly be regarded as early forms of language. It is agreed, too, that from about three months they play with sounds for enjoyment, and that by six months they are able to add new words to their store. This self-imitation（模仿）leads on to deliberate（有意的）imitation of sounds made or words spoken to them by other people. The problem then arises as to the point at which one can say that these imitations can be considered as speech. It is a problem we need to get out. The meaning of a word depends on what a particular person means by it in a particular situation and it is clear that what a child means by a word will change as he gains more experience of the world .Thus the use at seven months of “mama” as a greeting for his mother cannot be dismissed as a meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at other times for his father, his dog, or anything else he likes. Playful and meaningless imitation of what other people say continues after the child has begun to speak for himself, I doubt, however whether anything is gained when parents take advantage of this ability in an attempt to teach new sounds.

. Before children start speaking，what is greatly different?________.

A. the amount of listening     

B. a number of listening

C. the sound of listening

D. the meaning of listening

starters are often long listeners, the sentence means one can ________.

A. be hard to speak fluently

B. begin to speak quickly

C. start with listening

D. often take a long time in learning to listen properly

these can not be said to show a baby’s intention to speak, these refer to  ________.

A. pain　　  B. happiness  C. Kindness   D. above of all

according to the writer, we can draw a conclusion that  ________.

A. children are fond of imitating

B. these imitation can be considered as speech

C. children get more experience of the world

D. children’s use  of  words are often meaningless

When a child is six months, he can  ________.

A. call his mama

B. imitate many languages

C. store new words

D. play with sounds

　Language learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and later starters are often long listeners. Most children will “obey” spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word“obey”is hardly exact as a description of the eager and delighted co- operation（合作） usually shown by the child. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gestures and by making questioning noises.

　　Any attempt to study the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words leads to considerable difficulties. It’s agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises sort themselves out as particular expression like delight, pain, friendliness and so on. But since these can’t be said to show the baby’s intention to communicate, they can hardly be regarded as early forms of language. It is agreed too, that from about three months they play with sounds for enjoyment, and that by six months they are able to add new words to their store. This self - imitation（自我模仿）leads out to deliberate（有意的）imitation of sounds made or words spoken to them by other people. The problem then arises to the point at which one can say that these imitations can be considered as speech.

　　It is a problem we need to get our teeth into. The meaning of a word depends on what a particular person means by it in a particular situation and it is clear that what a child means by a word will. change as he gains more experience of the world. Thus the use, at seven months, of“ mama” as a greeting for his mother cannot be dismissed as a meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at another time for his father, his dog, or anything else he likes. Playful and meaningless imitation of what other people say continues after the child has begun to speak for himself. I doubt, however , whether anything is gained when parents take advantage of his ability in an attempt to teach new words.

　Children who start speaking late ________

　　A. may have problems with their listening

　　B. probably do not hear enough language spoken around them

　　C. usually pay close attention to what they hear

　　D. often take a long time in learning to listen properly

　　A baby’s first noises are ________ .

　　A. an expression of his moods and feelings

　　B. an early form of language

　　C. an imitation of the speech of adults

　　D. a sign that he means to tell you something

　　The problem of deciding at what point a baby’s imitation can be considered as speech ________ .

　　A. is important because words have different meanings for different people

　　B. is not especially important because the change takes place gradually

　　C. is one that should be ignored（忽略）because children’s use of words is often meaningless

　　D. is one that can never be properly understood because the meaning of words changes with age

　　The speaker implies that ________ .

　　A. even after they have learnt to speak, children still enjoy imitation

　　B. children who are good at imitating learn new words more quickly

　　C. children no longer imitate people after they begin to speak

　　D. patents can never hope to teach their children new sounds

—There is no doubt that your singing will _______ greatly to the success of the party.

—I’m so flattered.

A. devote　　　　　　　 B. contribute　　　　 C. promote　　 D. stick　　

完型填空

　　From Monday till Friday most people are busy__1__or studying, __2__in the evenings and on weekends they___3___enjoy ___4___. Some watch TV or go to movies; others engage in sports. It ___5___ individual（个人的）interests. ___6___ many different ways to spend our spare time.

　　Almost everyone has some kind of hobby. It may be anything ___7___collecting stamps___8___model airplanes. Some hobbies are very expensive, but others___9___anything at all. Some collections are worth a lot of money, others are ___10___only to___11___.

　　I know a man who has a coin___12___worth seven thousand dollars. A short time ago he bought a rare fifty-cent piece worth 250 dollars! He was very happy about that and thought the price was___13___. On the other hand, my younger brother collects match boxes. He has almost 600 of them but I___14___if they are worth any money. However, to my brother they are extremely___15___ ___16___makes him happier than to find a new match box for his collection.

　　That's___17___a hobby means, I guess. It is something we like to do in our spare time simply___18___of it.___ 19___in dollars is not important but the pleasure it___20___us is important.