单选题

{{B}}Passage Three
Questions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.{{/B}}

A、 Brain structure and mechanism.
B、 Foreign language learning ability.
C、 People's brain and second language learning.
D、 Similarities and differences between adults and children in language learning.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[听力原文]32-35 Being bilingual produces changes in the anatomy of the brain, scientists said recently. They said that could explain why children are so much better than adults at mastering a second language. They found that people who speak two languages have more grey matter in the language region of the brain. Grey matter in the brain is made up of neurons, or nerve cells. The earlier people learned the language, the larger the grey area. "The grey matter in this region increases in bilingual people compared to monolingual people. This is particularly true in people who learned a second language early in life," said Andrea Mechelli, a neuroscientist at University College London. Learning another language after 35 years of age also alters the brain but the change is not as great as in early learners. "It reinforces the idea that it is better to learn early rather than late because the brain is more capable of adjusting or accommodating new languages by changing structurally," Mechelli said. "This ability of the brain decreases with time." Mechelli's team used structural brain images to compare the size of the grey matter in the brains of 25 monolingual people, 25 people who learned a second language before the age of five, and 33 late bilingual people. However, the scientists do not know whether the change in bilingual people means there is an increase in the size of the cells, the number of cells or the connections between them. Question 32: What is the main idea of this passage? 文章的主题是人类大脑的构造和语言学习之间的关系。选项中接近主题的表达为选项C。

A、 In terms of second language learning, adults are not as good as children.
B、 It's impossible for an adult above 35 to learn a foreign language.
C、 Adults can do better than children in learning a foreign language.
D、 Age is not important in determining one's ability to learn a language.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[听力原文] The passage suggests which of the following about language learning among adults? A文中提到大人学习外语不如小孩子快，因此答案是A。其他选项在文中都没有涉及，或者与文章的观点相反。

A、 Age.
B、 Grey matter.
C、 Language proficiency.
D、 Brain size.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[听力原文] According to this passage，what is a feature of brain structure that can differentiate bilingual people from monolingual people? 根据文中“The grey matter in this region increases in bilingual people compared to monolingual people”推知在bilingual人群的大脑中灰色物质更多，因此正确答案是B。

A、 50.
B、 58.
C、 25.
D、 83.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[听力原文] How many people were involved in Mechelli's comparative study? 数字题。根据文中“…25 monolingual people，25 people who learned a second language before the age of five，and 33 late bilingual people．”这个句子，可知答案是D。