填空题. Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth across all areas of development, especially the language skills. From birth up to the age of five, children develop language in a very 1 rapid pace. The stages of language development are universal among humans. Therefore, the age and the pace at which a child reaches each 2 milestone of language development vary greatly among children. Thus, language development in an individual child must be compared with norms than with other individual children. In general, girls develop language at a 3 faster rate than boys. Less than any other aspect of development, language 4 development reflects the growth and maturation of the brain. After the age of five it becomes much more difficult for most children to learn language. Receptive language development usually develops faster than expressive language. Two different styles of language development are recognized. In receptive language development, children first speak single words and then join words together, first into two-words sentences and 5 then into three-word sentences. In expressive language development, children first speak in long intelligible babbles that mimic the cadence and 6 rhythm of adult speech. Most children use a combination of these styles. Language development begins after birth. Towards the end of pregnancy, 7 a fetus begins to hear sounds and speech coming from outside the mother's body. Infants are acute attuned to the human voice and prefer it to other 8 sounds. In particular they prefer the higher pitch characteristic with female 9 voices. They are also very attentive to the human face, especially when the face is talking. Since crying is a child's primary means of 10 communication at birth, language immediately begins to develop via repetition and imitation.