单选题 In the early nineteen fifties, researchers found that people 1 lower on intelligence tests 2 they spoke more than one language. Research in the sixties found 3 Bilingual people scored higher than monolinguals—people 4 speak only One language. So which is it?
Researchers 5 their newest studies last month at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The latest 6 shows that being bilingual does not 7 make people smarter. But researcher Ellen Bialystock says it probably 8 make you better at certain skills. "Imagine 9 down the highway. There are many things that could capture your attention and you really need to be able to 10 all of them. Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?" said Ellen Bialystock.
And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention—a function 11 the executive control system. Ms. Bialyst0ck is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She says the best method to 12 the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. A person is shown words in different colors. The person has to ignore the word 13 say the color. The problem is that the words are all names of colors.
Her work shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to, because both languages are 14 in their brain 15 . They 16 to suppress one to be able to speak in 17 . This mental exercise might help in other ways, too. Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning, and more 18 to have friends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years 19 than others in 20 dementia or Alzheimer"s disease.