翻译题 46 Is language, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged? Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick II in the thirteenth century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent. All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected. Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. 47 Most often the reason for this backward speaking is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly rapidly at the right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed. 48 Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to fifty words. At three he knows about 1,000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than grammar. Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man's brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern 'toy-bear.' 49 And even more incredible is the young brain's ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyze, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways. 50 But speech has to be induced, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child's babbling and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child's non-verbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.
问答题
【正确答案】语言是否和食物一样是人类的基本需求，没有了它处于关键期的孩子是否会挨饿或受伤?
【答案解析】[考点] 定语从句；介词短语作定语 本文共有六段。第一段提到了“语言是人类基本需求”的假设，以及十三世纪的相关实验。第二段表示缺乏育儿技巧会导致婴儿存活率下降。第三段分析现今一些儿童会话能力发展缓慢的原因。第四段是专家针对婴儿会话研究得出的结论。第五段阐明了婴儿大脑已有的作用。第六段强调了母子互动的重要性。 本句是一个复合句。该句主干是Is language a basic human need。without which引导的定语从句修饰限定a basic human need。critical译为“关键性的，紧要的”。damaged译为“受损伤的”。 [参考译文] 语言是否和食物一样是人类的基本需求，没有了它处于关键期的孩子是否会挨饿或受伤?从十三世纪腓特烈二世惨烈的实验中得出，语言确实会产生这样的效果。腓特烈二世为了知道没有听过母语的婴儿会说什么，他让护士保持沉默，不发出声音。 所有未到一岁的婴儿夭折了。但这显然不仅仅是缺失语言，而是缺少优秀的育儿技巧。没有优秀的育儿技巧，婴儿，尤其是在其一岁之前，存活的能力会受到严重的影响。 如今并没有像腓特烈所说的那种严重的缺失，但是一些儿童的会话能力依然发展缓慢。这种迟缓的常见原因则是婴儿的大脑已经做好了快速学习语言的准备，但是母亲对婴儿发出的信号并不敏感。如果我们忽视了敏感期，获得能力的理想时间会流失并且想要再次轻易地学习他们很难。鸟类在特定的时间能快速学会吟唱和飞行，但一旦错过了关键期这个过程会变得既缓慢又艰难。 专家认为语言能力的发展阶段有其固定的顺序和对应的年纪：但也有一些情况是孩子开口说话晚最后却拥有高智商。婴儿在十二周的时候能够微笑并发出类似元音的语音；十二个月的时候他能说简单的词汇并理解简单的命令；十八个月的时候他能认识三到五十个单词。三岁的孩子认识1000个单词并能用这些单词造句，而四岁的时候，他的语言会在模式上与他的父母有所不同，而不是在语法上。 最新调查认为婴儿生来就有说话能力。与猴子的大脑相比，人类大脑的特殊之处在于它有复杂的系统，能够让孩子将所见所感与语言联系在一起，比如将玩具熊的实物与音型“toy-bear”联系在一起。而更令人难以置信的是，婴儿的大脑能够从他周围混杂的语音中梳理出语言的顺序，并以新的方式分析、组合、重组语言的部分内容。 然而会话需要引导，这就取决于母亲与孩子之间的互动，在这个过程中，母亲识别孩子咿呀学语和微笑所传递的信号并做出回应。母亲对这些信息不敏感会阻碍互动，因为孩子会感到失落而只发出明显的信号。所以对孩子非单词信号的敏感度是语言成长和发展的关键要素。
【答案解析】[考点] 介词短语作定语；定语从句；被动语态 本句是一个复合句。句子的主干是the reason is that the mother is insensitive to the signals，其中that引导的从句作表语。whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly是whose引导的定语从句，修饰限定the infant。此外，backward译为“发展缓慢的”。program表示“预先确定”。
【答案解析】[考点] 宾语从句；介词短语作状语；定语从句 本句是一个复合句。句子的主干是Experts suggest that speech stages are reached, but there are cases。that引导宾语从句，suggest表示“认为，表明”。连词and并列两个介词短语in a fixed sequence和at a constant age，共同修饰动词are reached作状语。此外，关系副词where(相当于介词in+which)引导的定语从句修饰名词cases，关系代词who引导的定语从句修饰名词a child。
【答案解析】[考点] 倒装；并列结构；介词短语作状语；介词短语作定语 本句是一个简单句。该句的主干是more incredible is the young brain's ability，显而易见，该句是主谓倒装结构。其中，不定式短语to pick out an order和to analyze，to combine and recombine the parts of a language均作定语修饰名词ability，pick out译为“辨认出，分辨出”，recombine表示“重新组合”。
【答案解析】[考点] 被动结构；并列结构；介词短语作定语；定语从句 本句是一个复合句。主句是由连词and并列连接的两个句子，即speech has to be induced和this depends on interaction，其中，induce译为“诱导，引导”。介词短语between the mother and the child作定语修饰名词interaction。关系副词where引导定语从句修饰限定interaction。在该定语从句中，连词and并列谓语recognizes和responds to，介词短语in the child's babbling and smiling作定语修饰限定signals，babbling表示“咿呀学语”。