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  3. Learning a second language is tricky at any age (and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to crack open that dusty French bo

Learning a second language is tricky at any age (and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to crack open that dusty French bo

admin2020-01-11  28
问题    Learning a second language is tricky at any age (and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to crack open that dusty French book). Now, in a new study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a second language seem to plummet: 10.
   The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it’s "nearly impossible" for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after age 10. But that’s not because language skills start to go downhill. "It turns out you’re still learning fast, " says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College. "It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts
   dropping at around 17 or 18 years old." People who start a few years after age 10 may still become quite good at a language, the authors say, but they are unlikely to become fluent.
   Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they’re better able to adapt and respond to new information. "All learning involves the brain changing, " Hartshorne says, "and children’s brains seem to be a lot more adept at changing." Kids may also be more willing to try new things (and to potentially look foolish in the process) than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to default to the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank slate.
   These findings may seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than previously thought. Some scientists believed that the window begins to close shortly after birth, while others stretched it to early adolescence. Compared with those estimates, age 17 or 18 — when language-learning ability starts to drop off— seems relatively old.
   For the study, the researchers created an online quiz promising to guess people’s native language, dialect and home country based on their responses to English grammar questions. At the end of the quiz, people entered their actual native language, if and when they had learned any others and where they had lived. The quiz went viral: almost 670, 000 people took it, giving the researchers huge amounts of data from English speakers of many ages and backgrounds. Analyzing the responses and grammar mistakes allowed them to draw unusually precise conclusions about language learning.
   The findings also offer insights for adults hoping to pick up a new tongue. People fared better when they learned by immersion, rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where your desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult, says Hartshorne.
   If that’s not an option, you can mimic an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities, Hartshorne says. By doing so, it’s possible to become conversationally proficient — even without the advantage of a child’s brain.
Which of the following statements is TRUE about language acquisition?
选项 A、The earlier you start to learn a language, the better you will learn.
B、People may still be good at a language even if they start to learn it after 10.
C、There is a definite conclusion about the optimal starting age to learn a new language.
D、People cannot reach native-level fluency because people’s language skill start to go downhill after age 10.
答案B
解析 第2段最后一句话作者明确说明，10岁以后开始学习的人仍会擅长一门语言，只是他们不太可能流利地使用罢了，因此B项正确；A项“学语言年龄越小，效果越好”，这一点文中并未明确说明；C项是关于学习语言的最佳起始年龄，文中也没有提及；D项“人们无法达到像母语一样的流利程度，是因为10岁以后语言能力下降”，这与第2段第二句话不符。
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