2. 外语
  3. Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits. In recent years, scientists have begun to show that

Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits. In recent years, scientists have begun to show that

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问题     Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits. In recent years, scientists have begun to show that being bilingual makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.
    Researchers, educators and policy makers in 20 century considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development. There is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles. The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind—like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.
    Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? Researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system. But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.
    The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. "Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often, " says Albert Costa, a searcher at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain. "It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving. "In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it.
    The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age, and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life.
What is the most suitable subject of the passage?
选项 A、Bilingual learning could benefit from their ability.
B、Bilingual could work effectively without disturbance.
C、Two active language systems make people smarter.
D、It is never too late to learn a second language.
答案A
解析 主旨题。本题为主旨题，纵览全文可知，A项“双语学习者可以通过他们的能力受益”是对全文大意的整体概括。B项“双语者能有效地工作而不受干扰”、C项“两种活跃的语言系统使人更聪明”和D项“学习第二语言永远不会太迟”都只是对文中部分内容的总结，均不能完美地概括整篇文章，故选A。
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