首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI of Bologna was a saint who was said to speak 72 languages. No one was certain of the true figure, but it was
CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI of Bologna was a saint who was said to speak 72 languages. No one was certain of the true figure, but it was
admin
2013-12-04
17
问题
CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI of Bologna was a saint who was said to speak 72 languages. No one was certain of the true figure, but it was a lot. Visitors flocked from all corners of Europe to test him and came away stunned. Two condemned prisoners were due to be executed, but no one knew their language to hear their confession. Mezzofanti learned it in a night, heard their sins the next morning and saved them from hell.
Or so the legend goes. In Babel No More, Michael Erard has written the first serious book about the people who master vast numbers of languages. A journalist with some linguistics training, Mr. Erard is not a
hyperpolyglot
himself, but he approaches his topic with both wonder and a healthy dash of skepticism.
To find out whether anyone could really learn so many languages, Mr. Erard set out to find modern Mezzofantis. The people he meets are certainly interesting. One man with a mental age of nine has a vast memory for foreign words and the use of grammatical endings, but he cannot seem to break free of English word-order. Ken Hale, who was a linguist at MIT and died in 2001, was said to have learned 50 languages. Professional linguists still swear by his talent. But he insisted he spoke only three and could merely "talk" in others. Mr. Erard says that true hyperpolyglottery begins at about 11 languages, and that while legends abound, tried and tested exemplars are few.
Hyperpolyglots are likely to be introverted, which may come as a surprise to some. Hale’s son always said that, in his father’s case, languages were a cloak for a shy man. Emil Krebs, a German diplomat who was also credited with knowing dozens of languages, was rude in all of them. He once refused to speak to his wife for several months because she told him to put on a winter coat.
At the end of his story, however, Erard finds a surprise in Mezzofanti’s archive: flashcards. Stacks of them in twelve tongues. The world’s most celebrated hyperpolyglot relied on the same tools given to first-year language-learners today. The conclusion? Hyperpolyglots may begin with talent, but they aren’t geniuses. They simply enjoy tasks that are tedious to normal people. The talent and enjoyment drive a virtuous cycle that pushes them to feats others simply shake their heads at.
It can be learned from the passage that Ken Hale was______.
选项
A、outgoing
B、modest
C、strong-willed
D、reliable
答案
B
解析
第三段的后半段讲到了麻省理工学院的Ken Hale。据说他学习了50种语言,很多专业的语言学家对他的才能深信不疑。但他自己却坚持说他只能讲三种语言,其他语言只能达到“会话”水平。可以看出他非常谦虚。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hhHO777K
0
研究生英语学位课统考(GET)
相关试题推荐
Adolescentsaretakinglongertobecomefullyproductivemembersofsociety,ReedLarson,professorofhumandevelopment,Univer
Therelationshipbetweenformaleducationandeconomicgrowthinpoorcountriesiswidelymisunderstoodbyeconomistsandpoliti
Negotiationislimitedtothecorporateboardroomortohigh-stakesbusinesssettings.Bybecomingfamiliarwithsimplenegotia
Awhitekidsellsabagofcocaineathissuburbanhighschool.ALatinokiddoesthesameinhisinner-cityneighborhood.Both
Thelong-termfortunesofthemoderneconomydependinpartonthestrengthandsustainabilityofthefamily,bothinrelationt
Islanguage,likefood,abasichumanneedwithoutwhichachildatacriticalperiodoflifecanbestarvedanddamaged?Judgin
Ifambitionistobewellregarded,therewardsofambitionwealth,distinction,controloverone’sdestinymustbedeemedworth
Ifambitionistobewellregarded,therewardsofambitionwealth,distinction,controloverone’sdestinymustbedeemedworth
Inthisfactorythemachinesarenotregulated______butarejointlycontrolledbyacentralcomputersystem.
我们不能肯定什么是“智力”,也不能肯定智力表达什么。但这一事实并不妨碍我们认为智力是一种非常有用的概念,也不妨碍我们对智力测验给予相当程度的信赖。在一次智力测验中,我们取样测验一个人解决各种各样难题和问题的能力。如果我们取了代表性样本,就可以成功地预测此人
随机试题
A.麦门冬汤B.炙甘草汤C.百合固金汤D.养阴清肺汤治疗气阴两伤之肺痿。宜用
一4岁儿童,因高热10小时,腹泻3次,两小时前发生抽搐,急诊来院。体温40.3℃,呼吸42次/分,脉搏144.次/分,BP9.2/6kPa(90/60mmHg),面色苍白,四肢发凉,皮肤有“花纹”。血WBC18×109/L,N86%,L14%。可
从执业兽医概念角度看,下列()活动属执业兽医执业范围标准描述
阿托品对下列哪种疾病疗效最好
女性,30岁。发热伴牙龈出血三周。查体:贫血貌,脾肋下3cm,胸骨压痛(+),血红蛋白70g/L,白细胞14.0×109/L,血小板35×109/L,骨髓增生明显活跃,原始细胞占0.62,为进一步诊断,应首选哪项检查
海关行政复议实行上级复议的原则,即对海关具体行政行为不服申请复议的,作出该具体行政行为海关的上一级海关为复议机关。
我国发行金融债券的开端是1985#:由()发行的金融债券。
有些城市通过举办马拉松比赛提升了城市知名度,因此很多城市竞相效仿。对于这种跟风现象,你怎么看?
为了研究不同类型的贫困地区人们的收入状况。现分别在两个地区进行了抽样,获取他们人均年收入数据如表2—39所示。(1)在α=0.05下,能否认为地区2的收入水平高于地区1?(2)在α=0.05下,两个地区人均收入方差是否相等?
为了删除列表框中的一个列表项,应使用的列表框方法是
最新回复
(
0
)