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
(1) Some of the advantages of bilingualism include better performance at tasks involving "executive function" (which involves
(1) Some of the advantages of bilingualism include better performance at tasks involving "executive function" (which involves
admin
2021-10-12
63
问题
(1) Some of the advantages of bilingualism include better performance at tasks involving "executive function" (which involves the brain’s ability to plan and prioritize), better defense against dementia in old age and-the obvious-the ability to speak a second language. One purported advantage was not mentioned, though. Many multi-linguals report different personalities, or even different worldviews, when they speak their different languages.
(2) It’s an exciting notion, the idea that one’s very self could be broadened by the mastery of two or more languages. In obvious ways (exposure to new friends, literature and so forth) the self really is broadened. Yet it is different to claim-as many people do-to have a different personality when using a different language. A former Economist colleague, for example, reported being ruder in Hebrew than in English. So what is going on here?
(3) Benjamin Lee Whorf, an American linguist who died in 1941, held that each language encodes a worldview that significantly influences its speakers. Often called "Whorfianism", this idea has its sceptics, but there are still good reasons to believe language shapes thought.
(4) This influence is not necessarily linked to the vocabulary or grammar of a second language. Significantly, most people are not symmetrically bilingual. Many have learned one language at home from parents, and another later in life, usually at school. So bilinguals usually have different strengths and weaknesses in their different languages — and they are not always best in their first language. For example, when tested in a foreign language, people are less likely to fall into a cognitive trap (answering a test question with an obvious-seeming but wrong answer) than when tested in their native language. In part this is because working in a second language slows down the thinking. No wonder people feel different when speaking them. And no wonder they feel looser, more spontaneous, perhaps more assertive or funnier or blunter, in the language they were reared in from childhood.
(5) What of "crib" bilinguals, raised in two languages? Even they do not usually have perfectly symmetrical competence in their two languages. But even for a speaker whose two languages are very nearly the same in ability, there is another big reason that person will feel different in the two languages. This is because there is an important distinction between bilingualism and biculturalism.
(6) Many bilinguals are not bicultural. But some are. And of those bicultural bilinguals, we should be little surprised that they feel different in their two languages. Experiments in psychology have shown the power of "priming"—small unnoticed factors that can affect behavior in big ways. Asking people to tell a happy story, for example, will put them in a better mood. The choice between two languages is a huge prime. Speaking Spanish rather than English, for a bilingual and bicultural Puerto Rican in New York, might conjure feelings of family and home. Switching to English might prime the same person to think of school and work.
(7) So there are two very good reasons (asymmetrical ability, and priming) that make people feel different speaking their different languages. We are still left with a third kind of argument, though. An economist recently interviewed here at Prospero, Athanasia Chalari, said for example that: Greeks are very loud and they interrupt each other very often. The reason for that is the Greek grammar and syntax. When Greeks talk they begin their sentences with verbs and the form of the verb includes a lot of information so you already know what they are talking about after the first word and can interrupt more easily.
(8) Is there something intrinsic to the Greek language that encourages Greeks to interrupt? People seem to enjoy telling tales about their languages’ inherent properties, and how they influence their speakers. A group of French intellectual worthies once proposed, rather self-flatteringly, that French be the sole legal language of the EU, because of its supposedly unmatchable rigor and precision. Some Germans believe that frequently putting the verb at the end of a sentence makes the language especially logical. But language myths are not always self-flattering: many speakers think their languages are unusually illogical or difficult—witness the plethora of books along the lines of "Only in English do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway; English must be the craziest language in the world!" We also see some unsurprising overlap with national stereotypes and self—stereotypes: French, rigorous; German, logical; English, playful. Of course.
(9) In this case, Ms Chalari, a scholar, at least proposed a specific and plausible line of causation from grammar to personality: in Greek, the verb comes first, and it carries a lot of information, hence easy interrupting. The problem is that many unrelated languages all around the world put the verb at the beginning of sentences. Many languages all around the world are heavily inflected, encoding lots of information in verbs. It would be a striking finding if all of these unrelated languages had speakers more prone to interrupting each other. Welsh, for example, is also both verb-first and about as heavily inflected as Greek, but the Welsh are not known as pushy conversationalists.
According to the passage, that language influences thought may be related to________.
选项
A、the vocabulary of a second language
B、the grammar of a second language
C、the improved test performance in a second language
D、the slowdown of thinking in a second language
答案
D
解析
此题考查考生的理解能力。文章第四段中可以找到答案。原文中提到语言对思维方式的影响不一定是通过二语的语法(选项B),或词汇 (选项A)。此外,双语程度的不同,第二外语的测验表现更好(与母语相比较)(选项C),这是因为使用二语进行工作时,人们的思考会慢一些(选项D)。故选项D最为接近。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ocIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Becausewestilllacktheevidencetobackthat.B、Becausetherehaven’tbeenenoughnegotiations.C、Becauseweallvalueour
A、Becauseitisanentirelytheoreticalcourse.B、Becauseitisbeneficialforemployment.C、Becauseitinvolvespracticaleleme
CharacteristicsqfAmericanCultureI.PunctualityA.Goingtothetheater:be【T1】______twentyminutesprior【T1】______B.
CharacteristicsqfAmericanCultureI.PunctualityA.Goingtothetheater:be【T1】______twentyminutesprior【T1】______B.
A、Copyingandpastingpicturesonyourpersonalhomepage.B、Sanitizingyourphotosbeforeputtingthemonline.C、Blacklistingal
A、Therearelesscollegegraduatesthisyear.B、Thegovernmentisfundingunemploymentscheme.C、Employersareinclinedtohire
A、Inventions.B、Demandsinmarketplace.C、Ongoingeconomicgrowth.D、Education.C对话中,女士谈到了有很多推动社会变化的因素,其中最重要的动力是持续的经济增长。这与C项的表述一
PASSAGETHREEWhatdoestheeconomicconstructionofKazakhstanrelyon?
(1)"Britain’sbestexport,"IwastoldbytheheadoftheDepartmentofImmigrationinCanberra,"ispeople."Closeon100,000
ToGetontheSamePageSamiAdwanistheverymodelofasoft-spokenprofessor.Hemeasureshiswords,andlistenscarefully
随机试题
明朝为了强化皇权专制,建立了比较完善的监察制度。以下选项中,在明朝享有监察权的官员包括()。
________是元杂剧及散曲的总称,是元代文学的代表,与唐诗、宋词并称。
李某诉谭某返还借款一案,M市N区法院按照小额诉讼案件进行审理,判决潭某返还借款。判决生效后,谭某认为借款数额远高于法律规定的小额案件的数额,不应按小额案件审理,遂向法院申请再审。法院经审查,裁定予以再审。关于该案再审程序适用,下列哪些选项是正确的?(201
混凝土浇水养护时间,对采用硅酸盐水泥、普通硅酸盐水泥或矿渣硅酸盐水泥拌制的混凝土不得少于下列何时间?[2004年第018题]
背景材料:某城市郊区新建一级公路长3km,路面设计宽度15m,含中型桥梁一座。路面面层结构为沥青混凝土。粗粒式下面层厚8cm,中粒式中面层厚6cm,细粒式上面层4cm。经批准的路面施工方案为:沥青混凝土由工厂集中厂拌(不考虑沥青拌和厂设
“保费”栏应填()。
对商品实行最高限价,一般不会导致()
(05年)设一批零件的长度服从正态分布N(μ,σ2),其中μ,σ2均未知.现从中随机抽取16个零件,测得样本均值=20(cm),样本标准差s=1(cm),则μ的置信度为0.90的置信区间是【】
AboutTrainTickets1.Whatisatrainticket■A【T1】______validforasinglejourney【T1】______■Therearetwo
It’swellknownthatbiganimals,likepolarbears,aresensitivetoclimatechange.TheEarthwarms,polarice【B1】______,andt
最新回复
(
0
)