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单选题
Passage 2Several research teams have found that newborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people. Now a team of scientists has gone an intriguing step further: they have found that newborns cry in their native language.We have provided evidence that language begins with the very first cry melodies,says Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wirzburg, Germany, who led the research.The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are newborns capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester,said Wermke.Contraryto orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development.It had been thought that babies' cries are constrained by their breathing patterns and respiratory apparatus, in which case a crying baby would sound like a crying baby no matter what the culture is, since babies are anatomically identical.The prevailing opinion used to be that newborns could not actively influence their production of sound,says Wermke. This study refutes that claim: since babies cry in different languages, they must have some control(presumably unconscious) over what they sound like rather than being constrained by the acoustical properties of their lungs, throat, mouth, and larynx. If respiration alone dictated what a cry sounded like, all babies would cry with a falling-pitch pattern, since that's what happens as you run out of breath and air pressure on the throat's sound-making machinery decreases. French babies apparently didn't get that memo.German and French infants produce different types of cries, even though they share the same physiology,the scientists point out.The French newborns produce ' nonphysiological' rising patterns,showing that the sound of their cries is under their control.Although phonemes-speech sounds such as kiorsh-don't cross the abdominal barrier and reach the fetus, so-called prosodic characteristics of speech do. These are the variations in pitch, rhythm, and intensity that characterize each language. Just as newborns remember and prefer actualsongs that they heard in utero, it seems, so they remember and prefer both the sound of Mom's voice and the melodic signature of her language.The idea of the study wasn't to make the sound of a screaming baby more interesting to listeners-good luck with that-but to explore how babies acquire speech. That acquisition, it is now clear, begins months before birth, probably in the third trimester. Newborns not only have memorized the main intonation patterns of their respective surrounding language but are also able to reproduce these patterns in their own [ sound] production,conclude the scientists. Newborns'cries are already tuned toward their native language, giving them a head start on sounding French or German (or, presumably, English or American or Chinese or anything else: the scientists are collecting cries from more languages). This is likely part of the explanation for how babies develop spoken language quickly and seemingly without effort. Sure, we may come into the world wired for language(thank you, Noam Chomsky), but we also benefit from the environmental exposure that tells us which language.Until this study, scientists thought that babies became capable of vocal imitation no earlier than12 weeks of age. That's when infants listening to an adult speaker producing vowels can parrot the sound. But that's the beginning of true speech. It's sort of amazing that it took this long for scientists to realize that if they want to see what sounds babies can perceive, remember, and play back, they should look at the sound babies produce best. So let the little angel cry: she's practicing to acquire language.Why do German and French babies produce different types of cries according to the research?
A
Because they can control what they hear.
B
Because they can control their different breathing patterns.
C
Because they don't share the same physiological structure.
D
Because they can somehow control their sound production.
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参考解析
解析：
更多 “单选题Passage 2Several research teams have found that newborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people. Now a team of scientists has gone an intriguing step further: they have found that newborns cry in their native language.We have provided evidence that language begins with the very first cry melodies,says Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wirzburg, Germany, who led the research.The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are newborns capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester,said Wermke.Contraryto orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development.It had been thought that babies' cries are constrained by their breathing patterns and respiratory apparatus, in which case a crying baby would sound like a crying baby no matter what the culture is, since babies are anatomically identical.The prevailing opinion used to be that newborns could not actively influence their production of sound,says Wermke. This study refutes that claim: since babies cry in different languages, they must have some control(presumably unconscious) over what they sound like rather than being constrained by the acoustical properties of their lungs, throat, mouth, and larynx. If respiration alone dictated what a cry sounded like, all babies would cry with a falling-pitch pattern, since that's what happens as you run out of breath and air pressure on the throat's sound-making machinery decreases. French babies apparently didn't get that memo.German and French infants produce different types of cries, even though they share the same physiology,the scientists point out.The French newborns produce ' nonphysiological' rising patterns,showing that the sound of their cries is under their control.Although phonemes-speech sounds such as kiorsh-don't cross the abdominal barrier and reach the fetus, so-called prosodic characteristics of speech do. These are the variations in pitch, rhythm, and intensity that characterize each language. Just as newborns remember and prefer actualsongs that they heard in utero, it seems, so they remember and prefer both the sound of Mom's voice and the melodic signature of her language.The idea of the study wasn't to make the sound of a screaming baby more interesting to listeners-good luck with that-but to explore how babies acquire speech. That acquisition, it is now clear, begins months before birth, probably in the third trimester. Newborns not only have memorized the main intonation patterns of their respective surrounding language but are also able to reproduce these patterns in their own [ sound] production,conclude the scientists. Newborns'cries are already tuned toward their native language, giving them a head start on sounding French or German (or, presumably, English or American or Chinese or anything else: the scientists are collecting cries from more languages). This is likely part of the explanation for how babies develop spoken language quickly and seemingly without effort. Sure, we may come into the world wired for language(thank you, Noam Chomsky), but we also benefit from the environmental exposure that tells us which language.Until this study, scientists thought that babies became capable of vocal imitation no earlier than12 weeks of age. That's when infants listening to an adult speaker producing vowels can parrot the sound. But that's the beginning of true speech. It's sort of amazing that it took this long for scientists to realize that if they want to see what sounds babies can perceive, remember, and play back, they should look at the sound babies produce best. So let the little angel cry: she's practicing to acquire language.Why do German and French babies produce different types of cries according to the research?A Because they can control what they hear.B Because they can control their different breathing patterns.C Because they don't share the same physiological structure.D Because they can somehow control their sound production.” 相关考题
考题
According to the passage，quicksand is usually found______.A. on hillsidesB. far inlandC. near waterD. on prairies
考题
What kind ofpre－sequence is A’s first utterance in the following discourse? ()A: Do you have a rubber?B: Yes.A: May I use it?B: Here you are.
A.Pre-invitationB.Pre-requestC.Pre-announcementD.Pre-apology
考题
25． The passage can most probably be found in a ________ book．A． scienceB． historyC． travelD． maths
考题
请阅读 Passage 2，完成小题。
Passage 2
Several research teams have found thatnewborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people. Now a team ofscientists has gone an intriguing step further: they have found that newbornscry in their native language. "We have provided evidence that languagebegins with the very first cry melodies," says Kathleen Wermke of theUniversity of Wurzburg, Germany, who led the research.
?"The dramatic finding of this study isthat not only are newborns capable of producing different cry melodies, butthey prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the?ambientlanguage they have heard during their fetal life, within the lasttrimester," said Wermke. "Contrary to orthodox interpretations, thesedata support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding languagedevelopment."
???Ithad been thought that babies' cries are constrained by-their breathing patternsand respiratory apparatus, in which case a crying baby would sound like acrying baby no matter what the culture is, since babies are anatomically identical."The prevailing opinion used to be that newborns could not activelyinfluence their production of sound," says Wermke. This study refutes thatclaim: since babies cry in different languages, they must have somecontrol?? (presumably unconscious) overwhat they sound like rather than being constrained by the acoustical propertiesof their lungs, throat, mouth, and larynx. If respiration alone dictated what a crysounded like, all babies would cry with a falling-pitch pattern, since that'swhat happens as you run out of breath and air pressure on the throat'ssound-making machinery decreases. French babies apparently didn't get thatmemo. "German and French infants produce different types of cries, eventhough they share the same physiology," the scientists point out."The French newborns produce ‘nonphysiological' rising patterns," showingthat the sound of their cries is under their control.
????Although phonemes-speech sounds such as "ki" or"sh"-don't cross the abdominal barrier and reach the fetus, so-calledprosodic characteristics of speech do. These are the variations in pitch,rhythm, and intensity that characterize each language. Just as newbornsremember and prefer actual songs that they heard in utero, it seems, so theyremember and prefer both the sound of Mom’s voice and the melodic signature ofher language.
?The idea of the study wasn't to make the sound of a screaming baby more interestingto listeners-good luck with that-but to explore how babies acquire speech. Thatacquisition, it is now clear, begins months before birth, probably in the thirdtrimester: Newborns "not only have memorized the main intonation patternsof their respective surrounding language but are also able to reproduce thesepatterns in their own [sound] production," conclude the scientists. Newborns'"cries are already tuned toward their native language," giving them ahead start on sounding French or German (or, presumably, English or American orChinese or anything else: the scientists are collecting cries from morelanguages). This is likely part of the explanation for how babies developspoken language quickly and seemingly without effort. Sure, we may come into the world wired for language (thank you, Noam Chomsky), but we also benefitfrom the environmental exposure that tells us which language.
??Until this study, scientists thought that babies became capable of vocal imitation noearlier than 12 weeks of age. That's when infants listening to an adultspeaker producing vowels can parrot the sound. But that's the beginning of truespeech. It's sort of amazing that it took this long for scientists to realizethat if they want to see what sounds babies can perceive, remember, and playback, they should look at the sound babies produce best. So let the littleangel cry: she's practicing to acquire language.
What does Kathleen Wermke's research indicate?A.Babies are unable to do vocal imitation.
B.Babies’ cries could be their early language acquisition.
C.Babies start speech acquisition months after their birth.
D.A crying baby is a crying baby no matter what the culture is.
考题
Which of the following can' NOT be used as a pre-reading task?__________
A．Predicting what a passage is about.
B．Creating a word web related to a topic.
C．Listening to the recording of a passage.
D．Sharing what is already known about a topic.
考题
共用题干
Dangers Await Babies With AltitudeWomen who live in the world's highest communities tend to give birth to underweight babies,a new study suggests.These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average.But it wasn't clear whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitude or because their mothers are under-nourished一many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down.To find out more,Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the records of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998.The babies were born in both rich and poor areas of two cities:La Paz and Santa Cruz.La Paz is the highest city in the world,at 3.65 kilometers above sea level,while Santa Cruz is much lower,at 0.44 kilometers.Sure enough,Giussani found that the average birthweight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz.This was true in both high and low-income families.Even babies born to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies born to wealthy families in lofty La Paz."We were very surprised by this result,"says Giussani.The results suggest that babies born at high altitude are deprived of oxygen before birth."This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child," says Giussani.His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies.This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body.Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life. People born in La Paz might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood,for example.Low birth weight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease.And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life.According to the passage,one of the reasons why newborns in mountain communities are underweight is that their mothers are underweight.A:RightB:WrongC:Not mentioned
考题
共用题干
Dangers Await Babies with AltitudeWomen who live in the world's highest communities tend to give birth to underweight babies, a new study suggests.These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average.But it wasn't clear whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitude or because their mothers are under-nourished—many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down.To find out more,Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the records of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998 .The babies were born in both rich and poor areas of two cities:La Paz and Santa Cruz.La Paz is the highest city in the world,at 3 .65 kilometers above sea level,while Santa Cruz is much lower,at 0 .44 kilometers.Sure enough,Giussani found that the average birthweight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz.This was true in both high and low-income families.Even babies born to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies born to wealthy families in lofty La Paz.“We were very surprised by this result,”says Giussani.The results suggest that babies born at high altitude are deprived of oxygen before birth. “This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child,”says Giussani.His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies.This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body.Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life.People born in La Paz might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood,for example.Low birthweight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease.And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life. It can be learned from the last paragraph that______.A: high-altitude babies tend to have high blood pressure in their later lifeB: underweight babies have a shorter life spanC: babies born to poor families lack certain hormones before birthD: newborns in wealthy families have larger heads compared with their bodies
考题
共用题干
Voice Your Opinion一Change is Needed in Youth SportsEverywhere you look,you see kids bouncing。basketball or waving a tennis racquet（网球拍）.Andthese kids are getting younger and younger. In some countries,children can compete on basketball,base- ball,and volleyball teams starting at age nine._____________ (46)And swimming and gynmastics classes begin at age four, to prepare children for competition.It's true that a few of these kids will develop into highly skilled athletes and may even become members of the national Olympic teams._____________ (47)This emphasis on competition in sports is having serious negative effects.Children who get involved in competitive sports at a young age often grow tired of their sport. Many parents pressure their kids to choose one sport and devote all their time to it._____________ (48)But 66 per- cent of the young athletes wanted to play more than one sport一for fun.Another problem is the pressure imposed by over-competitive parents and coaches. Children are not naturally competitive. In fact,a recent study by Paulo David found that most children don' t even understand the idea of competition until they are seven years old._____________ (49)The third,and biggest,problem for young athletes is the lack of time to do their homework,have fun, be with friends一in short,time to be kids. When they are forced to spend every afternoon at sports practice, they often start to hate their chosen sport. A research found that 70 percent of kids who take part in competi- tive spoils before the age of twelve quit before they turn eighteen._____________(50) Excessive competitive sports take away all the enjoyment.Need to remember the purpose of youth sportsweto give kids a chance to have developing, strong, healthy bodies.__________(48)A: But what about the others,the average kids?B: The youth soccer organization has teams for children as young as five.C: A survey found that 79 percent of parents of young athletes wanted their children to concentrate on one sport.D: Very young kids don't know why their parents are pushing them so hard.E: Sports for children have two important purposes.F: Many of them completely lose interest in sports.
考题
The best statement of the main idea of this passage is that__________.A.scientists have found a way to prolong the period of clinical death
B.biological death occurs when vital organs have suffered permanent damage
C.modern scientists divide the process of dying into clinical and biological death
D.cooling delays the processes leading to biological death
考题
Deep inside a mountain near Sweetwater in East Tennessee is a bady?of water known as the Lost?Sea.It is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world′s largest underground lake.The Lost Sea is part of an extensive and historic cave system called Craighead Caverns.
The caverns have been known and used since the days of the Cherokee Indian nation.The cave?expands into a series of huge rooms from a small opening on the side of the mountain.Approximately?one mile from the entrance,in a room called-The Council Room",many Indian artifacts have been?found.Some of the items discovered include pottery,arrowheads,weapons,and jewelry.
For many years there were persistent rumors of a large underground lake somewhere in a cave,but it was not discovered until 1905.In that year,a thirteen-year-old boy named Ben Sands crawled through a small opening three hundred feet underground.:He found himself in a large cave half filled?with water.
Today tourists visit the Lost Sea and ride far out onto it in glass-bottomed boats powered by electric motors.More than thirteen acres of water have been mapped out so far and still no end to the lake has been found.Even though teams of divers have tried to explore the Lost Sea,the full extent
of it is still unknown.
It can be inferred from the passage that the Craighead Caverns presently serve as__________.A.an underground testing site
B.an Indian meeting ground
C.a tourist attraction
D.a motor boat race course
考题
D.evelopment teams often behave much like baseball or basketball teams.Even though they may have multiple specialties,all the members work toward（ ）.However,on systems maintenance and enhancement teams,the engineers often work relatively independently,much like wrestling and track teams.
A team is（ ）just a group of people who happen to work together.Teamwork takes practice and it involves special skills.Teams require common processes;they need agreed-upon goals;and they need effective guidance and leadership.The methods for guiding and leading such teams are well known,but they are not obvious.A.convenient
B.existing
C.practical
D.real
考题
Which of the following would be the BEST location to research current physical layout？（）A、Remote management softwareB、Rack diagramsC、OEM documentationD、Pre-installation plans
考题
单选题Which of the following is an appropriate title for this passage?A
Researchers Have Pointed Out the Disadvantages of Breast-feedingB
Researchers Have Found Out the Shortcomings of FormulaC
Breast-feeding Improves Chances of SuccessD
Breast-feeding Benefits Both Mother and Baby
考题
单选题But from the start of their experiments, the Wright brothers found that they needed money to pay______their research.A
backB
downC
forD
off
考题
单选题Which of the following is true according to the passage?A
Doctors have found effective ways to treat social-anxiety disorder.B
Direct contact with the thing the patients fear proves wrong.C
Medicine alone is impotent in controlling phobias.D
Virtual fear is helpful in treating phobias.
考题
单选题We may conclude from the passage that ______.A
universities’ grants has risen less than 13%B
universities are facing serious pension deficitsC
universities in the UK are predicting an average surplus of 1. 6% for the end of the financial year, so no need to worry for the momentD
many universities have cut the number of research projects
考题
单选题From the passage we can conclude that _____.A
doctors remain doubtful of the effectiveness of the cureB
many ALD patients still refuse to use the oilC
various cures have been found for ALDD
the oil really works as a cure for ALD
考题
单选题We can infer from the passage_______.A
the ice can easily just slip into the oceanB
volcanoes caused the ice to meltC
melting just in the Northern hemisphere would have been impossibleD
researchers often use the computer models help their research work
考题
单选题Passage 2Several research teams have found that newborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people. Now a team of scientists has gone an intriguing step further: they have found that newborns cry in their native language.We have provided evidence that language begins with the very first cry melodies,says Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wirzburg, Germany, who led the research.The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are newborns capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester,said Wermke.Contraryto orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development.It had been thought that babies' cries are constrained by their breathing patterns and respiratory apparatus, in which case a crying baby would sound like a crying baby no matter what the culture is, since babies are anatomically identical.The prevailing opinion used to be that newborns could not actively influence their production of sound,says Wermke. This study refutes that claim: since babies cry in different languages, they must have some control(presumably unconscious) over what they sound like rather than being constrained by the acoustical properties of their lungs, throat, mouth, and larynx. If respiration alone dictated what a cry sounded like, all babies would cry with a falling-pitch pattern, since that's what happens as you run out of breath and air pressure on the throat's sound-making machinery decreases. French babies apparently didn't get that memo.German and French infants produce different types of cries, even though they share the same physiology,the scientists point out.The French newborns produce ' nonphysiological' rising patterns,showing that the sound of their cries is under their control.Although phonemes-speech sounds such as kiorsh-don't cross the abdominal barrier and reach the fetus, so-called prosodic characteristics of speech do. These are the variations in pitch, rhythm, and intensity that characterize each language. Just as newborns remember and prefer actualsongs that they heard in utero, it seems, so they remember and prefer both the sound of Mom's voice and the melodic signature of her language.The idea of the study wasn't to make the sound of a screaming baby more interesting to listeners-good luck with that-but to explore how babies acquire speech. That acquisition, it is now clear, begins months before birth, probably in the third trimester. Newborns not only have memorized the main intonation patterns of their respective surrounding language but are also able to reproduce these patterns in their own [ sound] production,conclude the scientists. Newborns'cries are already tuned toward their native language, giving them a head start on sounding French or German (or, presumably, English or American or Chinese or anything else: the scientists are collecting cries from more languages). This is likely part of the explanation for how babies develop spoken language quickly and seemingly without effort. Sure, we may come into the world wired for language(thank you, Noam Chomsky), but we also benefit from the environmental exposure that tells us which language.Until this study, scientists thought that babies became capable of vocal imitation no earlier than12 weeks of age. That's when infants listening to an adult speaker producing vowels can parrot the sound. But that's the beginning of true speech. It's sort of amazing that it took this long for scientists to realize that if they want to see what sounds babies can perceive, remember, and play back, they should look at the sound babies produce best. So let the little angel cry: she's practicing to acquire language.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word ambientin Paragraph 2?A
Surrounding.B
Familiar.C
Foreign.D
Local.
考题
单选题The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to ______.A
stress the importance of professional trainingB
spotlight the soccer superstars in the World CupC
introduce the topic of what makes expert performanceD
explain why some soccer teams play better than others
考题
单选题According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?A
Poor pre-school kids have a larger vocabulary than rich kids.B
President Obama believes that early education can solve all economic and social problems.C
Rich pre-school kids have a richer vocabulary than poor kids.D
President Obama’s education secretary thinks it is morally wrong to let kids start kindergarten early.
考题
单选题According to the passage, we should first ____.A
do some research onlineB
make a plan for lunch
考题
单选题The anthropologists would have considered their research a success if they would have found a language that shares lexical elements with the Borneans they were studying.A
if they would have found a language that shares lexical elements with the Borneans they were studyingB
had they found a language that shares lexical elements with that of the Borneans they were studyingC
if they found a language that shares lexical elements with the Borneans they were studyingD
if they had found a language that shares lexical elements with the Borneans they were studyingE
if they would have found a language that shares lexical elements with that of the Borneans they were studying
考题
单选题Which of the following statements is CORRECT about smoking restriction according to the passage?A
Municipal bans on smoking in restaurants and bars are effective.B
Scribbler50 himself did some research on the effectiveness of the bans on smoking.C
Christian Jarrett found the morbid signs on cigarettes play an important role for all smokers.D
The measure that parents are restricted from smoking in cars with children is useful
考题
单选题Passage 2Several research teams have found that newborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people. Now a team of scientists has gone an intriguing step further: they have found that newborns cry in their native language."We have provided evidence that language begins with the very first cry melodies,"says Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wirzburg, Germany, who led the research."The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are newborns capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester,"said Wermke."Contraryto orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development."It had been thought that babies' cries are constrained by their breathing patterns and respiratory apparatus, in which case a crying baby would sound like a crying baby no matter what the culture is, since babies are anatomically identical."The prevailing opinion used to be that newborns could not actively influence their production of sound,"says Wermke. This study refutes that claim: since babies cry in different languages, they must have some control(presumably unconscious) over what they sound like rather than being constrained by the acoustical properties of their lungs, throat, mouth, and larynx. If respiration alone dictated what a cry sounded like, all babies would cry with a falling-pitch pattern, since that's what happens as you run out of breath and air pressure on the throat's sound-making machinery decreases. French babies apparently didn't get that memo."German and French infants produce different types of cries, even though they share the same physiology,"the scientists point out."The French newborns produce ' nonphysiological' rising patterns,"showing that the sound of their cries is under their control.Although phonemes-speech sounds such as "ki"or"sh"-don't cross the abdominal barrier and reach the fetus, so-called prosodic characteristics of speech do. These are the variations in pitch, rhythm, and intensity that characterize each language. Just as newborns remember and prefer actualsongs that they heard in utero, it seems, so they remember and prefer both the sound of Mom's voice and the melodic signature of her language.The idea of the study wasn't to make the sound of a screaming baby more interesting to listeners-good luck with that-but to explore how babies acquire speech. That acquisition, it is now clear, begins months before birth, probably in the third trimester. Newborns "not only have memorized the main intonation patterns of their respective surrounding language but are also able to reproduce these patterns in their own [ sound] production,"conclude the scientists. Newborns'"cries are already tuned toward their native language", giving them a head start on sounding French or German (or, presumably, English or American or Chinese or anything else: the scientists are collecting cries from more languages). This is likely part of the explanation for how babies develop spoken language quickly and seemingly without effort. Sure, we may come into the world wired for language(thank you, Noam Chomsky), but we also benefit from the environmental exposure that tells us which language.Until this study, scientists thought that babies became capable of vocal imitation no earlier than12 weeks of age. That's when infants listening to an adult speaker producing vowels can parrot the sound. But that's the beginning of true speech. It's sort of amazing that it took this long for scientists to realize that if they want to see what sounds babies can perceive, remember, and play back, they should look at the sound babies produce best. So let the little angel cry: she's practicing to acquire language.What does Kathleen Wermke's research indicate?A
Babies are unable to do vocal imitation.B
Babies' cries could be their early language acquisition.C
Babies start speech acquisition months after their birth.D
A crying baby is a crying baby no matter what the culture is.
考题
单选题Passage 2Several research teams have found that newborns prefer their mothers' voices over those of other people. Now a team of scientists has gone an intriguing step further: they have found that newborns cry in their native language.We have provided evidence that language begins with the very first cry melodies,says Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wirzburg, Germany, who led the research.The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are newborns capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester,said Wermke.Contraryto orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development.It had been thought that babies' cries are constrained by their breathing patterns and respiratory apparatus, in which case a crying baby would sound like a crying baby no matter what the culture is, since babies are anatomically identical.The prevailing opinion used to be that newborns could not actively influence their production of sound,says Wermke. This study refutes that claim: since babies cry in different languages, they must have some control(presumably unconscious) over what they sound like rather than being constrained by the acoustical properties of their lungs, throat, mouth, and larynx. If respiration alone dictated what a cry sounded like, all babies would cry with a falling-pitch pattern, since that's what happens as you run out of breath and air pressure on the throat's sound-making machinery decreases. French babies apparently didn't get that memo.German and French infants produce different types of cries, even though they share the same physiology,the scientists point out.The French newborns produce ' nonphysiological' rising patterns,showing that the sound of their cries is under their control.Although phonemes-speech sounds such as kiorsh-don't cross the abdominal barrier and reach the fetus, so-called prosodic characteristics of speech do. These are the variations in pitch, rhythm, and intensity that characterize each language. Just as newborns remember and prefer actualsongs that they heard in utero, it seems, so they remember and prefer both the sound of Mom's voice and the melodic signature of her language.The idea of the study wasn't to make the sound of a screaming baby more interesting to listeners-good luck with that-but to explore how babies acquire speech. That acquisition, it is now clear, begins months before birth, probably in the third trimester. Newborns not only have memorized the main intonation patterns of their respective surrounding language but are also able to reproduce these patterns in their own [ sound] production,conclude the scientists. Newborns'cries are already tuned toward their native language, giving them a head start on sounding French or German (or, presumably, English or American or Chinese or anything else: the scientists are collecting cries from more languages). This is likely part of the explanation for how babies develop spoken language quickly and seemingly without effort. Sure, we may come into the world wired for language(thank you, Noam Chomsky), but we also benefit from the environmental exposure that tells us which language.Until this study, scientists thought that babies became capable of vocal imitation no earlier than12 weeks of age. That's when infants listening to an adult speaker producing vowels can parrot the sound. But that's the beginning of true speech. It's sort of amazing that it took this long for scientists to realize that if they want to see what sounds babies can perceive, remember, and play back, they should look at the sound babies produce best. So let the little angel cry: she's practicing to acquire language.What can be inferred from the last paragraph？A
Babies'cries have long been the concerns of scientists.B
Babies start their speech acquisition at the age of three months.C
Studying babies'cries helps us understand their speech perception.D
Babies'true speech，rather than their cries，should be the focus of study.
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