問題詳情
A polyglot is a person who can master numerous languages. If one speaks morethan six languages, he will then be called a hyperpolyglot, a term coined by RichardHudson, professor emeritus of linguistics at University College London. Numerous theories exist as explanations for polyglotism. For example, it has beenrecognized that someone who is interested in languages, with a sufficiently developedintellect, and who optimizes his/her learning technique with experience, will becomeincreasingly efficient as each new language is learned; therefore, such an individual isable to master new languages with less effort than the average person. Also, differentlanguages overlap in the areas of grammar and vocabulary, and this makes it easier toacquire connected languages, such as English and French words. One theory suggests that a spike in a baby’s testosterone levels while in the uteruscan increase brain asymmetry, while others have suggested that hard work and right typeof motivation—which any adult can apply—are the key factors of polyglotism.Neuroscientist Katrin Amunts studied the brain of German polyglot Emil Krebs anddetermined that the area of Krebes’ brain that was responsible for language—the Broca’sarea—was organized differently in comparison to the brains of monolinguals.One well-known polyglot is Alexander Arguelles. An American scholar of foreignlanguages, Arguelles can read and fluently speak approximately thirty-six languages. Incollege, he took classes in French, German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, MedievalFrench, Gothic, Old High German, and Old Norse. He claims to have developedconversational abilities in Swedish, Dutch, and Italian during visits to those countrieswhile doing research in Europe, Portuguese by conversing with a Brazilian student,Russian during a month-long stay, and Korean and Arabic during his years of residencein South Korea and Lebanon. During the first portion of his time in Korea, he alsoengaged in the intensive simultaneous autodidactic study of a wide range of languagesincluding Irish, Persian, Hindi, Turkish, and Swahili.
On average, Arguelles spends nine hours a day studying dozens of languages. Atypical daily regime may consist of the following: writing and reading in Arabic, thenwriting at least two pages each of Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Latin, followed byreading Persian and writing two pages of Russian grammar before composing in Latin,doing grammatical exercise in Turkish, trying out a bit of Swahili, and reviewing Irishconversational dialogues. Arguelles is notable not only for his achievements as a polyglot, but also for theadvice and information about autodidactic language study that he provides to languagelearners on web forums. He does not maintain that there is any special key to languagelearning other than systematic and disciplined hard work over long periods of time.Among techniques he has advocated are “shadowing”—listening to and simultaneouslyechoing a recording of foreign language audio loudly and clearly while walking brisklyrather than sitting, and “scriptorium”—reading aloud while transcribing texts by hand. Inreviewing and evaluating textbooks he tends to favor older and more traditional materialsover contemporary publications. In terms of time management skills he recommendssimultaneous rather than sequential language study. Even if you don’t aspire to be a polyglot like Alexander Arguelles or JosephMezzofanti, the 19th century Italian cardinal who could speak 72 languages, giving thesetwo techniques a try can at least help you acquire a few foreign languages.
【題組】38. Based on the reading, which does NOT contribute topolyglotism?
(A)Motivation.
(B)Hard work.
(C)Goodinstructors.
(D)Genetic advantage.
參考答案
答案：C
難度：適中0.602941
統計：A(3),B(4),C(41),D(17),E(0) #
個人：尚未作答書單：考古題過的單字、英語教學法
用户評論
【用戶】Dream digger
【年級】高三上
【評論內容】One theory suggests that a spike in a baby’s testosterone levels while in the uterus can increase brain asymmetry, while others have suggested that hard work and right type of motivation—which any adult can apply—are the key factors of polyglotism.