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2019年上半年大学英语四级阅读理解：手语
Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are unique—a speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language， and throw new light on an old scientific controversy： whether language，complete with grammar， is something that we are born With， or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington， D. C.， the world’s only liberal arts university for deaf people.
When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English， the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd： among themselves， students signed differently from his classroom teacher.
Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code， each movement of the hands representing a word in the time， American Sign Language （ASL） was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English （混杂英语）. But Stokoe believed the “hand talk”his students used looked richer. He wondered： Might deaf people actually： have a genuine language？ And could that language be unlike any other on Earth？ It was 1955， wheneven deaf people dismissed their signing as“substandard”. Stokoe’s idea was academic heresy （异端邪说）.
It is 37 years later. Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture—is having lunch at a cafe near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English， French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech， the modulation （调节） of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands， the modulation of space. “What I said，” Stokoe explains， “is that language is not mouth stuff—it’s brain stuff.”
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question：
1. The study of sign language is thought to be ________.
A. a new way to look at the learning of language
B. a challenge to traditional， views on the nature of language
C. an approach： to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language
D. an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language
2. The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by _______.
A. a famous scholar in the study of the human brain
B. a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts
C. an English teacher in a university for the deaf
D. some senior experts in American Sign Language
3. According to Stokoe， sign language is ________.
A. a Substandard language
B. a genuine language
C. an artificial language
D. an international language
4. Most educators objected to Stokoe’s idea because they thought ________.
A. sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people
B. sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted
C. a language should be easy to use and understand
D. a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds
5. Stokoe’s argument is based on his belief that ________.
A. sign language is as efficient as any other language
B. sign language is derived from natural language
C. language is a system of meaningful codes
D. language is a product of the brain
1.[B] 从文章第3句“手语提供了一种新方法，用以探索大脑如何产生和理解语言，并为一个长期以来的科学争端——语言（连同语法）究竟是我们与生俱来的，还是一种我们后天学会的行为——提出了新的解释”可以看出，这是对语言的性质的传统观点的挑战，即B 。A错在learning，文章并不是在讨论语言的学习，而是语言的产生和理解；C为简单原词干扰D；中的an attempt to clarify misunderstanding是对throw new light on an old scientific controversy的曲解，因为controversy不等于misunderstanding。另外，第1段最后一句中的rebel“反叛”一词也与B中的“挑战”一致。
2.[C] 根据第1段最后一句可知，选C。题干中的was stimulated相当于原文中的has roots in。
3.[B] 根据第3段第2—4句以及最后一段第3句，可知B为答案。前者提出猜想（Might deaf people actually have a genuine language？），后者含有一个同位语 his idea that signed languages are natural languages。
4.[D] 根据最后一段第4句，可知D正确。D中的only exist in the form of speech sounds是对原文中be based on speech的同义表达。
5.[D] 根据文章最后一句，可知D正确。D中的a product of the brain是对原文中brain stuff的同义表达。B中的derived from错误，因为Stokoe认为sign language就是一种natural language。
2019年上半年大学英语四级阅读理解：talk on paper
Learning how to write is like taking a course in public speaking. I＇d ask whether anyone in class had evertaken such a course. Always a few hands would go up.
＂What did you learn in that course？＂ I＇d ask.
＂Well， the main thing was learning how to face an audience： not to be inhibited （拘谨）... not to be nervous. ＂
Exactly， when you take a course in public speaking nowadays， you don＇t hear much about grammar and vocabulary. Instead. you＇re taught how not to be afraid or embarrassed， how to speak without a prepared script. how to read out to the live audience before you. Public speaking is a matter of overcoming your long-standing nervous inhibitions.
The same is true of writing. The point of the whole thing is to overcome your nervous inhibitions， to break through the invisible barrier that separates you from the person who’ll read what you wrote. You must learn to sit in front of your typewriter of dictating machine and read out to the person at the other end of the line.
Of course， in public speaking with the audience right in front of you， the problem is easier. You can lookat them and talk to them directly. In writing， you ＇re alone. It needs an effort of your experience or imagination to take hold of that other person and talk to him or her. But that effort is necessary or at least it＇ s necessary until you＇ve reached the point when you quite naturally and unconsciously ＂talk on paper＂.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question：
main task of a public speech course is to __________.
h grammar and vocabulary
B. teach how to write a script
C. teach how to overcome nervousness
D. teach live spoken-language expressions
ning how to write is similar to learning how to speak in public in that writer should _____.
come his or her nervousness in the first place
B. take hold of a reader and talk to him or her before writing
C. learn to use a typewriter or dictating machine
D. talk to himself on paper
does the author compare writing and public speaking？
hing needs more experience and imagination than public speaking
writing and public speaking require great effort
hing is just as imagination as public speaking
hing is not as natural as public speaking
h of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage？
students feel the need to learn public speaking
ning is necessary before you can speak with a script
public speaking， the audience are more nervous than the speaker
ing is just like making a public speech on paper
selection is mainly about ___________.
effort involved in writing
similarities between writing and public speaking
ning how to make a public speech
ning how to talk on paper
1.[C] 事实细节题。原文第4段，特别是第4段的最后一句表明c为正确选项。本题稍具干扰性的是D，该选项中的live一词在第4段第2句末尾也有出现，但事实上D与该句的意思不相同。
2.[A] 事实细节题。本题考查对比处。第5段第1句表明下一句就是演讲和写作的相似之处，而A就是对该句的同义替换。其他选项并未按照题目的要求对比演讲与写作，只是说明了写作必须做的，因此都不正确。
3.[A] 推理判断题。本题考查对比处。结尾段对比了演讲和写作的不同之处，第1、2句和第3、4句形成了内在的对比关系，由此可推断写作比演讲更需要经验和努力，因此可确定A正确，而C不正确。虽然在这一段可找到effort和naturally等词，但原文并没有从是否要付出同样多的努力（B）或是否自然（D）等方面对比演讲与写作，因此B和D也不正确。
4.[D] 推理判断题。根据最后一句中的“在纸上说话”，可推断作者认为写作如在纸上作演讲一样，因此D正确。A中的Few students与事实不符；B中的speak with a script在文中未有提及；C中的separated by a barrier错误。
5.[D] 主旨大意题。文章的开头句就是全文的主题句，作者在前四段说明如何演讲，从第5段开始，作者转向说明如何写作，文章的结尾句对开头句做出了呼应。作者之所以将演讲和写作过程做比较是为了让自己的观点更容易、更生动地被读者明白和接受，因此本文的中心内容是围绕写作，而不是演讲。其余选项虽然文中都有提及，但只是各个具体的侧面内容，不能概括全文大意。
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