A
Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual. Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying. As you grew older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously(好奇). You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things.
Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing. On that day you came to understand the secret of language. The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each other. Then, and only then do these people have a LANGUAGE.
After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as BOOKS, CHAIRS and SHOES. Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM, and other words describe things, such as GOOD and DIRTY. Soon you learned to put words together to express your idea, such as “I want to go out and play with my friends.” This is language. By means of language people can communicate. So we say languages are means of communication.
1. _________ can remember the day when __________.
A. One; he spoke his first word
B. No one; he spoke his first word
C. Most people; they spoke their first words
D. None; they spoke their first words
2. The secret of language is that__________.
A. one sound might be as good as another
B. people can understand each other
C. a certain sound is for a certain thing
D. there is a special sound for each person
3. You could learn words________.
A. before you knew what the language was
B. after you knew what the language was
C. before you knew the secret of the language
D. when you were a baby
4. The aim in using language is ________.
A. to get everything one wants from others
B. to say what one wants to know
C. to share ideas, opinions, news, etc with one another
D. to make oneself understood by others
