专八阅读真题文章（一）
On a sweltering August morning，in a classroom overlooking New York’s Hudson River，a group of 3-year-olds are rolling sticky rice balls in chocolate sprinkles，as a teacher guides them completely in Mandarin . This is just one toddler learning game at the total-immersion language summer camp run by the primary school Bilingual Buds，which offers a year-round curriculum in Mandarin as well as Spanish (at a New Jersey campus) for kids as young as 2.
8月的一个闷热的早晨，在一间能够俯瞰纽约哈德逊河的教室里，一群三岁的孩子正将汤圆滚上巧克力屑，而旁边的教师完全使用汉语指示。这只是双语蓓蕾小学所举办的全外语浸入式教学法夏令营的一个幼儿语言学习游戏，该小学除了为两岁小孩提供西班牙语培训（在新泽西分校）之外，还全年教授汉语课程。
Bilingualism ，of course，can be a leg up for college admission and a résumé burnisher . But a growing body of research now offers a further rationale : the regular，high-level use of more than one language may actually improve early brain development.
当然，双语可能对大学录取有帮助，也能提供一份漂亮的简历，而越来越多的研究也进一步提供了一个基本原理：经常高水平地使用一种以上的语言确实可以促进大脑早期发育。
According to several different studies，command of two or more languages bolsters the ability to focus in the face of distraction，decide between competing alternatives，and disregard irrelevant information. These essential skills are grouped together， known in brain terms as “executive function”. The research suggests they develop ahead of time in bilingual children，and are already evident in kids as young as 3 or 4. While no one has yet identified the exact mechanism by which bilingualism boosts brain development，the advantage likely stems from the bilingual’s need to continually select the right language for a given situation. According to Ellen Bialystok， a professor at York University in Toronto and a leading researcher in the field， this constant selecting process is strenuous exercise for the brain and involves processes beyond those required for monolingual speech，resulting in an extra stash of mental acuity，or，in Bialy-stok’s terms，a “cognitive reserve”.
根据几项不同的研究，掌握两门以上的语言有助于提高注意力、决断力和删繁就简地处理信息的能力。这些重要的技能归纳在一起，可用脑科学术语表述为“执行功能”。研究表明这些技能在双语孩子中提早得到开发，在孩子三、四岁时已表现明显。虽然尚没有人判定双语促进大脑发育的真正机理，但这种优势可能源于既定情境下选择合适语言的需要。多伦多约克大学教授和该研究领域的领军人物艾伦·比亚韦斯托克表示，这个连续的选择过程对大脑来说是艰苦的锻炼，其中的一些过程超出了对单一语言要求的范围，从而令头脑更加敏锐，或按照比亚韦斯托克的术语，就是形成“认知储备”。
Bilingual education，commonplace in many countries，is a growing trend across the United States， with 440 elementary schools (up from virtually none in 1970) offering immersion study in Spanish， Mandarin，and French，in that order of popularity.
许多国家的双语教育已经非常普遍，整个美国的双语教育也在快速发展，有440所小学（1970是开端，从无到有）提供西班牙语、汉语和法语的全外语浸入式教学，这个顺序与这些语种的流行程度相对应。
For parents whose toddlers can’t read Tolstoy in the original Russian，the research does offer some comfort: Tamar Gollan，a professor at University of California，San Diego，has found a vocabulary gap between children who speak only one language and those who grow up with more. On average， the more languages spoken，the smaller the vocabulary in each one. Gollan’s research suggests that while that gap narrows as children grow，it does not close completely. The rule of thumb for improving in any language is simple practice. “The more you use it，the better off you are，” Gollan says. “Vocabulary tests， SATs，GREs—those are tests that probe the absolute limits of your ability， and that’s where we find that bilinguals have the disadvantage，where you know the word but you just can’t get it out.” Gollan believes this deficit can be compensated for with extra study. A more complicated question is how and whether bilingualism may interact with other cognitive issues that can appear in early childhood， specifically attention disorders ， says Bialystok. Because attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is linked to compromised executive functioning，it is unclear what impact learning a second language—which calls upon exactly these executive skills—might have on children with this condition. Research on this question is underway.
对于那些不能读懂托尔斯泰原著的幼儿的家长来说，可以得到安慰了，圣地亚哥加利福尼亚大学教授他玛·高兰发现：在只说单一语言和惯用一门以上语言的孩子之间存在词汇差距。一般说来，说的语言越多，每种语言的词汇量就越少。高兰的研究表明，虽然差距会随着年龄的增长不断变小，但不会完全消失。提高任何语言能力都有一条经验法则，那就是多练。高兰说：“你用得越多，就越熟练，词汇测试，如SAT、GRE——这些测试都考查你能力的极限，我们正是通过这些测试发现，通晓两国语言者的劣势在于你认识单词，但你就是不能将它表达出来。”高兰认为这种劣势可以通过额外学习的方式来弥补。比亚韦斯托克表示，一个更为复杂的问题是双语是否会与儿童早期出现的其他认知问题，特别是注意障碍有关，以及会如何发生这种关联。由于注意力缺陷多动症与受损的执行功能有关，所以目前还不清楚第二语言学习——第二种语言的学习正是依靠这些执行功能——对患有这种疾病的孩子会有何种影响。关于该问题的研究还在进行中。
Some of the most valuable mental perks of bilingualism can’t be measured at all， of course. To speak more than one language is to inherit a global consciousness that opens the mind to more than one culture or way of life.
当然，双语对智力发展的一些最重要的好处根本无法衡量。会说多种语言意味着获得了一种敞开心扉、接触多种文化或生活方式的全球意识。
Bilinguals also appear to be better at learning new languages than monolinguals. London-based writer Clarisse Lehmann spent her early childhood in Switzerland speaking French. At 6，she learned English. Later she learned Spanish，German，and，during three years spent living in Tokyo， Japanese. “There’s a witty humor in English that has a different sensibility in French，” she says. “And in Japanese，there’s no sarcasm. When I tried， it would be ‘We don’t understand what you’re trying to say.’” With five languages under her belt—and a working familiarity with Latin and Greek as well—Lehmann finally considers herself sufficiently multilingual. “Enough， enough!” she says. “I don’t want to learn any more languages.”
通晓两种语言者似乎在学习新语言方面也比单一语言者更为出色。伦敦作家克拉丽斯·莱曼的孩童时代是在母语为法语的瑞士度过的。她在6岁时学会英语，后来她还学会了西班牙语、德语，在东京居住的三年时间里，又学会了日语。她表示：“英语中的幽默比较机智，而法语中的幽默却有不同的情感，日语中没有讽刺，我试过，结果是‘我们不明白你想说什么。’”有五门语言烂熟于心，又粗通拉丁文和希腊文——莱曼终于认为自己学会的语言足够多了。她说：“够了，够了！我不想再学任何语言了。”
