專八閱讀真題文章（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月的一個悶熱的早晨，在一間能夠俯瞰紐約哈德遜河的教室裏，一羣三歲的孩子正將湯圓滾上巧克力屑，而旁邊的教師完全使用漢語指示。這只是雙語蓓蕾小學所舉辦的全外語浸入式教學法夏令營的一個幼兒語言學習遊戲，該小學除了爲兩歲小孩提供西班牙語培訓（在新澤西分校）之外，還全年教授漢語課程。

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.

當然，雙語可能對大學錄取有幫助，也能提供一份漂亮的簡歷，而越來越多的研究也進一步提供了一個基本原理：經常高水平地使用一種以上的語言確實可以促進大腦早期發育。

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”.

根據幾項不同的研究，掌握兩門以上的語言有助於提高注意力、決斷力和刪繁就簡地處理信息的能力。這些重要的技能歸納在一起，可用腦科學術語表述爲“執行功能”。研究表明這些技能在雙語孩子中提早得到開發，在孩子三、四歲時已表現明顯。雖然尚沒有人判定雙語促進大腦發育的真正機理，但這種優勢可能源於既定情境下選擇合適語言的需要。多倫多約克大學教授和該研究領域的領軍人物艾倫·比亞韋斯托克表示，這個連續的選擇過程對大腦來說是艱苦的鍛鍊，其中的一些過程超出了對單一語言要求的範圍，從而令頭腦更加敏銳，或按照比亞韋斯托克的術語，就是形成“認知儲備”。

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.

許多國家的雙語教育已經非常普遍，整個美國的雙語教育也在快速發展，有440所小學（1970是開端，從無到有）提供西班牙語、漢語和法語的全外語浸入式教學，這個順序與這些語種的流行程度相對應。

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.

對於那些不能讀懂托爾斯泰原著的幼兒的家長來說，可以得到安慰了，聖地亞哥加利福尼亞大學教授他瑪·高蘭發現：在只說單一語言和慣用一門以上語言的孩子之間存在詞彙差距。一般說來，說的語言越多，每種語言的詞彙量就越少。高蘭的研究表明，雖然差距會隨着年齡的增長不斷變小，但不會完全消失。提高任何語言能力都有一條經驗法則，那就是多練。高蘭說：“你用得越多，就越熟練，詞彙測試，如SAT、GRE——這些測試都考查你能力的極限，我們正是通過這些測試發現，通曉兩國語言者的劣勢在於你認識單詞，但你就是不能將它表達出來。”高蘭認爲這種劣勢可以通過額外學習的方式來彌補。比亞韋斯托克表示，一個更爲複雜的問題是雙語是否會與兒童早期出現的其他認知問題，特別是注意障礙有關，以及會如何發生這種關聯。由於注意力缺陷多動症與受損的執行功能有關，所以目前還不清楚第二語言學習——第二種語言的學習正是依靠這些執行功能——對患有這種疾病的孩子會有何種影響。關於該問題的研究還在進行中。

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.

當然，雙語對智力發展的一些最重要的好處根本無法衡量。會說多種語言意味着獲得了一種敞開心扉、接觸多種文化或生活方式的全球意識。

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.”

通曉兩種語言者似乎在學習新語言方面也比單一語言者更爲出色。倫敦作家克拉麗斯·萊曼的孩童時代是在母語爲法語的瑞士度過的。她在6歲時學會英語，後來她還學會了西班牙語、德語，在東京居住的三年時間裏，又學會了日語。她表示：“英語中的幽默比較機智，而法語中的幽默卻有不同的情感，日語中沒有諷刺，我試過，結果是‘我們不明白你想說什麼。’”有五門語言爛熟於心，又粗通拉丁文和希臘文——萊曼終於認爲自己學會的語言足夠多了。她說：“夠了，夠了！我不想再學任何語言了。”