In families with two working parents, fathers may have more impact on a child's language development than mothers, a new study suggests.
Researchers __1__ 92 families from 11 child care centers before their children were a year old, interviewing each to establish income, level of education and child care arrangements. Overall, it was a group of well-educated middle-class families, with married parents both living in the home.
When the children were 2, researchers videotaped them at home in free-play sessions with both parents, __2__ all of their speech. The study will appear in the November issue of The Journal of Applied Development of Psychology.
The scientists measured the __3__ number of utterances (话语) of the parents, the number of diffe-rent words they used, the complexity of their sentences and other __4__ of their speech. On average, fathers spoke less than mothers did, but they did not differ in the length of utterances or proportion of questions asked.
Finally, the researchers __5__ the children's speech at age 3, using a standardized language test. The only predictors of high scores on the test were the mother's level of education, the __6__ of child care and the number of different words the father used.
The researchers are __7__ why the father's speech, and not the mother's, had an effect.
"It's well __8__ that the mother's language does have an impact," said Nadya Pancsofar, the lead author of the study. It could be that the high-functioning mothers in the study had __9__ had a strong influence on their children's speech development, Ms. Pancsofar said, "or it may be that mothers are __10__ in a way we didn't measure in the study."
[A] already
[B] analyzed
[C] aspects
[D] characters
[E] contributing
[F] describing
[G] established
[H] quality
[I] quoted
[J] recording
[K] recruited
[L] total
[M] unconscious
[N] unsure
[O] yet
答案解析:
1. 【答案】 K
【精析】 动词辨析题。这一句的主语和宾语分别为Researchers和92 families,可见空格处必须是谓语动词,并且使用过去式。根据文章后半部分提到的这些家庭的状况和研究情况,可以推断出该句意为:从11个幼托中心 招募了92个家庭进行研究,因此选择recruited"征集,招募"。analyzed, established及quoted虽然也都是动词过去式,但analyzed是"分析"的意思,文章要描述的是对话语的分析,"分析家庭"在这里不符 合句意。established和quoted都不可以和family搭配使用。
2. 【答案】 J
【精析】 动词辨析题。句子主谓结构完整,此处需要动词现在分词作状语,表示伴随状态。结合上半句所述,研究人员拍摄了孩子们在家里与父母自由玩耍时的情景,后一句 说明了对孩子及父母的语言记录情况,所以此处选择recording"记录"。contributing "贡献",不可以和介词of搭配;describing"描述", 在此与句子的语境不符合。
3 【答案】 L
【精析】 形容词辨析题。此处需要形容词修饰其后面的名词number。此句描述了科学家们对这些语言数据的统计分析,此处应该使用一个和数字有关联的形容 词,total"全部的,总共的"符合句意。unconscious"失去知觉的,无意识的",不能用来修饰number一词,可以排除。
4 【答案】 C
【精析】 名词辨析题。此处需要名词作句子的宾语。句子的谓语为measured,后面有几个并列的名词短语作宾语,表述的都是科学家们分析测量的不同方面的语言特 征,aspects有"方面"的意思,用在此处表示其他方面的语言特征,符合句意。characters"特征,特色",本句前半部分提及是对语言的不同 方面进行测试,而不是测试语言特征。
5. 【答案】 B
【精析】 动词辨析题。句子缺少谓语,因此空格处需要填入动词。句子后半部分提到语言测试,测试的目的从下文看来是为了进行数据分析,找出影响儿童语言发展的因素。根据句意,此处应选择动词analyzed"分析,解析"。
6. 【答案】 H
【精析】 名词辨析题。此处缺少名词作句子的宾语,本句中有三个并列的名词短语作宾语,用来表述测试中影响受试者获得高分的预示性因素。在儿童教育方面,应该是其质量会对受试者具有影响,名词quality"质量"符合句意。
7. 【答案】 N
【精析】 形容词辨析题。这是一个主系表结构的句子,句子缺少形容词作表语。从下一段中可以看出,本句表明研究人员并不了解为什么父亲对孩子的语言影响巨大,此处应该选形容词unsure"不肯定的"。
8. 【答案】 G
【精析】 动词辨析题。本句使用的是It is...that句型,其中It作形式主语,is后面应接动词的被动式或形容词作表语,that引导的是真正的主语。这一句话强调了以上研究并没有否认 母亲对孩子语言的影响,这是已经得到确认的研究结果。因此,选择established"确定;证实"。这里established是动词的被动式作形容 词,意为"确定的,已制定的"。
9. 【答案】 A
【精析】 副词辨析题。句子结构完整,空格前有助动词had,空格后面有动词had。因此,此处缺少副词,根据句意推断此处应选择副词already。副词yet也有"已经"的意思,但yet通常用在否定句或疑问句中,表示"尚,仍然"。
10. 【答案】 E
【精析】 动词辨析题。这里缺少动词,从句中使用了be动词are,表示现在进行时,应该使用动词的现在分词形式。前半句提到母亲对孩子语言发展也确实具有影响,后 半句进一步补充说明,科学家们设想可能是在实验中并没有测试到母亲对孩子语言发展所起到的作用。动词contribute有"贡献"的意思,因此应该选择 contributing。