Signhasbecomeascientifichotbutton.Onlyinthepast20yearshavespecialistsinlanguagestudyrealizedthatsignedlanguagesareunique—aspeechofthehand.Theyofferanewwaytoprobehowthebraingeneratesandunderstandslanguage,andthrownewlightonanoldscientificcontroversy:whetherlanguage,completewithgrammar,issomethingthatwearebornWith,orwhetheritisalearnedbehavior.ThecurrentinterestinsignlanguagehasrootsinthepioneeringworkofonerebelteacheratGallaudetUniversityinWashington,D.C.,theworld’sonlyliberalartsuniversityfordeafpeople.
WhenBillStokoewenttoGallaudettoteachEnglish,theschoolenrolledhiminacourseinsigning.ButStokoenoticedsomethingodd:amongthemselves,studentssigneddifferentlyfromhisclassroomteacher.
Stokoehadbeentaughtasortofgesturalcode,eachmovementofthehandsrepresentingawordinEnglish.Atthetime,AmericanSignLanguage(ASL)wasthoughttobenomorethanaformofpidginEnglish(混杂英语).ButStokoebelievedthe“handtalk”hisstudentsusedlookedricher.Hewondered:Mightdeafpeopleactually:haveagenuinelanguage?AndcouldthatlanguagebeunlikeanyotheronEarth?Itwas1955,whenevendeafpeopledismissedtheirsigningas“substandard”.Stokoe’sideawasacademicheresy(异端邪说).
Itis37yearslater.Stokoe—nowdevotinghistimetowritingandeditingbooksandjournalsandtoproducingvideomaterialsonASLandthedeafculture—ishavinglunchatacafeneartheGallaudetcampusandexplaininghowhestartedarevolution.FordecadeseducatorsfoughthisideathatsignedlanguagesarenaturallanguageslikeEnglish,FrenchandJapanese.Theyassumedlanguagemustbebasedonspeech,themodulation(调节)ofsound.Butsignlanguageisbasedonthemovementofhands,themodulationofspace.“WhatIsaid,”Stokoeexplains,“isthatlanguageisnotmouthstuff—it’sbrainstuff.”
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.Thestudyofsignlanguageisthoughttobe________.
A.anewwaytolookatthelearningoflanguage
B.achallengetotraditional,viewsonthenatureoflanguage
C.anapproach:tosimplifyingthegrammaticalstructureofalanguage
D.anattempttoclarifymisunderstandingabouttheoriginoflanguage
2.Thepresentgrowinginterestinsignlanguagewasstimulatedby_______.
A.afamousscholarinthestudyofthehumanbrain
B.aleadingspecialistinthestudyofliberalarts
C.anEnglishteacherinauniversityforthedeaf
D.someseniorexpertsinAmericanSignLanguage
3.AccordingtoStokoe,signlanguageis________.
D.aninternationallanguage
4.MosteducatorsobjectedtoStokoe’sideabecausetheythought________.
A.signlanguagewasnotextensivelyusedevenbydeafpeople
B.signlanguagewastooartificialtobewidelyaccepted
C.alanguageshouldbeeasytouseandunderstand
D.alanguagecouldonlyexistintheformofspeechsounds
5.Stokoe’sargumentisbasedonhisbeliefthat________.
A.signlanguageisasefficientasanyotherlanguage
B.signlanguageisderivedfromnaturallanguage
C.languageisasystemofmeaningfulcodes
D.languageisaproductofthebrain
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anattempttoclarifymisunderstanding是对thrownewlightonanoldscientificcontroversy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wasstimulated相当于原文中的hasrootsin。
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(Mightdeafpeopleactuallyhaveagenuinelanguage?)，后者含有一个同位语hisideathatsignedlanguagesarenaturallanguages。
4.[D]根据最后一段第4句，可知D正确。D中的onlyexistintheformofspeechsounds是对原文中bebasedonspeech的同义表达。
5.[D]根据文章最后一句，可知D正确。D中的aproductofthebrain是对原文中brainstuff的同义表达。B中的derivedfrom错误，因为Stokoe认为signlanguage就是一种naturallanguage。
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