2017届高考英语一轮复习考点规范练：19（新人教版）_高考复习指南

2017届高考英语一轮复习考点规范练：19（新人教版）

　　考点规范练19(必修4　Unit 4)

　　.阅读理解

　　In the early 1970s,David McNeill,a psychology professor at the University of Chicago,was giving a talk in a Paris lecture hall when something queer caught his eye.There was a woman in the back of the room moving her arms in a way that seemed to convey exactly what he was saying.It took him a moment to realize that she was speaking,too,and another to realize that she was an interpreter,translating his words into French.For McNeill,that moment of confusion made him realize that gesture and speech are not as separate as they seem.

　　Gesture researchers have spent the past 40 years uncovering how movements are tied to speech.Regardless of their spoken language or culture,humans gesture when they talk.They gesture even if they have never seen gestures before—people who have been blind since birth do it—and they gesture even if they’re talking to someone on the phone and know no one can see them.When speech is interrupted,so is gesture.In fact,gesture is so tightly bound to language that differences between languages show up as differences in gesture.In other words,the way you package your thoughts into speech is also how you package them into movement.

　　Researchers are especially interested in the times when gestures don’t match speech.The mismatch can be a valuable window to what’s going on in the mind.For example,until about 7 years of age,children don’t understand that if you pour a tall glass of water into a shorter,wider glass,the amount of water stays the same.They think the shorter glass contains less water.When asked to explain their reasoning,some children will say,“This one is shorter,”while gesturing that the glass is wider.That discrepancy(矛盾) shows they subconsciously grasp that both dimensions are important.