Besides ways of finger counting,scientists have found that cultures and languages are also different when it comes to numbers.Some languages have only a few words for numbers,and others have no words for numbers.A group of scientists studied aboriginal(土著的)people in Australia.These people dont have hand movements to stand for numbers.They dont even have word for numbers.However,they are still able to understand different ideas about numbers.
In a similar study,researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that people of the Piraha tribe(部落) in northwestern Brazil dont have words for numbers such as one or three..They are not able to say five trees or ten trees but can say some trees, more trees, or many trees. Professor Edward Gibson said that mist people believe that everyone knows how to count, but here is a group that does not count.They could learn,but ist not useful in their culture,so theyve never picked it up.
Although all humans are able to understand quantities(数量),not all languages have numbers and not all people use counting.Number words in a certain language are a result of people needing numbers in their daily lives.Now we know that people have different ideas about numbers and math,too.
51.The writer begins with the four questions in order to______.
A.make a survey B.interest readers
C.tell a story D.solve math problems
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