Unit 3.

Text 1.

Listening and “Talking”

Ex.1. Learn the new words and word-combinations:

1. to add – прибавлять, присоединять ( to );

2. to attempt – пытаться, пробовать, делать попытку, attempt – попытка, проба, опыт;

3. babble – лепет;

4. to describe – описывать, изображать, характеризовать(ся);

5. to explore – исследовать, рассматривать, анализировать;

6. pain – боль;

7. to produce – производить; вырабатывать; создавать; порождать;

8. sound – звук;

9. syllable – слог;

10. to tend (to) – иметь тенденцию (к чему-л.); клониться, склоняться (к чему-л.), tendency – склонность, стремление, тенденция.

Ex.2. Read the following text.

Babies can certainly hear from birth and may hear sounds while still in the womb. In the first weeks, sudden sharp sounds usually frighten babies, while friendly human voices are both interesting and soothing. At first babies make few sounds other than crying, but this forms almost a language in itself. Not every mother can describe the difference between hunger cries, bored cries, and pain cries, but every mother reacts quite differently to each.

The more babies are talked to, face to face by a familiar adult, the more sounds they produce and the earlier they tend to make them. First sounds are the long vowel sounds—“aaah,” “oooh”—which are usually called cooing. Then babies add experimental screeches and growls as they explore their own ability to produce sounds on purpose. Soon some consonants are heard, so that babies may say “coooh”and “gah,” and then these syllables are strung together: “ga-ga-ga.” By this stage babies will use their sounds to hold what could be called conversations. They say something, wait for the adult to answer, and then say some more.

In the second half of the year babies start to combine separate syllables to make long pretend-sentences (“ah-ga-ga-cooh-gah”). This process is usually called jargoning. Eventually they change these sentences so that they sound happy, surprised, or questioning. By this stage babies sound as if they were really talking, but in an odd language. Real talking will not be far behind.

Real words may start in this year or not until the second. First words may be attempts at real ones, such as “ook” for cookie, or own words that babies invent for themselves. Early attempts will certainly be single-name labels for favourite things: people, pets, or foods. The effort of speech comes out of joy, interest, and sociability, not out of need or distress. Distressed babies do not talk; they cry.

1. womb – 1) матка 2) материнское лоно

2. soothing – успокаивающий

3. screech – визг, хрип

Ex.3. Practice to pronounce the following words.

Birth, difference, differently, vowel, consonant, syllable, cooing, jargoning, babbling, soothing, sociability, experiment, experimental, separate.

Ex. 4. Read and translate the following words and word-combinations using the dictionary.

Conversation, sudden sounds, hunger cries, bored cries, pain cries, face to face, to produce sounds, on purpose, separate syllables, pretend-sentences, single-name labels, human voices, odd language, to invent, favourite things.

Ex.5. Find English equivalents in the text.

Порождать звуки, согласные звуки, гласные звуки, реагировать по-разному, близкий взрослый, проверять способность, первые слова, первые попытки, к этому этапу, разговор, потребность говорить, общительность, постепенно, тем раньше, собственные слова, гуление, лепет.

Ex. 6. Form adverbs from the following adjectives using the suffix –ly. Translate the adverbs.

Easy, clear, simple, efficient, possible, quick, late, recent, warm, proper, deep, slow, separate, certain, sudden, different, real.

Ex.7. Translate the words in the brackets into English.

1. (Плач) tends to (доминировать) in the first month.

2. Infants appear to be sensitive to (звуки речи) from a very early age.

3. (Способность ребенка) to hear and to produce language sounds.

4. (На первом этапе) children babble, producing a wide range of (звуков).

5. What is the (функция) of babbling?

6. The child (добавляет) new words slowly in the first year.

7. (Языковое развитие) follows a universal timetable; that is all children pass through the same sequence of stages at the same (возраст).

8. Many sounds, such as consonant clusters are not (воспроизводятся) at all in babbling.

9. At about six weeks (гуление) begins.

10. Children (понимают) more words than they can (произносить).

Ex. 8. Open the brackets, using the Present Simple, the Past Simple or the Present Perfect.

1. She usually (to start) her work at 9.

2. The experiment (to show) the advantages of the new method.

3. He (to finish) already his research work and is going to publish the results soon.

4. You (to notice) that people who cannot read or write usually have good memory?

5. In 1900, for example, women (to spend) almost all of their adult lives in taking care of children.

6. The conference (to begin) at 11 a.m. and (to last) until 5 p.m.

7. This book (to be) the result of years of research.

8. It is one of the most interesting books that I ever (to read).

9. The award of diplomas (to take place) at 2 p.m.

10. She never (to interrupt) people.

Ex. 9. Make a discussion answering the following questions:

1. What aspects of the interaction between a baby and his/her parents might be important for the baby’s future language development?

2. Why are children more capable for foreign languages than adults?

Text 2.