Speech—the act of uttering sounds to convey meaning—is a kind of human action. Like any other

constantly repeated action, speaking has to be learned, but once it is learned, it becomes a generally

unconscious and apparently automatic process.

As far as we can determine, human beings do not need to be forced to speak; most babies seem to possess a

sort of instinctive drive to produce speech like noises. How to speak and what to say are another matter

altogetner. There actions are learned from the particular society into which the baby is born; so that, like all

conduct that is learned from a society—from the people around us—speech is a patterned activity.

The meandering(漫目无地的)babble(咿呀学语)and chatter of a young child are eventually channeled by

imitation into a few orderly grooves that represent the pattern accepted as meaningful by the people around

him. Similarly, a child’s indiscriminate(不加分辨的)practice of putting things into his mouth becomes limited to putting food into his mouth in a certain way.

The sounds that a child can make are more varied and numerous than the sounds that any particular language uses. However, a child born into a society with a pattem of language is encouraged to make a small selection of sounds and to make these few sounds over and over until it is natural for him to make these

sounds and not others.

小题1:For an adult, the process of speaking usually involves         .

A．conscious selection of sounds

B．imitation of those around him

C．a drive to make noises

D．unconscious actions小题2:The selection says that most babies have an instinctive drive to        .

A．express ideas in words

B．make speech like noise

C．convey meaning

D．imitate sounds around them小题3:Conduct that is learned from a society may be called      .

A．instinctive drive

B．selection

C．automatic activity

D．patterned activity小题4:The sounds that a child is able to make are        .

A．not as varied as those used in language

B．more varied and numerous than those in any language

C．far fewer than those needed to form a language

D．completely different from the sounds of language小题5:We may say that a child has learned to speak if he       .

A．makes varied sounds

B．carefully considers each sound he makes

C．makes only certain sounds naturally

D．imitates people around him