Would you believe that the first outstanding deaf teacher in America was a Frenchman? His name was Laurent Clerc. He became a friend of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and together they founded America's first school for the deaf. Laurent Clerc was born in a small village near Lyons, France, on December 26, 1785. When he was one year old, he fell into a fire, losing both his hearing and his sense of smell. At 12, Laurent entered the Royal Institution for the Deaf in Paris where he did well in his studies. After he graduated, the school asked him to stay on as an assistant teacher. Meanwhile, in America, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was studying to be a minister. He was very concerned about the lack of educational opportunities for the deaf. Therefore, in 1815, Gallaudet sailed to London, England to seek ideas on how to teach deaf people. While he was there, he met a French educator of the deaf who invited him to go to Paris to spend three months learning at the Royal Institution for the Deaf, the school where Laurent Clerc was teaching. Gallaudet accepted the offer. The two worked and studied well together. When the time came for Gallaudet to return, he asked Clerc to come with him. Clerc accepted on one condition: that he would stay in America only a short time. The two men set sail on June 18, 1816. The voyage across the Atlantic Ocean took 52 days; however, Clerc and Gallaudet put the time to good use. Clerc studied English, and Gallaudet studied sign language. They discussed the school for the deaf which they planned to open. On the long trip, they had many conversations about education and deafness. The year after they arrived, they founded a school for the deaf in Harford, Connecticut. At the school, Clerc led a busy life. He taught signs to Principal Gallaudet; he taught the pupils; and he taught hearing men who came to the school to study deaf education. In 1819, Clerc married Eliza Crocker Boardman, one of his pupils. They had six children. He retired from teaching in 1858. Although he had intended to return to... Which is the right order of the things Clerc did? A) met Gallaudet, moved to America, got married, went to school in Paris. B) met Gallaudet, went to school in Paris, moved to America, got married. C) went to school in Paris, met Gallaudet, moved to America, got married. D) got married, went to school in Paris, met Gallaudet, moved to America.
C
More surprising,perhaps,than the present difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving.As Skolnick notes,Americans are a marrying people: to Europeans,more of us marry and we marry at a younger age.Moreover, after a drop in the early l950s,the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing.Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context:some 30 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus,marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society. What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family.Twenty five years ago,the typical American family was made up of a husband,a wife,and two or three children. Now there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children.And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife's former marriage,or the husband's,or both.Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage;sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses . Thus,one can find every type of family arrangement.There are marriages without children;Marriages with children from only the present marriage;Marriages with "full time" children from both the present and former marriages;Marriages with "full time" children from the present marriage and "part time",children from former marriages.There are stepfathers,stepmothers,half brothers, and half sisters.It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are great changes from the traditional nuclear family.But even so,even in the midst of all this,there remains one constant:Most Americans spend most of their adult lives married. Divorced Americans_. A) prefer the way they live B) will most likely to remarry C) have lost faith in marriage D) are the vast majority of people in the society
B
*Question*
Immigrants are always being told by politicians to learn the language. But some people want to know how long it takes to speak good English. There are plenty of people in the UK for whom even basic English is a problem. According to a census , 726,000 people in England and Wales said they could not speak English well, and another 138,000 said they did not speak it at all. Ling, 40, who arrived five years ago from China, found it difficult to learn English."When I came here, I was pregnant and so I was at home for the next three years. It took me longer to learn as I was very busy with the children."Eventually she was able to begin taking classes and now speaks good conversational English. But even with classes, it can be a long process to pick up the language. Age is the most important factor in language acquisition, says Mila Vulchanova, professor of linguistics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology."There is a sensitive period in language learning, which is biologically determined. So the younger the immigrant, the better. Since this decline is only gradual, teenagers are at an advantage over adults,"she says. There are a number of systems for grading English. The government expects immigrants to reach"ESOL Entry 3"or"B1 level", also called"Intermediate 1"in Scotland, before they can be granted citizenship. It's equivalent to being able to hold a confident conversation and, although the government does not have a target figure, it might take 360 hours of study to achieve. George Osborne said in June following the spending review that welfare claimants who don't speak English will have their benefits cut if they fail to attend language courses. Huan Japes, deputy chief executive of English UK, a trade body for language colleges, says a rule of thumb is 360 hours, 120 hours for each of three stages, to get to the standard the government expects benefit claimants to reach. But many of the people who attend courses are visiting students rather than people settling in the UK. Immigrants tend to... What Dr Elaine Boyd says suggests that . A) highly-motivated adults can speak good English in half a year B) 120 hours for English fluency is a standard that is a little low C) traditional ways of learning are more beneficial to adults D) English fluency is not so hard for immigrants to achieve
**Answer**
B