What do cows drink? Your first answer was probably to answer “milk.” And then, depending on how familiar you are with bovine diets, you realized that, wait, it's the calves that drink milk—adult cows drink water. And what does it tell us about how our brains store and process language?

The leading theories of language processing have to do with “connectionist” models of language. The idea is that when you learn a word, it gets connected to similar words and concepts, so that it’s easier to recall when you need it. These connections form every time you use the word, from what’s going on in the context at that moment. When you hear one of the linked words, the other one gets activated, so you’re ready to talk about the general topics of dairy products and farm animals. It would take a lot longer to get to milk from cow if they weren’t connected, and since you’re often talking about them at the same time, it saves time!

As soon as you hear “cows” in “What do cows drink?” your brain goes “Oh hey, cows! We might need the word milk soon, I’ll get that ready.” And then when you’ve heard the whole question, your brain jumps in with “Milk! You can drink milk!” Since this one question is a very rare case where cows and milk don’t go together, the shortcut remains strong, and you’ll make the same mistake every time.

In fact, we can go even younger—it turns out that babies are making connections between words before they're even saying them. After only 18 months of being alive, the baby has figured out that connecting words. Managing to find one of the most widely used language shortcuts in less than two years is an impressive accomplishment.

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1.What does the connected language bring in?

A The confusion.

B The mistake.

C The Efficiency

D The misunderstanding.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据第二段最后一句的and since you’re often talking about them at the same time, it saves time可以推知，语言的这种联系性能够很好地提高语言的效率。

2.What makes it so hard to answer “What do cows drink” correctly?

A The shortcuts trip of the language.

B The skill of expressing oneself.

C The difference of bovine diets.

D The style of children language.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第三段最后一句的the shortcut remains strong, and you’ll make the same mistake every time可知，语言表达中的“捷径”导致数次犯相同的错误。

3.When did the language connections come into being?

A Before one is two years old.

B Before one is 18 months old.

C Before one is twenty years old.

D Before one can write them down.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据文章第四段第三句的Managing to find one of the most widely used language shortcuts in less than two years可以得知，人类在两岁以前，语言之间就能建立连接。

4.Where may the article come from?

A The magazine about raising animals.

B The text book about nutrition.

C The science report about language.

D The magazine about teaching babies.

解析：选C。C 主旨大意题。本文讲述了语言交流中的交流捷径问题，因此是一篇关于语言的科技报道。

5.What will people do when they hear the linked words?

A They will begin thinking.

B They will be ready to learn.

C They will stop their brains.

D They try not to recall their past.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第二段第四句When you hear one of the linked words, the other one gets activated可以得知，当听到相关词汇的时候，其他的词汇变得活跃起来，也就是说当人听到相关词汇的时候，就开始进行思考了。