Do pupils in school learn to read their mother tongue effectively?

Yes and no. Up at the fifth and sixth grade, reading, on the whole is 【M1】________

effectively taught and well learned. To that level we find a steady and

general improvement, but beyond it the curves flatten out to be a dead level.

This is not because a person arrives at his natural limitation of efficiency when【M2】________

he reaches the sixth grade, for it has been shown again and again that

with special tuition so much older children, and also adults, can 【M3】________

make enormous improvement. Nor does it mean that most sixth-graders

read well enough for all practical purpose. A great many pupils do poorly

in high school because of sheer inept in getting meaning 【M4】________

from the printed page.

The average high-school graduate has done a great deal of

reading, and if he goes on to college he will do a great deal more,

and he is likely to be a poor and incompetent reader. (Note that 【M5】________

this holds true to the average student, not the person who is a 【M6】________

subject for special medical treatment.) He can follow a simple

piece of fiction and enjoy it. But put him up a closely 【M7】________

written exposition, an economical stated argument, or a passage 【M8】________

required critical consideration, and he is at a loss. It has been shown, 【M9】________

for instance, that the average high-school student is amazingly inept at

indicating the central thought of a passage, or the levels of emphasis

and subordination in an argument or exposition. In all intents and 【M10】________

purposes he remains a sixth-grade reader till well along in college.

Learning foreign languages, both at school and after graduation,

can be rewarded in many ways. Unfortunately, people 【M1】________

just give up when they find it boring to memorize words

and grasp basic grammar to inquire a certain level of skill 【M2】________

to communicate in a foreign language. Is there way out?

The answer is yes or no, according to top experts on foreign language 【M3】________

acquisition. They said something is much more than learning vocabulary【M4】________

and grammar should be done to be proficient in foreign languages.

“Try a subject that deeply interests you,” said Hannelore. “Once you

start learning foreign expressions about the subject that you’re

interested in, you can learn the foreign language more effectively.”

The underlying idea that forcing students to memorize words 【M5】________

totally unrelated to their life is not only effective but also a 【M6】________

waste of time. Start with an interesting topic, and once fun and

curiosity start to work, linguistic skills will follow. Motivation is

important in accelerating the learning process, and using the

foreign language in real situations — preferably in the country

where it is used in natural environment — is equally important. 【M7】________

Knowledge about the cultural background of the target

foreign language and interaction with native speakers are essential.

But what about those who rely on self-study and find it hard to go

over a certain level? Moser said it is natural that students who 【M8】________

learn foreign languages confronted a period of slump. That’s what

is called “ceiling effect”, a period in which one’s foreign language

ability goes to a standstill. But it is a period when one’s proficiency 【M9】________

is actually consolidating after entering a higher level. 【M10】________

When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible

courses of action opening to him: he can give the invention to the 【M1】________

world by publishing it, keep the idea secret, or patent it.

A granted patent is the result of a bargain strike between an inventor 【M2】________

and the state, by which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly

and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that

period terminates. Only in the most exceptional circumstances the 【M3】________

lifespan of a patent extended to alter this normal process of events.

Because a patent remains temporarily public after it has terminated, 【M4】________

the shelves of the library attached to the patent office contain details

of literal millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if older 【M5】________

than half a century, sometimes even patent. Indeed, patent experts often 【M6】________

advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search

through lively patents that the one sure way of avoiding violation of 【M7】________

any other inventor’s right is to plagiarize a dead patent. However, 【M8】________

because publication of an idea in any other form permanently validates

further patents on that idea, it is traditionally safe to take ideas from

other areas of print. Much modem technological advance is based on

these presumptions of legal security.

Anyone closely involved in patents and inventions soon learns that

most “new” ideas are, in fact, as very old as the hills. It is their reduction to 【M9】________

commercial practice, either through necessity or dedication, or through

the availability of new technology, makes news and money. 【M10】________