Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth across all areas of

development, especially the language skills.

From birth to the age of five, children develop language in a very 【M1】__________

rapid pace. The stages of language development are universal among

humans. Therefore, the age and the pace at which a child reaches each 【M2】__________

milestone of language development vary greatly among children. Thus,

language development in an individual child must be compared with

norms other than with other individual children. In general，girls 【M3】__________

develop language at a faster rate than boys. Less than any other aspect 【M4】__________

of development, language development reflects the growth and

maturation of the brain. After the age of five it becomes much more

difficult for most children to learn language.

Receptive language development usually develops faster than

expressive language. Two different styles of language development are

recognized. In receptive language development, children first speak

single words and then join words together, first into two-words sentences 【M5】__________

and then into three-word sentences. In expressive language

development, children first speak in long intelligible babbles that mimic 【M6】__________

the cadence and rhythm of adult speech. Most children use a

combination of these styles. Language development begins after birth. 【M7】__________

Towards the end of pregnancy, a fetus begins to hear sounds and speech

coming from outside the mother’s body. Infants are acute attuned to the 【M8】__________

human voice and prefer it to other sounds. In particular they prefer the

higher pitch characteristic with female voices. They are also very 【M9】__________

attentive to the human face, especially when the face is talking. Since 【M10】_________

crying is a child’s primary means of communication at birth. language

immediately begins to develop via repetition and imitation.

Dogs really are our best friends, according to a Swedish study that

says canine ownership could reduce heart disease. A study of 3. 4 million

people between the ages of 40 and 80 found that having a dog was

associated with a 23% reduction in death from heart disease and a 20%

higher risk of dying from any cause over the 12 years of the study. 【M1】__________

Previous studies have suggested dogs release social isolation and 【M2】__________

depression—both linked to an increased risk of heart disease and early

death.

Dog owners show better responses to stress, and have higher levels

of physical activity and slight lower cholesterol levels. The American 【M3】__________

Heart Association was sufficiently swayed by a review of dozens of

studies to release a statement in 2016 say that owning a dog “ was 【M4】__________

probably” associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. Their

reluctance to more strongly endorse dog ownership is because most

studies are that is called observational—researchers note an association, 【M5】__________

therefore can’t prove causation. This means that other factors might 【M6】__________

explain why dog owners are healthier than, say, goldfish owners—for

example, perhaps only people who are fit at the first place buy pets that 【M7】__________

need daily walkies.

Tove Fall, the lead author of this latest study, says they tried their

best to allow any differences in education, existing ill-health and lifestyles 【M8】__________

between those with and without dogs. The study found the bigger 【M9】__________

positive impact of having a dog was on the people living alone. “It seems 【M10】_________

that a dog can be a substitute for living with other people in terms of

reducing the risk of dying,” says Fall. “Dogs encourage you to walk,

they provide social support and they make life more meaningful. “

For expat parents, passing on their native languages can be painful.

Children are linguistic sponges, and this doesn’t mean that cursory 【M1】__________

exposure is enough. They must hear a language quite a bit to understand

it—and use it often to be able to speak with it comfortably. This is 【M2】__________

mental work, and a child who doesn’t have a motive to speak a

language—either a need or a strong desire—will often avoid. Children’s 【M3】__________

brains are already busy enough.

So languages often wither and die if parents move abroad. Consider 【M4】__________

America. The foreign-born share of the population is 13.7%, and has

never been low than 4.7% (in 1970). And yet foreign-language speakers 【M5】__________

don’t accumulate: today just 25% of the population speaks another

language. That’s why, typically, the first generation born in America is 【M6】__________

bilingual, and the second is monolingual—in English, the children often

struggle to speak easily with their immigrant grandparents. 【M7】__________

In the past, governments encouraged immigrant families from 【M8】__________

keeping their languages. They worried that America would become a

“polyglot boarding-house”. These days, officials tend to be less

interventionist; some even see valuable resource in immigrants’ language 【M9】__________

abilities. Yet many factors conspire to assure that children still lose their 【M10】_________

parents’ languages, or never learn them.