2017年大学英语四级考试阅读材料（13）

　　In families with two working parents, fathers may have more impact on a child’s language development than mothers, a new study suggests.

　　Researchers 47 92 families form 11 child care centers before their children were a year old, interviewing each to establish income, level of education and child care arrangements. Overall, it was a group of well-class families, with married parents both living in the home.

　　When the children were 2, researchers videotaped them at home in free-play sessions with both parents, 48 all of their speech. The study will appear in the November issue of The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.

　　The scientists measured the 49 number of utterance (话语) of the parents, the number of different words they used, the complexity of their sentences and other 50 of their speech. On average, fathers spoke less than mothers did, but they did not differ in the length of utterances or proportion of questions asked.

　　Finally, the researchers 51 the children’s speech at age 3, using a standardized language test. The only predictors of high scores on the test were the mother’s level of education, the 52 of child care and the number of different words the father used.

　　The researchers are 53 why the father’s speech, and not the mother’s, had an effect.

　　“It s well 54 that the mother’s language does have an impact,” said Nadya Pancsofar, the lead author of the study. It could be that the high-functioning mothers in the study had 55 had a strong influence on their children’s speech development, Ms. Pancsofar said, “or it may be that mothers are 56 in a way we didn’t measure in the study.”

　　注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上。

　　A) already B) analyzed C) aspects D) characters E) contributing F) describing

　　G) established H) quality I) quoted J) recording K) recruited L) total

　　M) unconscious N) unsure O) yet