26-35.mp3: Section C Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time,you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time,you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally,when the passage is read for the third time,you should check what you have written. Adults are getting smarter about how smart babies are. Not long ago. researchers learned that 4-day-old could understand (26)______ and subtraction. Now. British research psychologist Graham Schafer has discovered that infants can learn words for uncommon things long before they can speak. He found that 9-month-old infants could be taught, through repeated show-and-tell, to (27)______ the names of objects that were foreign to them, a result that (28)______ in some ways the received wisdom that, apart from learning to (29)______ things common to their daily lives, children don't begin to build vocabulary until well into their second year. "It's no (30)______ that children learn words, but the words they tend to know arc words linked to (31)______ situations in the home." explains Schafer. "This is the first demonstration that we can choose what words the children will learn and that they can respond to them with an unfamiliar voice (32)______ in an unfamiliar setting." Figuring out how humans acquire language may (33)______ why some children learn to read and write later than others. Schafer says, and could lead to better treatments for developmental problems. What's more, the study of language (34)______ offers direct insight into how humans learn. "Language is a test case for human cognitive development." says Schafer. But parents eager to teach their infants should take note: even without being taught new words, a control group (35)______ the other infants within a few months. "This is not about advancing development." he says. "It's just about what children can do at an earlier age than what educators have often thought."