g) The little girl is the apple of her father’s eye.
答：a) 无情逼索全部债务；合法但极不合理的要求。
源自莎士比亚戏剧《威尼斯商人》第4幕第1场
    b) 只工作不玩耍，聪明孩子也变傻。
       源自谚语。
    c) 绝交信；要求解除婚约的信。
       源自美国口语。
    d) 好鱼游水底，良鸟藏深山。
       源自谚语。
e) 潘多拉的盒子；一切灾难的根源。
       源自希腊神话。
    f) 能胜任．值得雇用。
       源自古语。
  g) 珍爱的人。
    源自古语。

Chapter 10  Language Acquisition
1. Try to explain the terms:
  Language acquisition
  Language Acquisition Device
  Critical Period Hypothesis,
答：   Language acquisition refers to the child's acquisition of his mother tongue, i.e. how the child comes to understand and speak the language of his community.
  Language Acquisition Device, (also known as LAD). The LAD was described as an imaginary “black box” existing somewhere in the human brain. The “black box” is said to contain principles that are universal to all human languages. Children need access to the samples of a natural language to activate the LAD, which enables them to discover his language's structure by matching the innate knowledge of basic grammatical system to that particular language.
      Closely related to the external language environment, age is another factor that is worth mentioning in first language acquisition. Observed that children's ability to develop normal behaviors and knowledge in environments does not continue indefinitely end that children who have never learned language (for various reasons) cannot return to normal if these deprivations go on for too long, Eric Lenneberg, a biologist, argued that the LAD, like other biological functions, works successfully only when it is stimulated at the right time –– a specific and limited time period for language acquisition –– which is referred to as the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). There are two versions of the CPH. While the strong one suggests that children must acquire their first language by puberty or they will never be able to learn from subsequent exposure, the weak holds that language learning will be more difficult and incomplete after puberty.
2. Among the language acquisition theories mentioned in this chapter, which one do you think is more reasonable and convincing? Explain why.
答：  The language acquisition theories mentioned in this chapter have different emphasis on different aspects. Behaviorists view sounds reasonable in explaining the routine aspects, the innatist accounts most plausible in explaining children's acquiring complex system, and the interactive description convincing in understanding how children learn and use the language appropriately from their environment. In my opinion, behaviorists view is more reasonable and convincing because language acquisition is a process of enforcing and reinforcing. Only through this process can a person learn a language well.
3. Which of the following statements are TRUE and which are FALSE? Why?
  a) All normal children have equal ability in learning their first language.
  b) It is easy for parents to teach their children grammar.
  c) The young child is not taught to speak, or to understand his language. There is no formal learning of grammar or pronunciation practice.
  d) At first children do not inflect nouns or verbs.
  e) Children learn their native language well whenever they start and whatever kinds of language samples they receive.
  f) For a child to acquire his mother tongue the most basic requirement is that he hears people speaking this language. He will then begin to learn the language.
  g) Phonology and grammar are finite, tightly structured systems, the child must master them before puberty in order to be a native speaker of the language.
答：a) True, because of LAD.
    b) False, because children's grammatical development is gradual and some subtle grammatical distinctions may not be mastered much before the age of ten.
    c) True, because his language is acquired.
    d) True, because at the very beginning, children's language is totally about content.
    e) False, because of CPH.
    f) True, because when a child acquires his native language he needs language environment.
    g) True, because of CPH.
4. Each of the following utterances comes from the speech of a child in the two-word state. Identify the semantic relation expressed by each of these utterances