WhyYousay“Um”beforeCertainWords?Ifyoupaycloserattentiontothosemomentswhenan“um”,an“uh”oranawkwardpauseinsertsitselfintoyourconversation,youmaynoticethattheflub(失誤)usuallycomesjustbeforeanoun,accordingtoanewstudy.Researchersfoundthatwhenpeopleareinmid-sentenceandawordispronouncedmoreslowly,orseemsjustbeyondtheirgrasp,thatwordismorelikelytobeanounthanaverb.Thismighthappenbecausevisualisingnounsbeforewesaythemtemporarilyslowsourspeech,whileactionwordslikeverbsrequirelesstimeto“see”inourmindsbeforetheyleaveourmouths,thestudyauthorssaid.Thecomplexinteractionofvariousfactorsshapesthespeedofaperson’sspeechandthesefactorsincludethefrequencyandfamiliarity(熟悉)ofthewordsused,theresearcherswroteinthestud.Infact,scientistshavepreviouslyobservedthatpausesprecedingunfamiliarorcomplicatedwordsreflectthecomparativedifficultyofplanningthosewords,leadstudyauthorFrankSeifart,aresearcherwiththeDepartmentofLiteraryStudiesandLinguisticsattheUniversityofAmsterdamintheNetherlands，toldLiveScienceinanemail.Forthenewstudy，theresearchersanalysedthousandsofspeechrecordings，listeningfortherhythmsof288，848wordsintotal，fromphrasesinninediverselanguagesspokeninEurope，NorthAmerica，Mexico，Siberia，theHimalayas，theAmazonrainforestandtheKalahariDesert.Inallninelanguages，thescientistsfoundthatpauses--whethersilentor“filled”withaplaceholder（占位符）sound-were60percentmorelikelytooccurbeforenounsthanbeforeverbs，Theresearchersfurtherfoundthatpeopleweretwiceaslikelytohemandhaw（支支吾吾）beforesayinganounthantheywerebeforeutteringaverb，eveniftheverbwascomplexorunfamiliar.Incommonspeech，nounsaretypicallyusedonlywhentheyaddinformationthatisneworunexpected；otherwisetheyarefrequentlyomittedorreplacedwithpronouns，theresearcherssaid.Therefore，peopleneedmore“planningtime”tosaynounsthanverbs，evenwhenthenounsinquestionaren’tparticularlycomplicated，theresearchersnotedinthestudy.Theirfindingssuggestedthateventhoughthelanguagesdemonstratedsignificantdiversityingrammaticalstructureandculturalcontext，certainspeechrhythmspersistentlyfollowedstronguniversalpatterns-andthosepatternscanbelinkedtotheuseofnounsorverbs.Seifartsaidintheemail.ReadingComprehensionChoosethecorrectanswerforeachquestion.1.Wheredoesanawkwardpauseusuallyhappeninyourconversation?A.Beforeanadverb.B.Beforeanadjective.C.Beforeanoun.D.Beforeaverb.2.WhyisitmorelikelytobeanounthanaverbwhenawordispronouncedmoreslowlyA.Becausevisualisingverbsbeforewesaythemmayslowourspeech.B.Becausewearemorefamiliarwithactionwordslikeverbsthanwithnouns.C.Becausenounsrequiremoretimeto“see”inourmindsbeforewesaythem.D.Becausenounsaremorecomplicatedinspellingandlessfrequentlyused.3.WhoisFrankSeifart?A.Ateacher.B.Aresearcher.C.Astudent.D.Ascholar.4.Howmanywordsdidtheresearcherslistenfortherhythms?A.288,448.B.288,848.C.248848.D.284.848.5.WhichinformationisNOTmentionedinthisarticle?A.Theflubusuallycomesjustbeforeanoun.B.Nounsaretypicallyusedonlywhentheyaddinformation.C.Peopleneedmoreplanningtimetosaynounsthanverbs.D.Apersonoftenpausesbeforeanunfamiliarverb.Vocabulary基礎詞awkward adj.令人尷尬的，別扭的；笨拙的；局促不安的英makingyoufeelembarrassedpause n./vi.停頓，暫停；中止例Thecarefulspypausedatthedoorandlookedbackbeforehewentintotheroom.那個謹慎的間諜進屋之前在門口停住了并向身后望了一下。grasp n./vt.領會；掌握；抓住；抓緊；控制英understandingofsthdifficult記聯(lián)想記憶：他見到她宛如抓住（grasp）-根救命稻草（grass）例Thequestionisbeyondthegraspofher.這個問題超出了她的理解能力。complexadj.復雜的，難懂的；復合的n.建筑群；相關聯(lián)的一組事物；情結記詞根記憶：com（表加強）+plex（重疊）→互相重疊的→復雜的搭complexmedicalinstruments復雜的醫(yī)療器械rhythm n.節(jié)奏，韻律；有規(guī)律的變化英astrongregularrepeatedpatternofsounds記聯(lián)想記憶：音樂好聽的原因（reason）是有節(jié)奏（（rhythm）搭therhythmofthemusic音樂的節(jié)奏diverse adj.不同的；各不相同的；多種多樣的英variedordifferent記詞根記憶：di(分開）vers(轉(zhuǎn)）+e→分開轉(zhuǎn)會產(chǎn)生很多變化→不同的；多種多樣的omit vt.遺漏；省略記聯(lián)想記憶：om（音似：嘔）+it（它）→把它嘔出去→省略例Pleasedon’tomitanydetails，nomatterhowtrivialtheymayseem.請不要遺漏任何細節(jié)，無論它們看起來多么微不足道。universal adj.普遍的；通用的；全世界的；宇宙的英existingeverywhereorinvolvingeveryone記詞根記憶：uni（一個）+vers（轉(zhuǎn)）+a(…的）+一個旋轉(zhuǎn)著的宇宙→宇宙的搭universalphenomenon普遍現(xiàn)象Vocabulary進階詞insert vt.插入記詞根記憶：in（在…里面）+sert（插入）→放在里面→插入例Nowinsertthekeyinthelock.現(xiàn)在把鑰匙插到鎖孔里。conversationn.交談，會話英aninformaltalkinwhichpeopleexchangenews，feelings，andthoughts記來自converse（vi.交談，會話）visualisev.構思，設想；想象，使形象化記詞根記憶：vis（看）+ual（…的）+ise（使…）→使…看見→想象，使形象化例Anarchitectcantakealookatadrawingandvisualisetheshapeofthebuilding.建筑師看一眼設計圖，就能想象出建筑物的形狀。temporarily adv.臨時地，暫時地英lastingorintendedtolastorbeusedonlyforashorttimefrequencyn.頻繁；頻率搭frequencyrange頻率范圍previously adv.先前，以前英beforethepresenttimeorthetimereferredtocomparativeadj.比較的；比較級的；相對的n.比較級記詞根記憶：com（共同）+par（相等）+ative（…的）→放在一起看看是否相等→比較的linguistics n.語言學搭comparativelinguistics比較語言學utter vt.出聲；說adj.完全的英tosaysthortomakeaso