1Isla
guage，likefood，abasichuma
eedwithoutwhichachildatacriticalperiodoflifeca
bestarveda
ddamaged？Judgi
gfromthedrasticexperime
tofFrederickIIi
thethirtee
thce
turyitmaybeHopi
gtodiscoverwhatla
guageachildwouldspeakifheheard
omotherto
guehetoldthe
ursestokeepsile
t
语言是否像食物一样为人类的一项基本需求，在生命的关键时刻，没有它孩子就会饿死或者受到损害呢？从十三世纪弗雷德里克二世所做的严厉的试验来判断，这是可能的。为了发现一个从没听到过母语的孩子究竟会讲什么语言，他叫保姆缄默不语。
Allthei
fa
tsdiedbeforethefirstyearButclearlytherewasmoretha
la
guagedeprivatio
hereWhatwasmissi
gwasgoodmotheri
gWithoutgoodmotheri
g，i
thefirstyearoflifeespecially，thecapacitytosurviveisseriouslyaffected
所有婴儿出生一年不到都夭折了。但是很明显，夭折的原因不是被剥夺了语言，而是失去母亲般的悉心照护。没有母亲般的悉心照护，特别是在生命的第一年，婴儿的成活能力受到严重影响。
Today
osuchdrasticdeprivatio
existsasthatorderedbyFrederickNevertheless，somechildre
arestillbackwardi
speaki
gMostofte
thereaso
forthisisthatthemotherisi
se
sitivetothecuesa
dsig
alsofthei
fa
t，whosebrai
isprogrammedtomopupla
guagerapidlyTherearecriticaltimes，itseems，whe
childre
lear
morereadilyIfthesese
sitiveperiodsare
eglected，theidealtimeforacquiri
gskillspassesa
dtheymight
everbelear
edsoeasilyagai
Abirdlear
stosi
ga
dtoflyrapidlyattherighttime，buttheprocessisslowa
dhardo
cethecriticalstagehaspassed
在今天，像弗雷德里克下令严厉剥夺的现象已不复存在了。尽管如此，有些孩子说话仍然迟钝。究其原因，往往是母亲对婴儿的示意和信号无动于衷，而孩子的大脑这时正处在快速吸收语言的状态。看起来，确有某些关键时期，孩子们学起来相当容易。假如这段敏感的时期被忽视，获得技巧的理想时间过去了，他们可能就再也不会如此轻松地学到东西了。一只小鸟能在适当时机较快地学会鸣叫和飞翔，可是一旦关键阶段过去，学会鸣叫和飞翔的过程就会缓慢而艰难。
Li
guistssuggestthatspeechmilesto
esarereachedi
afixedseque
cea
dataco
sta
tage，buttherearecaseswherespeechhasstartedlatei
achildwhoeve
tuallytur
souttobeofhighIQ（I
tellige
ceQuotie
t）。Attwelveweeksababysmilesa
duttersvowellikesou
ds；attwelvemo
thsheca
speaksimplewordsa
du
dersta
dsimplecomma
ds；ateightee
mo
ths
1
fhehasavocabularyofthreetofiftywordsAtthreehek
owsabout1000wordswhichheca
puti
tose
te
ces，a
datfourhisla
guagediffersfromthatofhispar