Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word?
你还记得你说出第一个字的那一天吗？
If you can, you are unusual.
如果你能，那你就不寻常。
Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like.
试着想象你生命最初几个月是什么样子。
I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying.
我敢说你大部分时间都在吃、睡和哭。
As you grew older, you were awake more of the time.
随着你长大，你醒着的时间越来越多。
It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you.
你的父母花更多时间陪你玩、跟你说话。
You watched and listened curiously.
你好奇地观察和倾听。
You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things.
你开始知道人们会用特定的声音对应特定的事物。
Then you began to try making the sounds you heard.
然后你开始尝试发出你听到的声音。
And step by step, you were able to make the right sound for one thing.
一步一步地，你能为一件事发出正确的声音。
On that day you came to understand the secret of language: a certain sound means a certain thing.
那天你明白了语言的秘密：某个声音代表某件事物。
When a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, They can understand each other.
当一群人使用相同的声音来表示事物时，他们就能彼此理解。
Then, and only then, these people have a LANGUAGE.
那时，也只有那时，这些人才拥有“语言”。
After you found the secret of language, you learned words.
在你发现语言的秘密后，你开始学习词汇。
Some of the words meant things, such as BOOKS CHAIRS and SHOES.
有些词指代事物，比如书、椅子和鞋子。
Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM.
有些词表示动作，比如走和游泳。
And other words described things, such as GOOD and DIRTY.
还有些词描述事物，比如好和脏。
Soon you learned to put words together to express one’s idea, such as “I want to go out and play with my friends.”
很快你学会把词语组合起来表达想法，比如“我想出去和朋友玩。”
This is language. By means of language, people can communicate.
这就是语言。通过语言，人们可以交流。
So we say languages are means of communication.
所以我们说，语言是沟通的工具。
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