Colleges see 16% increase in study of sign language

　　While the number of college students studying Spanish, French and German increased only modestly from 2006 to 2009, enrollment in AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE—the fourth mostpopular language—surged more than 16 percent, according to a new report from the Modern Language Association.

　　Signlanguage professors suggested various reasons for the rise. They said it reflected the growing acceptance of AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE to meet college foreignlanguage requirements, and its usefulness as an employment credential—not only for interpreters, but also for cognitive psychologists, educators, nurses and even scuba divers.

　　With the deep budget cuts of the recession, some universities have cut back their language programs. Even so, enrollment in foreignlanguage classes grew 6.6 percent from 2006 to 2009—compared with 12.9 percent from 2002 to 2006—according to the report, “Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2009.”

　　“This is a vulnerable time for language study,” said Rosemary Feal, executive director of the Modern Language Association. “But student interest remains strong.”

　　A few languages with clear geopolitical importance had larger increases than AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: Arabic, the fastest growing, was up 46 percent, Korean 19 percent and Chinese 18 percent.

　　After long debate about whether AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE is a real language—and whether it qualifies as a foreign language—a few universities now offer a major or minor in it, and many more accept sign language for their foreignlanguage requirement.

　　Many colleges have long waiting lists of students trying to get into introductory A.S.L. classes, a substantial share of them turning to sign language because of their previous difficulties learning European languages.

　　Many students say their interest in sign language is more about the allure of communicating without spoken words.

　　“My generation has grown up seeing AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE in television shows and movies, and it just looks so cool,” said Anne Dunn, a junior at the University of Vermont. “I started because we have a language requirement here. But sign language is so visual, so exciting, that I got hooked and kept going.”

　　Ms. Dunn said she and others were trying to persuade the university to let them minor in AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.

　　Many students take aesthetic pleasure in sign language. Emily Brown, a signlanguage student at Wesleyan University, talks excitedly about watching deaf poetry on YouTube, and “rhyming” words like “stars” and “socks,” whose signs share a hand shape and motion.

　　“I imagine myself painting pictures in the air,” said Ms. Brown, a junior majoring in English, and serving as an A.S.L. teaching assistant. “It feels more poetic than other languages. It’s such a great way to express things you can’t quite express verbally.”

　　1. The word “surge” (Para 1, Line 3) most probably means ____________.

　　A. boom B. rise C. diminish D. decrease

　　2. AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE owes its popularity to ____________.

　　A. the large number of students studying foreign language

　　B. the recognition given by more and more colleges

　　C. the usefulness in hunting a decent job

　　D. the needs of more and more fields

　　3. Students choose to learn Chinese because of ____________.

　　A. the importance of political relations between countries

　　B. the study of Chinese geography and politics

　　C. the beauty and complexity of Chinese

　　D. the status of China in international affairs

　　4. Students choose to learn AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE for all of the following reasons except ____________.

　　A. the great difficulty in learning European languages

　　B. the influence if relevant television programs and movies

　　C. the mystery of communicating without spoken words

　　D. the aesthetic beauty in using sign language

　　5. Emily Brown believes ____________.

　　A. watching deaf poetry is an effective way to learn sign language

　　B. watching deaf poetry can arouse great interest in sign language

　　C. sign language is the most poetic language in the world

　　D. sign language can be useful when words fail you