Language is the most astonishing behavior in the animal kingdom. It is the species-typical behavior that sets humans completely   67   from all other animals. Language is a means of communication,   68   it is much more than that. Many animals can   69  . The dance of the honeybee communicates the location of flowers   70   other members of the hive(蜂群). But human language permits communication about anything.   71   things like unicorns(独角兽)that have never existed. The key   72   in the fact that the units of meaning, words, can be   73   together in different ways, according to   74  , to communicate different meanings.
    Language is the most important learning we do. Nothing   75   humans so much as our ability to communicate abstract thoughts,   76   about  the university the mind, love, dreams, or ordering a drink, It is an immensely complex   77   that we take for granted. Indeed, we are not aware of most   78   of our speech and understanding. Consider what happens when one person is speaking to   79  . The Speaker has to translate thoughts into   80   language. Brain imaging studies suggest that the time from thoughts to the   81   of speech is extremely fast. Only 0.04 seconds! The listener must hear the sounds to   82   out what the speaker means. He must use the sounds of speech to   83   the words spoken, understand the pattern of   84   of the words (sentences), and finally   85   the meaning. This takes somewhat longer, a minimum of about 0.5 seconds. But   86   started, it is of course a continuous process.