[originaltext]W: Hello, Peter. How about your Japanese learning?M: Oh, Susan,

W: Hello, Peter. How about your Japanese learning?
M: Oh, Susan, I shouldn’t say studying because I haven’t studied so much. Actually for some reason my Japanese learning is very different to my English learning.
W: How is it different?
M: I’ve learned a little bit of Japanese through listening mostly. I haven’t been able to master enough kanji and Japanese symbols to be able to read it well or to write it well at all. So I couldn’t… like before I studied English, a lot of English came to me because I read so much, but now I can’t read in Japanese, so I’m having to rely on listening mostly.
W: I learned Spanish in the similar way I learned English, but I didn’t think of it as studying. It was fun for me, although I did a lot of homework. But with Japanese I haven’t reached that level yet, and somehow I seem to have forgotten how to learn a language. I have been trying to learn Japanese for a few years but I think my brain has just become lazy.
M: It’s interesting. Maybe our brains tackle every language in a different way. I’m also finding out it’s becoming more difficult, but maybe we’re only getting older. That’s maybe one of the reasons.
W: Maybe so.
M: Do you think age matters a lot to your language learning?
W: I would like to say no, but I think there are different factors. So, surely, when you’re young you learn faster and I think especially because there’s nothing else that’s occupying your mind. You’re just studying.
M: But I had an old friend who started studying French after he was retired. He studied French when he was in his twenties, but then he started working and gave up. Then he started again and he could afford to go to France for three months and just learn and live there. He came back at the age of 65 and he was so much better in his French, and he’d made some French friends. So I think it has a lot to do maybe with your motivation (积极性) and your interest too.
W: That’s right. I was just going to say maybe more so than age.
M: Yeah.
W: Maybe when you’re young you might be more eager to learn, but if you have that same kind of motivation and interest when you’re older, then why not?
M: Because a lot of people take up studying a language later in life when they have more time or maybe more money to spend on it.
W: That’s right. OK, let’s try a bit harder.
M: I think so too.
6. How did the man learn Japanese mostly?
7. What does the woman say about her Spanish learning?
8. What does the man think is one of the reasons why language learning becomes more difficult?
9. How old was the man’s old friend when he came back from France?
10. Which is NOT one of the factors affecting language learning according to the woman?