IfEnglishmeansendlessnewwords，difficultgramrnarandsometimesstrangepronunciation，youarewrong．Haven’tyounoticedthatyouhavebecomesmartersinceyoustartedtolearnalanguage?
AccordingtoanewstudybyaBritishuniversity，learningasecondlanguagecanleadtoanincreaseinyourbrainpower，Researchersfoundthatlearningotherlanguageschangesgreymatter．Thisistheareaofthebrainwhichprocessesinformation．Itissimilartothewaythatexercisebuildsmuscles．
Thestudyalsofoundtheeffectisgreater，theyoungerpeoplelearnasecondlanguage.
AteamledbyDrAndreaMechelli，fromUniversityCollegeLondon，tookagroupofBritonswhoonlyspokeEnglish．Theywerecomparedwithagoupof“earlybilinguals．’’whohadlearntasecondlanguagebeforetheageoffive，aswellasanumberoflaterlearners．
Scansshowedthatgreymatterdensity(密度)inthebrainwasgreaterinbilingualsthaninpeoplewithoutasecondlanguage．Butthelongerapersonwaitedbeforemasteringanewlanguage，thesmallerthedifference.
“Ourfindingssuggestthatthestructureofthebrainischangedbytheexperienceoflearningasecondlanguage，”saidthescientists.
Itmeansthatthechangeitselfincreasestheabilitytolearn．
ProfessorDylanVaughanJonesoftheUniversityofWaleshasresearchedthelinkbetweenbilingualismandmathsskills.‘‘Havingtwolanguagesgivesyoutwowindowsontheworldandmakesthebrainmoreflexible，”hesaid．“Youareactuallygoingbeyondlanguageandhaveabetterunderstandingofdifferentideas．”
ThefindingswerematchedinastudyofnativeItalianspeakerswhohadlearnedEnglishasasecondlanguagebetweentheagesof2and34.Reading，writing，andcomprehensionwerealltested．Theresultsshowed，thattheyoungertheystartedtolearn，thebetter．“Studyingalanguagemeansyougetanentrancetoanotherworld，’’explainedthescientists．
小题1:Themainsubjecttalkedaboutinthispassageis