Question

What makes us who we are? This question has two different answers. One is the environment that surrounds us when we grow up, and the other is our genes (基因). In English, this is called the “nature vs nurture debate(辩论)”. Nature means genes, and nurture means environment, including the people around you.

  There is a famous saying: “Give me a child until the age of 7 and I’ll show you the man.” Now, there is a scientific research to support this famous saying.

  They watched small birds in new environments, and wrote down how much they explored(探索). Birds that grew up with very outgoing birds were more outgoing themselves. Scientists at the universities of Exeter, UK and Hamburg, Germany did studies on birds. They found that their personalities（个性） were affected most by the birds around them when they grew up – more so than genes.

  Nick Royle from the University of Exeter in the UK said the research was surprising because it shows that “for these birds, personality is mainly determined（决定） by environment.” However, human personalities are a lot more complicated than birds, so there is much we still don’t know. The nature vs nurture debate will continue for a long time, if not forever.

1.The famous saying in the passage tells us _________.

A.A 7-year-old boy can do things as well as an adult.

B.An adult can be influenced and changed by a 7-year-old boy.

C.The environment in the early part of our life has the biggest influence on our adult life.

2.Nick Royle is a(n) ______ scientist.

A. American   B. British   C. German

3.What do the scientists think of the research?

A. Outgoing.    B. Exciting.    C. Surprising.

4.What does the underlined word “complicated” mean?

A. 有趣的  B. 类似的 C. 复杂的

5.Which is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. The environment and genes affect our personality.

B. The scientists are sure that the environment influences the human personality more than the genes do.

C. The nurture means the environment .

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.C

4.C

5.B

【解析】

试题分析：本文是通过对人的成长是基因重要还是环境重要，列出了各自的观点和专家们调查研究的结果。通过知明的科学家研究发现，有实验证明是先天的基因重要，有的实验证明是后天的环境重要，面对两种对立的说法，现在还没有一个真正的说法。

1.Give me a child until the age of 7 and I’ll show you the man.句意：一个孩子长到七岁就能看到他的以后（还可译成七岁看到老）。通过对全文的理解， 在我们长大后的性格形成，小时候的环境影响是最大的。 因此第三项符合。故选C

2.Nick Royle from the University of Exeter in the UK.句意：来自英国埃克塞特大学的尼克·罗伊尔。分析：UK（United Kingdom）n. 英国.

故选 B

3.，对于先天因素与后的因素的研究持续了很长时间，但是在研究中科学家们总有很大的发现，因此是每一次研究都有很惊奇的结果。故选C

4.human personalities are a lot more complicated than birds, so there is much we still don’t know.句意：人类的性格比鸟类的性格更复杂，所以我们现在还不知道其中真正的原因。故选C

5.The nature vs nurture debate will continue for a long time, if not forever.句意：先天因素和后天因素，对人的性格影响争论将会持续很长一段时间。故选B

考点：科普知识类短文阅读。