Question

    A study showed that the experiences children have in their first few years are important . These experiences affect the development of the brain. When children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things, which makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion(万亿)connections in the brain of a three-year-old child.

Researcher Judit Gervain tested how good newborns are at distinguishing different sound patterns. Her researchers produced images of the brains of babies as they heard different sound patterns. For example, one order was mu-ba-ba. This is the pattern"A-B-B". Another order was mu-ba-ge. This is the pattern “A-B-C”. The images showed that the part of the brain responsible for speech was more active during the" A-B-B"pattern. This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns. They also were sensitive to where it occurred in the order.

Gervain is excited by these findings because the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar. "Position is key to language," she says. "If something is at the beginning or at the end, it makes a big difference: 'John caught the bear.' is very different from 'The bear caught John.'”

Researchers led by scientist Patricia Kuhl have found that language delivered by televisions, audio books, the Internet, or smartphones－no matter how educational－doesn’t appear to be enough for children’s brain development. They carried out a study of nine-month-old American babies. They expected the first group who’d watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds. Instead they found a huge difference. The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners. But the other babies －regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio－learned nothing.

1.What makes connections in a baby’s brain?

A. Having a higher IQ. B. Experiencing new information.

C. The baby’s early age. D. The connection with other babies.

2.What did Judit Gervain and her team find in the experiment?

A. Babies can identify different sound patterns.

B. Word order is relevant to meaning.

C. Babies can well understand different words.

D. A certain brain region processes language.

3.What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 3?

A. Words have different sounds.

B. Different orders have different meanings.

C. Different languages have different grammar.

D. Grammar is important in learning languages.

4.What is the main conclusion from the study led by Patricia Kuhl?

A. Babies shouldn’t watch a lot of television.

B. Foreign languages help babies’ brain develop.

C. Listening to different languages develops babies’ brain.

D. Social communication improves babies’ brain development.

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.B

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。一项研究表明，孩子在头几年的经历很重要。这些经历会影响大脑的发育。当孩子受到更多的关注时，他们的智商往往会更高。婴儿在看到、听到和感觉到事物时接收信息，这使得大脑的不同部分之间产生了联系。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段 Babies receive information when they see， hear and feel things， which makes connections between different parts of the brain．可知当他们看到，听到和感觉到事情时婴会儿接收信息，这使得大脑的不同部分之间连接，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段倒数第二句This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns．可知Judit Gervain和她的团队在实验中发现婴儿能够分辨不同的模式。故选A。

3.推理判断题。根据前面the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar可知声音的顺序是单词和语法的组成部分，即不同声音的位置不同，意思也会不同，故选B。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段 They expected the first group who'd watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds． Instead they found a huge difference． The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners． But the other babies - regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio - learned nothing．他们希望第一组看了中文视频的人与第二组面对面听同样声音的人学习的方式是一样的。然而结果相反，第二组婴儿能够分辨出相似的中文发音。但是其他的婴儿--不管他们是看了视频还是听了音频--什么也没学到，可知面对面社会交际提高婴儿的大脑发育。故选D。