Question

    Many college students turn to ADHD(注意缺陷障碍) medicine during exam week, which is regarded as “smart drugs” that will help their academic(学术的) performance. The thinking is that if the drugs help students with ADHD improve their focus, they should provide the same benefit for people who don’t have the disorder.

But a new study shows that drugs can actually damage brain function of healthy students who take the drug hoping to boost their intelligence. “It’s not a smart drug which suddenly improve their ability to understand information they read,” said Lisa Weyandt, a professor at the University of Rhode Island.

To test whether this effect is real or not, researchers organized 13 students to take part in two five-hour study sessions(一段时间) in the lab. The students took the standard 30mg ADHD drugs before one session, and a sugar pill before the other. Students on ADHD drugs did experience an increase in their blood pressure and heart rates. “The medicine was having an effect on their brain,” Weyandt said. The students also showed an improvement in their ability to focus, the researchers found.

However, students on ADHD drugs experienced no improvement in reading comprehension, reading fluency or knowledge reviews, compared to when they’d taken a sugar pill. “We read aloud stories to them and asked them to recall information from the stories,” she said. “That didn’t improve.”

Worse, the ADHD drug actually harms students’ memory. It’s often misused because people pull all-nighters and they’re tired, and they think it’s going to keep them awake. Maybe it does, but it’s certainly not going to help their academic work. The brain is still developing until the mid to late 20s. It’s important to keep it healthy. There’s also a chance that ADHD drugs could endanger a student’s heart health.

1.Why do some college students take ADHD drugs?

A.To improve their sleeping. B.To get higher marks.

C.To make them feel relaxed. D.To treat brain disorder.

2.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “boost” in Paragragh 2?

A.Analyze. B.Affect.

C.Improve. D.Understand.

3.What effect did ADHD drugs have on the students in the experiment?

A.They became more focused.

B.Their blood pressure was reduced.

C.Their reading fluency was greatly raised.

D.They could remember better and more quickly.

4.Where can we read this text?

A.In a drug instruction. B.In a textbook.

C.In a travel magazine. D.In a news report.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要讲述了一些大学生服用治疗多动症的药物“ADHD”以提高学业成绩，但研究结果表明，这种药物反而对健康学生的大脑有损害。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段第一句Many college students turn to ADHD medicine during exam week, which is regarded as “smart drugs” that will help their academic performance.(许多大学生在考试周求助于治疗多动症的药物，这被认为是帮助他们学习成绩的“聪明药”。)可知，一些大学生使用这种药物是为了提高考试成绩。故选B项。

2.词义猜测题。分析可知，划线单词所在句子之后的内容时对其进行解释说明的。即：“It’s not a smart drug which suddenly improve their ability to understand information they read,” said Lisa Weyandt, a professor at the University of Rhode Island.(罗德岛大学(University of Rhode Island)教授丽莎·韦恩德(Lisa Weyandt)说：“这不是一种突然提高他们理解阅读信息能力的聪明药物。”)可知，improve their ability应是“boost their intelligence”的同义表达。因此，improve可以理解为boost的同义词。故选C项。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段末句The students also showed an improvement in their ability to focus, the researchers found.可知，学生们提高了专注力，也就是变得更加专注。故选A项。

4.推理判断题。文章主要讲述了一些大学生服用治疗多动症的药物“ADHD”以提高学业成绩，但研究结果表明，这种药物反而对健康学生的大脑有损害。所以这篇文章可能是一篇科普知识类新闻报道。药物说明上不会出现这样的内容，故选D项。