Question

    The ancient tale of the Country Mouse and the Town Mouse was only the first to emphasize rural folk's supposed simplicity when compared with more sophisticated urbanites. However, neuro-scientists　announce that, in fact, it is city living that can dull the wits.

The new study led by Dr. Spiers at Nantes University describes how they used a dataset from 4 million people of a computer game, which tests navigating skills by asking players to memorise a map showing the location of checkpoints and then measuring how well players can find them, guided only by their mental map. Dr. Spiers and his colleagues examined the 4 million people from 38 countries, and found that the strongest indicator of a high score was a player's age—older people performed relatively poorly, which agrees with what researchers know about age-related cognitive decline. But the benefit of rural living was strong enough to offset some of that. Data showed that a 70-year-old who grew up in the countryside had the navigational abilities of an average 60-year-old across the dataset.

There is a huge gap between the navigation skills of rural and city people, and the researchers think they know why. Dr. Spiers says that the brain's navigational abilities probably weaken in the less challenging city environment because they are not being used as much. Although cities may appear more elaborate, they also feature more clues to help residents find their way, such as numbered streets. In the countryside, however, one field tends to look much the same as another, so there are fewer external landmarks to help guide the way.

Neuroscientists already know that living and working in more complex environments can influence the function and structure of the brain. Brain scans of London taxi drivers, who have gained an encyclopedic memory of the city5 s streets, show that they tend to have an enlarged hippocampus—a region of the brain acting as a neural GPS, sensing position and path on an internal map of the environment.

The harmful effect of city living on navigation is probably most serious in people under 16—18, Dr. Spiers says, because their still-developing brains respond and change the most according to external stimuli. And while people who live in cities with young children should not be alarmed, the study does raise some interesting ideas for urban planners: keep their city designs not so simple perhaps. And for everyone else, it might be an idea to turn off maps on the phone.

1.The study led by Dr. Spiers shows that _______.

A.the seniors score higher at computer games

B.rural life benefits people's sense of direction

C.participants are better at finding ways in cities

D.the young remember checkpoints better in maps

2.The underlined word "offset", in Para. 2 most probably means _______.

A.achieve B.confirm

C.reduce D.replace

3.What is the purpose of the passage?

A.To introduce a new way of driver training.

B.To expose the drawbacks of living in the urban area.

C.To show the contrast between lives in the country and city.

D.To present environments' impact on one's ability to locate places.

4.What is the best tide for the passage?

A.Lost in the City

B.Brain Weakened in Cities

C.Navigating to the Countryside

D.The Negative Effects of City Living

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了一项研究表明，生活在乡村里的人相较于城市居民有着更好的识别方向和道路的能力。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段最后“But the benefit of rural living was strong enough to offset some of that. Data showed that a 70-year-old who grew up in the countryside had the navigational abilities of an average 60-year-old across the dataset.”可知，在乡下生活的会促进、提高人的方向感。故选B项。

2.词义猜测题。根据划线词所在句“But the benefit of rural living was strong enough to offset some of that. Data showed that a 70-year-old who grew up in the countryside had the navigational abilities of an average 60-year-old across the dataset.”可知，前文指出识路能力与年龄相关，这里用转折则要表示“但生活在乡下足以改变、抵消这种情况”，而后在下文举出了70岁的乡下老人却有着平均60岁的识路水平，即是为了佐证这一点。C选项reduce意为“减少”，最符合文意。故选C项。

3.推理判断题。根据第一段最后一句“However, neuro-scientists announce that, in fact, it is city living that can dull the wits.”并结合全文内容可知，本文就是通过用一项研究的结果向读者揭示，居住环境对于大脑识路、辨别位置的能力的影响。故选D项。

4.主旨大意题。文章围绕一项研究，说明了居住在城市和乡下在识路、辨别方位的能力上会出现差别，选择标题时需要与这一主题有明显关联。B选项“大脑在城市里会变弱”所指显然太过宽泛；C选项“航行去乡下”与文章主题无关；D选项“城市生活不好的方面”也不能正确对应文章内容；只有A选项“迷失在城市中”侧面将城市居民识路能力相对较弱这层意思表达了出来，切合主题，适合作为标题。故选A项。