Question

    Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.

Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition(认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.

The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.

“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate(旋转)and translate shapes,” Levine said in a statement.

The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would, and about half of children in the study played with puzzles at one time. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.

The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.

1.In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play?

A.Building confidence. B.Developing spatial skills.

C.Learning self-control. D.Gaining high-tech knowledge.

2.What did Levine take into consideration when designing her experiment？

A.Parents’ age. B.Children’s imagination.

C.Parents’ education. D.Child-parent relationship.

3.How do boy differ from girls in puzzle play?

A.They play with puzzles more often.

B.They tend to talk less during the game.

C.They prefer to use more spatial language.

D.They are likely to play with tougher puzzles.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.A mathematical method. B.A scientific study.

C.A woman psychologist D.A teaching program.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】

本文是说明文。是关于孩子们玩智力游戏的研究，介绍了研究考虑的因素，研究过程和结果。

1.

细节理解题。根据第二段中…found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 develop better spatial skill(在2岁到4岁之间玩智力游戏的儿童在空间能力方面更好)可知，孩子们可以从智力游戏中发展更好的空间技能。B. Developing spatial skills(发展空间能力)符合以上说法，故选B项。

2.

细节理解题。根据第二段中Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition after controlling for difference in parents' income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.( Levine说，在父母的收入、教育和父母谈话次数方面控制差异性之后，拼图游戏被发现是一个重要的认知预测)可知Levine在设计这个试验时考虑了父母的收入、教育程度和父母谈话的次数。C. Parents' education.(父母的教育)符合以上说法，故选C项。

3.

细节理解题。根据倒数第二段中However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls,可知男孩比女孩更喜欢玩复杂的谜题，即他们可能会玩难度更大的谜题。D. They are likely to play with tougher puzzles.(他们有可能玩更复杂的谜题)符合以上说法，故选D项。

4.

主旨大意题。本文是关于孩子们玩智力游戏的研究，介绍了研究考虑的因素，研究过程和结果。所以是关于科学研究的。B. A scientific study(一项科学研究)符合以上说法，故选B项。