Question

    The brain, rather than our eyes, may be more important for sight, researchers studying fruit flies have discovered. The discovery could change the way we think about vision.

Researchers in the University of Virginia have found that the very simple eyes of fruit fly larva (幼虫), with only 24 total photoreceptors (感光细胞) (the human eye contains more than 125 million), provide just enough light input to allow the animal’s large brain to make that input into images. Their discovery shows that vision may be less important to “seeing” than previously thought—and in fact it is the brain’s ability to process points of light into complex images that is key.

“It blows open how we think about vision.” said Barry Condron. “This tells us that visual input may not be as important to sight as the brain working behind it.”

Condron’s graduate students, Elizabeth Daubert, Nick Macedonia and Catherine Hamilton, conducted a series of experiments to test the vision of fruit fly larvae. They found that when a larva was tied to the bottom of a dish, other larvae were attracted to it as it attempted to free itself. After several further experiments to understand how they sensed the motion, the researchers learned that the nearly blind animals likely were seeing the action.

“The answer must be in the brain of these animals.” Condron said. “They are able to take just a couple dozen points of light and then process that into recognizable images; something like when an astronomer with a small telescope is able to use techniques to improve a limited image into useful information about a star.” Condron believes the animals are able to assemble useful images by rapidly scanning their heads and, in doing so, gather up enough light points to allow the brain to compose an image clear enough to “see”.

The researchers tested this by presenting larva with a video (therefore no sound and no smell) and found that the larvae still sensed and sought out the struggling larva on the video. This provides us with a good model for trying to understand the role that the brain plays in helping organisms, including humans, to process images, such as recognizing faces.

1.The writer mainly wants to tell us that __________.

A.the brain may be more important for sight than people thought

B.people should depend on brain rather than eyes for sight

C.using the fruit fly larva to test the eyes is the best way

D.some methods can keep our eyesight accurate and normal

2.The researchers chose the fruit fly larva because it __________.

A.doesn’t move very quickly B.has a very wise brain

C.only has a few photoreceptors D.doesn’t have large limbs

3.Condron used the example of “an astronomer with a small telescope” in Para. 5 to show __________.

A.how the larvae gather up enough light points

B.why the larvae moved their heads side-to-side

C.the brain helps process the light points into images

D.how we can get useful information about a star with a small telescope

4.The underlined word “assemble” in the fifth paragraph may mean “__________”.

A.observe enough actions B.receive useful information

C.choose proper equipment D.put together separate parts

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.C

4.D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，研究者用果蝇的实验以及其他实验说明了大脑对视力的作用比眼睛的作用更大。

1.

主旨大意题。文章在开头提出论点The brain, rather than our eyes, may be more important for sight, researchers studying fruit flies(果蝇) have discovered. (研究果蝇的研究人员发现，大脑比眼睛对视觉更重要)，并以此为话题展开论述，可知本文主要论述大脑对视觉的作用可能比人们想象的更重要，故选A。

2.

推理判断题。根据第二段Researchers in the University of Virginia have found that the very simple eyes of fruit fly larva (幼虫), with only 24 total photoreceptors (感光细胞) (the human eye contains more than 125 million), provide just enough light input to allow the animal’s large brain to make that input into images(美国弗吉尼亚大学的研究人员发现，果蝇幼虫的眼睛非常简单，只有24个感光细胞（而人类的眼睛超过1.25亿个），但它提供的光输入刚好能让果蝇的大脑把光输入变成图像)可知，研究人员选择了果蝇幼虫，因为相比人类它的感光细胞少的多得多，因此证明视力对视觉的影响可能没有之前认为的那么重要会更有说服力，故选C。

3.

细节理解题。根据 “The answer must be in the brain of these animals.” Condron said. “They are able to take just a couple dozen points of light and then process that into recognizable images…”(“答案肯定在这些动物的大脑中。”Condron说，“他们能够取下几十个光点，然后处理成可识别的图像”)可知，这种情形就像天文学家借助小型望远镜能够利用技术将有限的图像改进为有关恒星的有用信息。因此以“一个拥有小型望远镜的天文学家”为例来说明大脑帮助将光点处理成图像，故选C。

4.

词义猜测题。分析划线词所在句子Condron believes the animals are able to assemble useful images by rapidly scanning their heads and, in doing so, gather up enough light points to allow the brain to compose an image clear enough to “see”.(并在此过程中收集足够多的光点，从而使大脑组成足够清晰可见的图像。) 可知， Condron相信，通过快速扫描头部，这些动物能够收集有用的图像，由此可知，划线的词意思是“收集”。选项D符合语境，故选D。