Question

    Recently, a scientist did some experiments. He left a group of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a candy. If they rang the bell, he would come back and they could eat the candy. If, however, they didn’t ring the bell and waited for him to come back on his own, they could then have two candies.

In the videos of the experiments, he can see the children hiding their eyes, trying to exercise self-control so they can wait and get two candies. The results are different. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted 15 minutes.

The children who waited longer went on to get higher academic scores. They got into better colleges and had better adult success. The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to have received worse teacher and parental evaluations (评价) 10 years later and were more likely to have drug problems at age 32.

The experiments are worth noting because people spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve education, and how to become rich. But when the result is not good, they will come back to ask “How do we get people to get the sort of self-control that leads to success?” This is to enter the world of human nature.

So these experiments, along with everyday experience, tell us that self-control is most important. Young people who can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree can work hard in order to learn a language well. They can avoid drugs and alcohol. For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed and painful experience. No wonder they drop out and their later life is a group of foolish ideas, such as drug use, stealing and so on.

1.The scientist did some experiments to ________.

A.find good ways of training children to learn

B.show that children’s education is important

C.test children’s self-control and later success

D.test children’s intelligence of ringing the bell

2.What do the underlined words “broke down” probably mean?

A.failed to wait. B.kept waiting.

C.hid the candy. D.ate the candy.

3.How long did the scientist’s experiments last according to the text?

A.Just 15 minutes. B.Within 10 years.

C.Less than 14 years. D.About 28 years.

4.What will the children without self-control do at school according to the text?

A.They will improve their education.

B.They will suffer a lot from boring lessons.

C.They will become very rich and successful.

D.They will work hard to catch up with others.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】

本文属于说明文，讲述了自控力和未来成功的关系，实验表明自控力强的人以后成功的机会更大。

1.推理判断题。由第三段“The children who waited longer went on to get higher SAT scores. They got into better colleges and had better adult success.”可知，等待的时间越长的孩子SAT分数越高，长大后会进入更好的大学，获得更好的成功，故可知实验的目的在于探索孩子自律和成功之间的关系，故选C。

2.词义猜测题。根据第二段The results are different. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted 15 minutes.可知，结果是不一样的，有些孩子在一分钟内摇响铃声，而另外一些孩子坚持了15分钟，故可知对两类孩子进行了对比，故可以推出break down为崩溃，无法再坚持，故选A。

3.细节理解题。由第一段He left a group of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a candy.以及第三段“The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to have received worse teacher and parental evaluations(评价)10 years later and were more likely to have drug problems at age 32.”可知，开始做实验是孩子4岁的时候，最后与32岁的时候结束，故可知，实验持续了28年，故选D项。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段“For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals(煎熬).”可推知，缺乏自律的孩子，学业对于他们来说就是连续的煎熬，故选B。