Question

Children who are brought up by two parents grow up to be cleverer than those raised by just one person, new research suggests. Being with both parents in the earliest years of life leads to a child developing more brain cells, the scientists believe. Being brought up by both parents causes boys to have better memory and learning functions. By contrast, it causes girls to develop improved co-ordination and sociability.

It is believed that babies with two parents tend to get more attention and more stability(穩(wěn)定), and that they are less likely to suffer emotional distress(悲傷) in the first years of life. This leads to greater brain cell production ------ for boys it is grey matter brain cells that develop and for girls is white matter brain cells.

The researchers from Canada studied mice and experimented by creating one-parent and two-parent family groups. They then measured the offspring’s(后代的) brain cell development from birth to adulthood. Adult mice with the highest number of brain cells turned out to be those who had been brought up by two parents rather than one. As babies they had received more attention and more nursing as both parents took turns to lick and tend to their youngsters, said Dr Samuel Weiss.

As a result, the babies with two parents are less likely to suffer early life hurt which can have a massive impact on how their brains develop in later life, the research shows. However, what did surprise the researchers is that female babies who grew up with both parents turned out to be good single mothers, as if good parenting was passed on.

The researchers said,“ In the mouse model, parenting and the environment directly impacted adult brain cell production. It is possible that similar effects could be seen in other mammals, such as humans.”

1.From the first paragraph we can draw a conclusion that ________.

A. Girls have better memory and learning functions.

B. Boys are better at co-ordination and sociability.

C. The benefits vary between the sexes.

D. The benefits are the same between the sexes.

2.The researchers proved their idea ________.

A. by questionnaire on parents.

B. by experiment on mice.

C. by raising babies themselves.

D. by experiment on humans.

3.The underlined word “impacted” means _________.

A. destroyed B. constructed

C. influenced D. disagreed

4.What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. Children brought up by two parents are cleverer.

B. Children brought up by single parent are cleverer.

C. Children grow up themselves are cleverer.

D. Children grow up themselves are more self-confident.

 

Answer 1

1.C

2.B

3.C

4.A

【解析】

試題分析: 本文講述通過以小白鼠來做實(shí)驗(yàn)，證明被兩個(gè)父母養(yǎng)大的孩子要比單親的孩子更聰明。

1.C 推斷題。根據(jù)第一段提到Being brought up by both parents causes boys to have better memory and learning functions. By contrast, it causes girls to develop improved co-ordination and sociability被兩個(gè)父母養(yǎng)大的男孩記憶力和學(xué)習(xí)能力要好但它會導(dǎo)致女孩開始協(xié)調(diào)和社會能力，故選C項(xiàng)。

2.B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段提到The researchers from Canada studied mice and experimented by creating one-parent and two-parent family groups.可知通過研究小白鼠來進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn)，故選B項(xiàng)。

3.C 詞意猜測。根據(jù)最后一段提到 In the mouse model, parenting and the environment directly impacted adult brain cell production. It is possible that similar effects could be seen in other mammals, such as humans.在這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)中，教育和環(huán)境會影響成年人的腦細(xì)胞的形成，類似效果在其它的哺乳動物身上也會看到，如人類，故選C項(xiàng)。

4.A 主旨大意。本文講述通過以小白鼠來做實(shí)驗(yàn)，證明被兩個(gè)父母養(yǎng)大的孩子要比單親的孩子更聰明，故選A項(xiàng)。

考點(diǎn)：科普類閱讀。