Question

【題目】

What makes humans smarter than other animals? We’ve got a bigger brain, of course. But when it comes to brains, is bigger always better?

Traditionally, scientists have thought that humans’ better intelligence（智慧）came mostly from the fact that our brains are three times bigger than those of our nearest living relatives, chimpanzees. People even used to believe that men are smarter than women because men have a little larger brains.

This, however, is not the truth. Scientists at University College London in the UK have found that brain organization, and not brain size, is the key to the advantage of human intelligence, reported Live Science.

Through millions of years of gradual development, our ancestors（祖先）were pushed to get smarter all the time so that they could meet the needs of new environments. However, holding this growing intelligence in increasingly large brains was not the best choice because bigger brains require more energy to power. “This is when reorganization may come into play,” said Christophe Soligo, a member of the London research team.

In the study, scientists looked at the brains of 17 kinds of primates（靈長目動物）, including monkeys, apes and humans. They found that in the process of gradual development, brains didn’t keep growing as a whole. Certain parts of the brain grew more than others as needed, and in this way they could make the best use of their limited brain space.

For example, when early humans were trying hard to live, the brain region（區(qū)域） which is in charge of using tools and finding food grew in size more than other regions. But in modern times, the prefrontal cortex（前額皮質(zhì)）— the region in charge of social cognition (認知), moral judgments and goal-directed planning — grew more than the rest of the brain.

Think of the brain as a room. If a big room is poorly organized, it doesn’t necessarily store more things than a smaller one.

Paul Manger, a professor, explains this using the example of whales. He told Scientific American: “Whales have big brains. But if you look at the actual structure（結(jié)構(gòu)）of the brain, it’s very simple. Brain size only matters if the rest of the brain is organized properly. ”

【1】According to the passage, in recent human development, ________.

A.the prefrontal cortex grew most in the brain

B.human’s most regions of the brain didn’t change

C.brain became simple because the brain space is limited

D.brain kept growing in size todeal with new environments

【2】The words “in charge of” in Paragraph 6 probably mean “________”.

A.similar toB.responsible forC.in need ofD.with help of

【3】The writer probably agrees that ________.

A.the difference between men and women has an effect on intelligence

B.the larger brains are usually organized better than the smaller ones

C.animals whose brains are organized properly can be smarter

D.the size of the brain has nothing to do with intelligence

【4】Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A.Is Human Brain the Biggest of All Animals’?B.Do Men have bigger Brains than Women?

C.Are Human Brains Growing as a Whole?D.Does a Bigger Brain Make you Smarter?

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】B

【3】C

【4】D

【解析】

短文大意：本文是新聞類閱讀，報道了英國倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院的科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)：人類智力優(yōu)勢的關(guān)鍵在于大腦的組織，而不是大腦的大小。

【1】題意：根據(jù)這篇文章，在最近的人類發(fā)展中，前額葉皮層在大腦中增長最多�？疾榧毠�(jié)理解。根據(jù)“But in modern times, the prefrontal cortex…grew more than the rest of the brain但在現(xiàn)代，前額葉皮層……比大腦的其他部分增長得更多”，可知the prefrontal cortex grew most in the brain（前額葉皮層在大腦中增長最多）符合題意，故選A。

【2】題意：第6段中“in charge of”一詞可能是“ ”的意思�？疾樵~義理解。A. similar to與……類似；B. responsible for為……負責(zé)；C. in need of有……的必要；D. with help of借助于。根據(jù)下文對前額葉皮層的解釋“the region in charge of social cognition, moral judgments and goal-directed planning負責(zé)社會認知、道德判斷和目標(biāo)導(dǎo)向計劃的區(qū)域”，可知這里是負責(zé)使用工具和尋找食物的大腦區(qū)域，responsible for符合題意，故選B。

【3】題意：作者可能也同意，大腦結(jié)構(gòu)合理的動物可能更聰明。考查推理判斷。A. 男人和女人的不同對智力有影響；根據(jù)“People even used to believe that men are smarter than women…This, however, is not the truth”可知說法錯誤。B. 大的大腦通常比小的組織得更好；根據(jù)“Think of the brain as a room. If a big room is poorly organized, it doesn’t necessarily store more things than a smaller one”可知說法錯誤。C. 大腦組織合理的動物可以更聰明；根據(jù)“Brain size only matters if the rest of the brain is organized properly”可知說法正確。D. 大腦的大小與智力無關(guān)；根據(jù)“brain organization, and not brain size, is the key to the advantage of human intelligence, reported Live Science”可知說法錯誤。綜合以上分析，故選C。

【4】題意：下面哪個是這篇文章的最佳標(biāo)題？考查標(biāo)題歸納。根據(jù)開頭“But when it comes to brains, is bigger always better但說到大腦，是不是越大越好”，結(jié)合文中報道的關(guān)于大腦大小的科學(xué)研究，可知并非大腦越大，就越聰明；以一種合適的方式建構(gòu)的相對復(fù)雜的大腦趨向于更聰明。全文是圍繞“大腦是不是越大越好”展開的，Does a Bigger Brain Make you Smarter（更大的大腦會讓你更聰明嗎）符合文意，故選D。