Question

The works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth are “rocket?boosters” to the brain and better than the other self?help books，researchers will say this week.

Scientists，psychologists and the English experts at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of Shakespeare and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind，catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of self?reflection.Using scanners，they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read the works by William Shakespeare，William Wordsworth，T.S Eliot and other classical writers.

They then “translated” the texts into more “straightforward”，modern language and again monitored the readers’ brains as they read the words.Scans showed that the more “challenging” articles and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the modern versions.Scientists were able to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and record how it “l(fā)it up” as the readers came across unusual words，surprising phrases or difficult sentence structures.This “l(fā)ighting up” of the mind lasts longer than the initial electrical spark，shifting the brain to a higher speed，encouraging further reading.

The research also found that reading poetry，in particular，increases the activities in the right side of the brain，an area concerned with “autobiographical memory”，helping readers to reflect on their own experiences in light of what they have read.The experts said this meant the classics were more useful than self?help books.

Philip Davis，an English professor who has worked on the study with the university，will tell a conference this week：“Serious literature acts like a rocket?booster (火箭助推器) to the brain.”

“The research shows the power of classical literature to shift mental pathways，to create new thoughts，shapes and connections in the young and the old alike.”

1.The author mentioned Shakespeare and Wordsworth in Paragraph One to________.

A．show their great achievements

B．a(chǎn)ttract our interest in literature

C．introduce the topic of the text

D．encourage us to read their works

2.According to the text，reading classical works can________.

A．help deal with some physical problems

B．benefit our mind and thinking

C．improve our reading skills

D．help learn more about history

3.The scientists and experts did the experiment by________.

A．scanning the readers’ brain activities

B．reading works of different writers

C．lighting up the activities of the brains

D．investigating the habits of the readers

4.We can learn from Paragraph 4 that reading poetry________.

A．is concerned with the right side of the brain

B．has the same effects as reading self?help books

C．helps you forget the things in the past

D．makes you more serious and objective

5.What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To introduce some great writers in England.

B．To present a study on brain activities.

C．To introduce a research on reading classics.

D．To show the power of classical literature.

 

Answer 1

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.A

5.C

【解析】文章大意：本文為一篇科研報(bào)道。科學(xué)研究表明：閱讀莎士比亞，華茲華斯等經(jīng)典作家的作品，尤其是詩(shī)歌，對(duì)開發(fā)人的大腦有很大好處。

1.推理判斷題。文章第二至六段是通過科學(xué)家的實(shí)驗(yàn)來說明閱讀傳統(tǒng)作家的作品對(duì)大腦的好處，所以第一段提到莎士比亞和華茲華斯等著名作家的目的，是為了引出本文的主題。

2.細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段第一句“...have found that reading the works of Shakespeare and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind，catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of self?reflection.”可知，本題選B。

3.細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段最后一句“Using scanners，they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read the works...”可知，研究人員是通過掃描讀者的大腦活動(dòng)來檢測(cè)試驗(yàn)結(jié)果的，故選A。

4.細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段第一句“The research also found that reading poetry，in particular，increases the activities in the right side of the brain...”可知，本題選A。

5.寫作意圖題。通讀全文可知，文章第一段為本文的主題段，即為了說明一項(xiàng)科研成果。