With large and small keyboards everywhere, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That’s a big problem. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development — helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and create ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to give up handwriting? Have a look at the link between the brain and penmanship, and you may get the answer.
A test among students in grades 2, 4 and 6 found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard, but also created more ideas when composing essays with handwriting. And other research shows that the finger movements required to write by hand activate brain areas involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice writing letters by hand while a second group just looked at those letters. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (核磁共振)that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them the same letters. Researchers found that the brain activity in the first group was far more advanced and “adult-like”.
Handwriting also affects other people’s way they think of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting. These studies have also found that people judge the quality of a person’s ideas based on his or her handwriting. And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, all essay that is considered hard to recognize gets a big zero.
Studies show that this isn’t only an English-language phenomenon. Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from “character amnesia”. They can’t remember how to write characters, thanks to computers and text messaging. Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that China’s reading ability as a nation could suffer.
【小題1】.
What does the Indiana University study imply?

A．Children should practice writing letters
B．Handwriting can increase brain activity
C．It’s good for children to enter a functional MRI.
D．Letters should often be shown to children
【小題2】.
What does the 4th paragraph mainly talk about?
A．Handwriting affects both adults and children.
B．Handwriting helps a person write better essays.
C．SAT should be done with good handwriting.
D．Good handwriting makes a person seem smarter.
【小題3】.
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．Essays written with keyboards will get lower scores.
B．The quality of your ideas depends on your handwriting.
C．Chinese and Japanese youths don’t know how to write.
D．Less handwriting may affect China’s reading ability.
【小題4】.
The passage tries to tell us that __________________.
A．keyboards are more popular than handwriting
B．we shouldn’t judge people by their handwriting
C．handwriting is of great importance
D．it’s time to give up using keyboards


【小題1】.B
【小題1】.D
【小題1】.D
【小題1】.C

解析【小題1】細(xì)節(jié)題：從第一段的句子：that handwriting is important for brain development — helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and create ideas. 可知手寫可以增加大腦活動。選B
【小題1】推理題：從第四段的句子：Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting.可知好的書寫可以讓人看起來聰明。選D
【小題1】推理題：從最后一段的句子：Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that China’s reading ability as a nation could suffer.可知缺少書寫會影響中國人的閱讀能力。選.D。
【小題1】主旨題：文章主要講的是書寫的重要性。選C

練習(xí)冊系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Malaria, the world's most widespread parasitic (寄生蟲引起的)disease, kills as many as three million people every year ---- almost all of whom are under five, very poor, and African. In most years, more than five hundred million cases of illness result from the disease, although exact numbers are difficult to assess because many people don't (or can't) seek care. It is not unusual for a family earning less than two hundred dollars a year to spend a quarter of its income on malaria treatment, and what they often get no longer works. In countries like Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Gambia, no family, village, hospital, or workplace can remain unaffected for long.        

Malaria starts suddenly, with violent chills, which are soon followed by an intense fever and, often, headaches. As the parasites multiply, they take over the entire body. Malaria parasites live by eating the red blood cells they infect (感染) .They can also attach themselves to blood vessels in the brain. If it doesn't kill you, malaria can happen again and again for years. The disease is passed on to humans by female mosquitoes infected with one of four species of a parasite. Together, the mosquito and the parasite are the most deadly couple in the history of the earth and one of the most successful. Malaria has five thousand genes, and its ability to change rapidly to defend itself and resist new drugs has made it nearly impossible to control. Studies show that mosquitoes are passing on the virus more frequently, and there are more outbreaks in cities with large populations. Some of the disease's spread is due to global warming.

For decades, the first-choice treatment for malaria parasites in Africa has been chloroquine, a chemical which is very cheap and easy to make. Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, malaria parasites have become resistant to it. Successful alternatives that help prevent resistance are already available, but they have been in short supply and are very expensive. If these drugs should fail, nobody knows what would come next.

According to paragraph 1, many people don't seek care because ___________.

A. they are too poor       

B. it is unusual to seek care

C. they can remain unaffected for long

D. there are too many people suffering from the disease

People suffering from malaria _____________.

A. have to kill female mosquitoes   B. have ability to defend parasites

C. have their red blood cells infected  D. have sudden fever, followed by chills

Which of the following may be the reason for the wide spread of the disease?

A. Its resistance to global warming.   

B. Its ability to pass on the virus frequently.

C. Its outbreaks in cities with large populations.

D. Its ability to defend itself and resist new drugs.

It can be inferred from the passage that _____________.

A. no drugs have been found to treat the disease

B. the alternative treatment is not easily available to most people

C. malaria has developed its ability to resist parasites

D. nobody knows what will be the drug to treat the disease

Which of the following questions has NOT been discussed in the passage?

A. How can we know one is suffering from malaria?

B. How many people are killed by malaria each year?

C. Why are there so many people suffering from malaria?

D. What has been done to keep people unaffected for long?

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2010屆江西省重點(diǎn)中學(xué)聯(lián)考英語試題 題型：閱讀理解

Children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in inner-city London primary schools，official figures show.
Youngsters with foreign mother tongues form a majority at primary schools in 13 out of33 London cities. Across the country，English is a foreign language to more than one in seven primary school youngsters.
The figures from the Department for Children，Schools and Families (DCSF) point to major demographic (人口的) changes over the past few decades，with around a fifth of pupils now coming from ethnic minorities.
There are concerns that school finances are coming under stress from the growing numbers of youngsters requiring help with English. The government has been urged to provide more funding，and give fair treatment to schools with large concentrations of non-English speakers.
In Tower Hamlets almost four out of five youngsters do not have English as their mother tongue. In other areas，including Leicester，Luton and Bradford the proportion approaches 50 percent.
The figures indicate that many recent migrants have settled in London. Sir Andrew Green，F(xiàn)ounder and Chairman of Migration Watch UK，says，“These figures confirm the huge impact immigration is having on our society. When government funds are as tight as they are，this is bound to have a negative impact，since children for whom English is a second language need extra tuition (學(xué)費(fèi)).”He adds，“In inner London it's hard to know with whom immigrant chil­dren are supposed to practice English，since the number of immigrant children is much larger than that of local. ”
A spokesman for DCSF stresses that the figures “only indicate the language to which a child was initially exposed at home，regardless of whether he or she comes to speak English fluently later on. It is only a relatively few recent arrivals for whom communication problems are serious”.“We are increasing funding to the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (助學(xué)金)to £206 million by 2010，to help bring students weak in English up to speed. We’re also equipping schools to offer effective English as an Additional Language teaching to new arrivals，”he adds
72.A minority of London primary school students speak English as their first language because
      .
A. local children prefer to speak other languages
B. more and more immigrant children are attending school in London
C. children learning English as an additional language need extra tuition
D. English is too difficult a language for primary school children to learn
73.Some people worry about      .
A. the increasing number of adults needing help with English
B. the government taking no measures to help the schools
C. non-English speakers putting school finances under stress
D. London schools not providing adequate service for children in need
74.It can be inferred from the passage that         .
A. most immigrant children make a great effort to learn English
B. the government used to treat non-English speakers unfairly
C. it's not easy to find English speakers for immigrant children in some parts of London to communicate with
D. local children are influenced by immigrant children
75.According to the spokesman for DCSF，the figures indi­cate       .
A. that children will speak English fluently later on
B. that immigration is having a huge impact on English society
C. what the language the children were exposed to first was
D. that funding is increasing to help students weak in English

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：廣東省山一0910學(xué)年高二第一次段考試題（英語） 題型：閱讀理解

As people slowly learn to cure diseases, control floods, prevent hunger, and stop wars, fewer people die every year. As a result, the population of the world is becoming larger. In 1925 there were about 2 billion people in the world; today there are over 6 billion.

When the number rises, extra mouths must be fed. New lands must be brought under development, or land already farmed must be made to produce more crops. In some areas the land is so over-developed that it will be difficult to make it provide more crops. In some areas the population is so large that the land is divided into too tiny units to make improvement possible with farming methods. If a large part of this farming population went into industrial work, the land might be farmed much more productively (多產(chǎn)地) with modern methods.

There is now a race for science, technology, and industry to keep the output of food rising faster than the number of people to be fed. New types of crops, which will grow well in bad weather, are being developed, so there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle in Siberia and North America. Irrigation (灌溉) and dry-farming methods bring poor lands under the plough. Dams hold back the waters of great rivers, which can provide water for the fields in all seasons and provide electric power for new industries. Industrial chemistry provides fertilizer to suit different soils. Every year, some new methods are made to increase or to protect the food of the world.

1. The author says that the world population is increasing because _____.

A. there are many rich valleys and large fields

B. farmers are producing more crops than before

C. people are living longer due to better living conditions

D. new lands are being made into farmlands

2. The author says that in areas with large populations, land might be more productively farmed if _____.

A. the land was divided into smaller pieces

B. people moved into the countryside

C. industrial methods were used in farming

D. the units of land were much larger

3. We are told that there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle. This has been made possible by _____.

A. growing new types of crops

B. irrigation and dry-farming means

C. providing fertilizers 

D. destroying pests and diseases

4. Why is the land divided into tiny units in some areas?

A. There are too many people living there.

B. It saves more natural resources there. 

C. It prevents crops from serious diseases there.

D. Farmers can grow various kinds of crops there.

5. Why do some people use dams to hold back waters from great rivers?

A. To develop a new kind of dry-farming methods.       

B. To prevent crops from floods.

C. To provide water and electricity in all seasons.          

D. To water poor lands in bad weather. 

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2013屆度遼寧省沈陽四校協(xié)作體高二上學(xué)期期中考試英語試題 題型：閱讀理解

Malaria, the world’s most widespread parasitic (寄生蟲引起的)disease, kills as many as three million people every year—almost all of whom are under five, very poor, and African. In most years, more than five hundred million cases of illness result from the disease, although exact numbers are difficult to assess because many people don't (or can’t) seek care. It is not unusual for a family earning less than two hundred dollars a year to spend a quarter of its income on malaria treatment, and what they often get no longer works. In countries like Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Gambia, no family, village, hospital, or workplace can remain unaffected for long.        

Malaria starts suddenly, with violent chills, which are soon followed by an intense fever and, often, headaches. As the parasites multiply, they take over the entire body. Malaria parasites live by eating the red blood cells they infect. They can also attach themselves to blood vessels in the brain. If it doesn’t kill you, malaria can happen again and again for years. The disease is passed on to humans by female mosquitoes infected with one of four species of a parasite. Together, the mosquito and the parasite are the most deadly couple in the history of the earth and one of the most successful. Malaria has five thousand genes, and its ability to change rapidly to defend itself and resist new drugs has made it nearly impossible to control. Studies show that mosquitoes are passing on the virus more frequently, and there are more outbreaks in cities with large populations. Some of the disease's spread is due to global warming.

For decades, the first-choice treatment for malaria parasites in Africa has been chloroquine, a chemical which is very cheap and easy to make. Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, malaria parasites have become resistant to it. Successful alternatives that help prevent resistance are already available, but they have been in short supply and are very expensive. If these drugs should fail, nobody knows what would come next.  

1.According to paragraph 1, many people don’t seek care because ________.

A. they are too poor                     

B. it is unusual to seek care

C. they can remain unaffected for long

D. there are too many people suffering from the disease

2.People suffering from malaria ________.

A. have to kill female mosquitoes         B. have ability to defend parasites

C. have their red blood cells infected    D. have sudden fever, followed by chills

3.Which of the following may be the reason for the wide spread of the disease?

A. Its resistance to global warming.     

B. Its ability to pass on the virus frequently.

C. Its outbreaks in cities with large populations.

D. Its ability to defend itself and resist new drugs.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A. no drugs have been found to treat the disease

B. the alternative treatment is not easily available to most people

C. malaria has developed its ability to resist parasites

D. nobody knows what will be the drug to treat the disease

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2012屆北京師大附中高二下學(xué)期期中考試英語題 題型：閱讀理解

As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.

Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children. “In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,” Lewis says. “And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is.”

The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings. Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. “Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis. “When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event.”

1.The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to _________.

A．show the relationship between parents and children

B．teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table

C．report on the findings of a study

D．give information about family problems

2.Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because _________.

A．they are busy serving food to their children

B．they are busy keeping order at the dinner table

C．they have to pay more attention to younger children

D．they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family

3.By saying “Middle children are invisible” in paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children _________.

A．have to help their parents to serve dinner

B．get the least attention from the family

C．a(chǎn)re often kept away from the dinner table

D．find it hard to keep up with other children

4.Lewis’ research provides an answer to the question _________.

A．why TV is important in family life

B．why parents should keep good order

C．why children in small families seem to be quieter

D．why middle children seem to have more difficulties in life

 

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊答案