Question

Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.

It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.

There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial（空間的） tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for direction and women often need to!

The differences begin when fetuses（胎兒） are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.

If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.

1.The passage mainly tells us ________.

A. the difference between men’s and women’s brains

B. the changes in brain throughout our lives

C. that men are better at spatial tasks

D. that brain differences are related to our ancestors

2.Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

A. Women’s grey matter is 10% less than men’s.

B. Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

C. Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

D. Both sexes have the same amount of white matter.

3.Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?

A. Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

B. More women take up jobs requiring speech skills.

C. Women may have stronger feelings than men.

D. Our ancestors needed more spatial skills.

4.What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?

A. Defensive. B. Persuasive.

C. Supportive. D. Objective.

 

Answer 1

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.D

【解析】

試題分析：女性的大腦比男性的大腦小一些，在重量方面，女性大腦比男性的輕10%。大腦越大，人就越聰明嗎？答案是否定的。男性和女性的智力測驗(yàn)分?jǐn)?shù)是非常接近的，這是因?yàn)�，決定人的聰明程度的是大腦內(nèi)的物質(zhì)，而不是腦的大小。女性的大腦中含有更多的控制思維的灰質(zhì)，她們更擅長語言方面的工作。

1.Men and women always score similarly on intelligence test...it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain”可知，文章主要講的是男性和女性大腦的差異，故選A。

2.The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.”可知，the latter指代的是大腦中的白質(zhì)， the amount of “thinking” brain指的是灰質(zhì)，由此可見，灰質(zhì)控制著思維，故選C。

3.These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills.”可知，男性更多地從事的是需要空間操作技能的工作，而女性則從事需要語言技能的工作，故選B。

4.The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.”可知，人們的大腦不是一成不變的，隨著后天的訓(xùn)練和使用，大腦一直處于一種變化的狀態(tài)，說明作者的敘述是客觀的，故選D。

考點(diǎn)：科學(xué)類短文閱讀