Question

Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.

Kristy vanMarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（嬰兒）are able to quantify substances（物質）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.

With the assistance of her team researchers, vanMarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.

“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” vanMarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”

This information further refutes（駁斥）the long-held idea that babies “know nothing of the world,” vanMarle said.

“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” vanMarle said.

In the future, vanMarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.

1.Babies choose the larger amount of food     .

A．by saying numbers                      B．with the help of parents

C．on personal preference                  D．through their natural abilities

2.The quantifying ability refers to the ability to     .

A．choose between different substances

B．get much knowledge of the world

C．describe the quantity of something

D．obtain math-related skills

3.What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 4?

A．The process of doing research.

B．The scientific findings.

C．The final choice of infants.

D．The observation of infants’ behavior.

4.We can learn from the text that     .

A．some parents don’t care about their kids

B．people used to think the world is known to babies

C．little research has been done on infants

D．scholars disagree on baby-training programs

5.What’s the best title of the text?

A．Breakthrough in Baby Studies

B．Amazing Baby-training Ideas

C．Early Human Abilities

D．Unique Quantifying Methods

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.D

5.A

【解析】

試題分析：新的研究發現嬰兒具有很強的數量概念，他們幾乎總是本能地選擇數量較多的物體，尤其在食物方面，這種突破性科學發現有力地駁斥了長期以來認為嬰兒對世界一無所知的觀點。

1.推理判斷題。文章倒數第二段提到嬰兒具有認知世界的一些基本知識.由此可推斷他們選擇數量比較多的食物是本能的體現。選D

2.推理判斷題。由文章內容可知，嬰兒幾乎總是挑選數量多的物體，由此可推斷這種能力指的是區分物體數量的能力。選C

3.段落大意題。第四段介紹的是耗時15 年的幾個研究的科學發現，故選B 項。

4.細節理解題。根據最后一段后半部分中的內容可知學者們就嬰兒培訓計劃存在分歧。選D

5.標題概括題。新的研究發現嬰兒具有數量意識，從而駁斥了長期以來認為他們對世界一無所知的觀點，顯然是嬰兒研究方面的突破。選A

考點：考查科普類短文

點評：文章比較抽象，但題目并不難，集中考查了細節題，題目設置較為合理，涵蓋了全篇文章內容，在做題的時候，準確確定考點，準確判斷就行。