Question

Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don’t know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born smart, average, or dumb—and stays that way in the whole life. But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle（肌肉）—it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.

Everyone knows that when you lift weights, your muscles get bigger and you get stronger. A person who can’t lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time. That’s because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise. And when you stop exercising, the muscles shrink（收缩）and you get weaker. That’s why people say “Use it or lose it!”

But most people don’t know that when they practice and learn new things, parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex（皮层）of the brain are billions of tiny nerve（神经元）cells（细胞）,called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated（复杂）network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Then, things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do —like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra（代数）—seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.

Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals’ brains. They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more “perspicacious”—they were better at solving problems and learning new things.

1.According to the first paragraph,              .

A.the function（作用）of our brain is like that of the muscle

B.until now it’s impossible to explain the brain’s mystery

C.many people believe one’s intelligence is naturally determined（决定）

D.one’s brain grows stronger as the age increases

2.What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A.The complicated structure of the brain.

B.How changes in the muscles affect the brain.

C.The importance of the brain.

D.How the brain becomes stronger by learning new things.

3.What does the underlined word “perspicacious” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A.Strong. B.Smart. C.Popular. D.Active.

4.The paragraph that follows the passage will most probably talk about             .

A.the differences between animals’ brains and humans’ brains

B.the relation between human brains and muscles

C.scientists’ findings about animals’ brains

D.how to make your brain smarter through self-development

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.D

【解析】

本文主要介绍通过新的学习如何使你的大脑更聪明，经常学习能促进大脑的发育，正如经常锻炼能使肌肉更强健一样。

1.推理判断。根据第一段第3句“When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born smart, average, or dumb—and stays that way in the whole life.（当他们真正思考什么是智力时，很多人相信一个人天生聪明、平庸或愚蠢，一生都是这样。）”可知许多人相信一个人的智力是天生的，故选C。

2.主旨题。通读第三段特别第一句“…when they practice and learn new things, parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise”和最后一句“The result is a stronger, smarter brain.”可知第3段的主要内容是关于大脑是如何通过学习新事物变得更强大的；故选D。

3.词意猜测题。Strong强壮的；Smart聪明的，机敏的；Popular流行的，通俗的；Active活跃的，积极的。根据破折号后面的“they were better at solving problems and learning new things（他们更善于解决问题和学习新事物）”可知，perspicacious意思为“敏锐的，颖悟的，聪明的”之意；故选B。

4.推理判断。本文最后一段提出科学家是从研究动物的大脑得出的结论，因此下一段最可能进一步描述对这一成果怎样运用——如何通过自我发展使你的大脑更聪明。故选D。