LONDON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- A four-year-old child’s ability to draw could be an indicator of intelligence at age 14, according to a study published on Tuesday in the British journal Psychological Science.
The researchers from King’s College London (KCL) studied 7,752 pairs of identical and non-identical twins, and found that the link between drawing and later intelligence was influenced by genes.
At the age of 4, children were asked by their parents to complete a ‘Draw-a-Child’ test. Their drawings were rated from 0 to 12, based on the presence and correct number of body-parts, like arms, legs, head, eyes and nose.
The children were also given verbal and non-verbal intelligence tests at ages 4 and 14. According to researchers, the test was devised in the 1920’s to assess children’s intelligence, so it’s not surprising that the test correlated with intelligence at age 4.However, they found that higher scores on the test were also moderately associated with higher scores of intelligence at 14.
The researchers also measured the heritability of figure drawing. Identical twins share all their genes, whereas non-identical twins only share about 50 percent. Overall, at age 4, drawings from identical twin pairs were more similar to one another than drawings from non-identical twin pairs.
Therefore, the researchers concluded that differences in children’s drawings have an important genetic link. They also found that drawing at age 4 and intelligence at age 14 had a strong genetic link.
“Drawing is an ancient behaviour, dating back beyond 15,000 years ago,” Dr. Rosalind Arden, lead author of the paper from KCL, said that: “This capacity to reproduce figures is a uniquely human ability and a sign of cognitive ability, in a similar way to writing, which transformed the human species’ ability to store information, and build a civilisation.”
1.According to the passage, which of the following statement about ‘Draw-a-Child’ test is true?
A. The test was devised in the 1920’s.
B. 7,752 identical and non-identical twins took part in it.
C. The test was set to assess children’s intelligence.
D. The children took the test at four.
2.Which of the following words is closest in meaning to the underlined word “devised” in the 4th paragraph?
A. changed B. formed C. taken D. designed
3.What do we know about the twins from the passage?
A. Those who could draw better at 4 tend to be more intelligent at 14.
B. Twins who look similar to each other draw better pictures.
C. They were chosen to take the drawing test by the researchers.
D. They were tested on how smart they were once.
4.From the last paragraph, we can infer that ___________.
A. human society develops because of the ability to draw figures
B. drawing helps improve humans’ ability to study
C. one’s intelligence is related to his ability to draw pictures
D. only human beings are able to draw pictures
To win an Oscar is an achievement at any age. To do so at 22, as Jennifer
Lawrence has, is just amazing. Recently, the American star won Best Actress at this year's Academy Awards for her role in the film The Silver Linings Playbook. According to Time magazine's Richard Corliss, Lawrence is that rare young actress who "lends a mature intelligence to any role".
Though Lawrence has found great success through her big screen work, Lawrence wasn't sure what she really liked doing before the age of 14. She thought she'd go to college and maybe find a career as a doctor or a travel agent.
Lawrence's two brothers were star athletes and one of them was a straight-A student. Unlike them, she suffered through school, never quite finding where she belonged. However, during a trip to New York, Lawrence suddenly realized that she wanted to be an actress. When she was enjoying the beautiful city, a model seeker asked if he could take her picture, and the next day he called her in for an audition (试镜).
"I read the script and it was the first time I had that feeling like I understand this," Lawrence said.
"Within 20 minutes, in the cab ride from the hotel room, I decided I didn't
want to be a model. In fact, I wanted to be an actress." Having appreciated
this young lady's performance, the agency was so impressed with her reading
that they signed her on the spot. But she insisted on finishing high school so
she could give her full attention to her acting career.
Lawrence burst onto the Hollywood scene last year with The Hunger Games,
which established her as the highest-grossing (票房最高的) female action hero of all time. Rolling Stone called her“the most talented young actress in America".
1.What can we know about Jennifer Lawrence from Paragraph 3?
A．Her parents were really strict with her.
B．She seemed not to fit in with her school days well.
C．Her school performance made her today's fame.
D．Her two brothers were doing well in all school subjects.
2.Lawrence made up her mind to be an actress because of ______.
A．a model interview
B．her brothers' examples
C．the taxi-ride to her hotel room
D．the beautiful scenery of New York
3.From the text we can know that Lawrence is an actress of great ______.
A．confidence B．ambition C．independence D．talent
4.What is the best title of the text?
A．Choosing Right B．Acting Wisely
C．Following Dreams D．Winning Young
I used to think of myself as a person learned in books, but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and an Australian book, my literature collection only consisted of British and American titles. Worse still, I couldn’t ever found anything in translation. My reading was limited to stories by English-speaking authors.So, at the start of 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing.
With no idea where to get those books, I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop, so I decided to ask the readers all over the world for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.
The response was amazing. People all over the world were getting in touch with me, offering ideas and book lists. Some posted me books from their home countries. In addition, several writers, like Turkmenistan’s Ak Welsapar and Panama’s Juan David Morgan, sent me unpublished translations of their novels, giving me a rare opportunity to read works unavailable in Britain. Even with
such an extraordinary team of bibliophiles(爱书者) behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task. With translations making up only around 4.5 per cent of literary works published in the UK, getting English versions of stories was tricky.
One by one, the books from the countries on the list filled my heart with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. Lands that had once seemed exotic and remote became close and familiar to me. At its best, I learned, reading makes the world real.
1.The author realized she was not a learned person when she found ________.
A. she could do nothing but read books
B. she didn’t have any translated books.
C. she had never been to Indian and Australian
D. she could only read simple English stories
2.What was the challenge the author set for herself?
A. Looking for publications to publish her own books.
B. Creating a blog to offer help to other readers.
C. Reading books from nearly 200 countries in a year.
D. Giving some suggestions on learning English.
3.It was not easy to find the books mainly because ________.
A. the readers were unwilling to offer help
B. there were too few translations in the UK
C. the author had no time and no chance to do it
D. the writers didn’t want to publish their books
4.We can infer that by reading the books from other countries, the author feels ________.
A. satisfied and rewarded
B. thankful and pitiful
C. calm and peaceful
D. bored and regretful
One day I was talking to a stranger on the bus; he told me he had a good in Chicago and he wondered if I to know him.For a moment, I thought he might be ,but I could tell from the expression on his face that he was .I felt like saying that it was ridiculous to think that all the millions of people in Chicago I could possibly have ever bumped into his friend. But, , I just smiled and reminded him that Chicago was a very city.He nodded, and I thought he was going to be content to the subject and talk about something else.But he was silent for a few minutes, and then began to tell me all about his friend.
His friend's main in life seemed to be tennis, and he had his own tennis court.A lot of people have swimming pools, yet only two people have private tennis court and his friend in Chicago was one of .I told him that I knew several people like that, my brother, a doctor in California. He __ that maybe there were more private courts in the country he realized, Then he asked me where my brother in California. When I said Sacramento, he said that was a coincidence his Chicago friend spent the summer in Sacramento last year and he lived next door to a who had a tennis court in his backyard. I said that really was a coincidence (巧合) because my next-door neighbour had gone to Sacramento last summer and had the house next to my brother's house.
“Would your friend’s name happen to be Roland Kirkwood?” I asked finally. He and said,“Yes. Would your brother's name happen to be Dr Rey Hunter?” It was my to laugh.“Yes,” I replied.
1.A.friend B. brother C.neighbour D.teacher
2.A.managed B.tried C.happened D.wanted
3.A.expecting B.lying C.talking D.joking
4.A.funny B.serious C.careful D.disappointed
5.A.against B.far from C.beyond D.out of
6.A.instead B.actually C.indeed D.exactly
7.A.clean B.messy C.large D.small
8.A.begin B.reject C.refuse D.drop
9.A.problem B.choice C.interest D.work
10.A.just B.even C.ever D.surely
11.A.them B.those C.that D.whom
12.A.regarding B.including C.concerning D.considering
13.A.admitted B.argued C.advised D.announced
14.A.as B.that C.than D.when
15.A.traveled B.studied C.lived D.worked
16.A.if B.because C.then D.though
17.A.friend B.doctor C.neighbour D.player
18.A.hired B.visited C.designed D.sold
19.A.smiled B.nodded C.cried D.laughed
20.A.chance B.turn C.time D.pleasure
-— Someone wants you on the phone．
-— _____nobody knows I am here.
A. Although B. And C. But D. So
—Jane always tries to ____.
—That’s true. She always compares herself with her friends and neighbours.
A. sleep in B. get around
C. make ends meet D. keep up with the Joneses
