Question

Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior.

One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harvard University in the United States and the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden did the study.

They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The game is based on the tension (紧张气氛) between the interests (利益) of an individual and a group. The students played in groups of four. Each player could win points for the group, so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players, at a cost to the punisher.

Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded it the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded it the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings were. The group with the most punishment earned twenty-five percent less than the group with the least punishment. The study appeared last month in the journal Science.

The other study involved children. It was presented last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse. Researchers used intelligence tests given to two groups. More than eight hundred children aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children aged five to nine.

The two groups were retested four years later, and the study compared the results with the first test. Both groups contained children whose parents used physical punishment and children whose parents did not. The study says the IQs--or intelligence quotients--of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were. In the older group, the difference was almost three points.

Murray Strauss from the University of New Hampshire worked with Mallie Paschall from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Professor Strauss has written extensively about physical punishment of children. He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development. He also looked at average IQs in other nations and found them lower where spanking was more common.

1.Which could be the best title of the passage?

A. Punishment

B. The Best Way to Influence Behavior.

C. Punishment or Reward: Which Works Better on Behavior?

D. Two Recent Studies.

2.The underlined word “spanked” probably means______.

A. won       B. punished      C. tested      D. praised

3.According to the passage, the researchers may agree the best way to influence behavior is______.

A. rewarding good behavior

B. correcting bad behavior

C. punishing badly-behaved children

D. praising well-behaved children

4.The author develops the passage______.

A. in order of time

B. in order of importance

C. by describing his experiences

D. by using quotations and statistics

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.D

【解析】

试题分析：文章主要介绍了两项研究的过程和研究成果。近期的两项研究显示，惩罚不是影响行为的最好方法。其中一项研究显示，成年人在一个基于奖励的机制中更具合作性。另一项研究表明，惩罚不利于孩子心智的发展。

1.One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards.”和第六段“of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were”可知，研究表明，奖励能够促进合作，惩罚不利于孩子的心智发展，故选C。

2.who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were”可知，被父母体罚的孩子，他们的智商比没有受到体罚的孩子的低5分，根据最后一段“He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.”可知，孩子受到的惩罚越多，他们的心智发展得越慢，说明划线词是“惩罚”的意思，故选B。

3.of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were”和最后一段“the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development”可知，惩罚不利于孩子的身心发展，排除C；根据第二段“adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards”和第六段“five points higher than those who were”可知，奖励能够促进合作，而惩罚不利于孩子心智的发展，只有A项与奖励有关，故选A。

4.They had about two hundred college students play...”和第四段“David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation...”与第五段“More than eight hundred children aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children aged five to nine.”及第六段“The study says the IQs--or intelligence quotients--of the younger children...”和第七段“He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.”可知，作者引用了研究人员说的话，还使用了具体的数据，故选D。

考点：科学类短文阅读