Question

The comic-book superhero Daredevil (超胆侠) became blind by accident, but his blindness only made his other senses superhuman.

It’s commonly believed that deaf or blind people may have other Daredevil-like senses. But the reality is that people with one impaired (受损的) sense don’t have general improvements in their other senses, but rather very specific brain changes, new research shows.

Scientists are now uncovering some of the brain differences that underlie changes or improvements in other senses.

“For example, research shows that people who are deaf from birth tend to be more sensitive to light or movement in their peripheral vision (周边视觉), compared with people who can hear,” said Christina Karns, a neuroscientist at the University of Oregon.

Karns and her colleagues wanted to know whether the areas of the brain responsible (负责的) for hearing were also organized differently in deaf people, compared with people who could hear. In experiments with people who can hear, when the participants see a light flashed in their peripheral vision and hear two beeps at the same time, they experience the illusion (错觉) that they saw two flashes of light. Karns’ team did the same experiment with deaf individuals, except that the beeps were replaced with puffs of air on the participants’ faces.

Deaf people reported seeing two flashes of light when they felt two puffs of air, suggesting they use touch the same way hearing people use sound to improve visual accuracy (精确性). “Hearing people are doing this all the time,” said Karns, who presented her findings. “Deaf people don’t have sound, so they end up building a visual system that’s more accurate.”

But the improvements in deaf people’s other senses are very specific. Studies show that vision in the fovea, the central part of the eye, is no better in deaf people than in hearing people. Also, the improvements aren’t seen in people who become deaf later in life.

One of the big questions driving research on this topic is whether being deaf or blind frees up brain areas for other senses. Stephen Lomber, a neuroscientist at the University of Western Ontario, and colleagues found that cooling down the hearing cortex (皮层) of deaf cats caused the animals to lose their improved peripheral vision, suggesting those brain areas had, indeed, been related to vision.

Taken together, the research into the differences between deaf people’s brains and hearing people’s brains shows there’s a lot of hope for ways we can train our brains. But humans haven’t developed super senses just yet.

1.Most people think people with one impaired sense _____.

A. experience great changes in their brains

B. tend to become a superman like Daredevil

C. generally have a super ability in other senses

D. should improve their other senses through training

2.According to Karns’s experiment, deaf people _____.

A. have a much better fovea than hearing people

B. have totally different brains from hearing people

C. have obvious illusions about light flashed in front of them

D. take advantage of their touch to improve visual accuracy

3.In Paragraph 8, the experiment with deaf cats is used to show _____.

A. the hearing cortex helps train our brains

B. deaf cats like using their improved peripheral vision

C. the ability of Daredevil can become a reality in our life

D. brain areas for other senses have a relationship with vision

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. Whether deaf people have superhuman vision.

B. How deaf people use their other senses in life.

C. Experiments on the superhuman vision of the deaf.

D. Differences between deaf people and hearing people.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.D

4.A

【解析】

本文属于说明文，人们普遍认为丧失某一功能的人在其他某一方面的功能会特别好，但是通过研究发现，其实并不如此，只是脑部发生了明显变化。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段It’s commonly believed that deaf or blind people may have other Daredevil-like senses.可知，人们认为功能受损的人在其他功能方面会特别突出，故选C。

2.细节理解题。根据第六段Deaf people reported seeing two flashes of light when they felt two puffs of air, suggesting they use touch the same way hearing people use sound to improve visual accuracy (精确性).可知，在这个实验中，当感受到两道空气时，聋哑人说他看见了两道光，这表明 聋哑人，如同主要依靠听力的人利用声音一样，利用触觉来提升视觉的精确性。故选D。

3.细节理解题。根据第八段cooling down the hearing cortex (皮层) of deaf cats caused the animals to lose their improved peripheral vision, suggesting those brain areas had, indeed, been related to vision.可知，通过冷却聋哑猫的听力皮层，发现已经显著提升的周边视觉消失了，这也暗示了听力皮层与视觉有联系，这个实验恰恰说明了这个道理，故选D。

4.主旨大意题。根据第二段It’s commonly believed that deaf or blind people may have other Daredevil-like senses. But the reality is that people with one impaired (受损的) sense don’t have general improvements in their other senses, but rather very specific brain changes, new research shows.可知，本篇文章是对人们普遍持有的一个观点的验证，即某一功能丧失，其他功能会特别突出作为弥补，而研究发现这一观点是错误的，故A切题。