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题型:阅读理解-阅读单选 难度:0.15 引用次数:379 题号:7463406

Reading may be fundamental, but how the brain gives meaning to letters on a page has been a mystery. Two new studies fill in some details on how the brains of efficient readers handle words. One of the studies, published in the April 30 Neuron, suggests that a visual-processing area of the brain recognizes common words as whole units. Another study, published online April 27 in PLOSONE, makes it known that the brain operates two fast parallel systems for reading, linking visual recognition of words to speech.

Maximilian Riesenhuber, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., wanted to know whether the brain reads words letter by letter or recognizes words as whole objects. He and his colleagues showed sets of real words or nonsense(无意义的词语)words to volunteers undergoing fMRI scans. The words differed inonly one letter, such as “farm” and “form” or “soat” and “poat”, or were completely different, such as “farm” and “coat” or   “poat” and “hime”. The researchers were particularly interested in what happens in the visual word form area, or VWFA, an area on the left side of the brain just behind the ear that is involved in recognizing words.

Riesenhuber and his colleagues found that neurons(神经元)in the VWFA respond strongly to changes in real words. Changing “farm” to “form”, for example, produced as great a change in activity as changing “farm” to” coat”, the team reports in Neuron. The area responded slowly to single-letter changes in made-up words.

The data suggests that readers grasp real words as whole objects, rather than focusing on letters or letter combinations. And as a reader’s exposure to a word increases, the brain comes to recognize the shape of the word. Meaning is passed on after recognition in the brain, Riesenhuber says.

The researchers don’t yet know how longer and less familiar words are recognized, or if the brain can be trained to recognize nonsense words as a unit.

1. Riesenhuber’s research probably focuses on whether the brain ______.
A.recognizes words as a unit or reads them letter by letter.
B.operates two fast parallel systems for reading
C.takes longer to read less familiar words or not
D.handles nonsense words as a unit
2. Riesenhuber and his colleagues carried out their research by ______.
A.giving pairs of real words totally differentB.arranging the words in different order
C.showing pairs of different wordsD.making volunteers read some longer words
3. Riesenhuber’s research is significant in that it shows how the brain ______.
A.responds to familiar wordsB.relates meaning to letters
C.recognizes the form of a wordD.reacts to made-up words
【知识点】 科普知识

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【推荐1】There are many colors in nature. But do you think that a color has weight? I think you'll say "no". But I'm afraid you are wrong. If you don't believe it, you may do a small experiment.

First, put two objects with the same weight into two boxes. Then cover the boxes. Third, wrap one box with a red piece of paper, the other one with white piece of paper. OK. Now hold the boxes with your hand one by one. It is certain that you will think the red one is a little heavier.

Why do you think so? A scientist found that different colors have different weights in man's mind. That is to say, every color has its own weight in our mind.

The scientist told us that colors also have smell. Can you smell the color? Of course not. Then why did the scientist say so? That is because every color stands for kind of light with a certain wavelength(波长). It reaches our brain through sense organs.

According to this discovery scientists say that people accept the colors they like, and refuse the colors they hate. So your body and mind will be healthy by using the colors you like. Or you'll be nervous or even get ill. For example, you like blue and hate red. If you stay in a room with red windows, wallpaper and furniture for two hours, you'll feel you have been there for four hours. But if the room is blue, you'll feel you have been there for only an hour. And if a person walks out of a blue room and into a red room, his temperature will rise. That means our body temperature will change with different colors.

1. What can we know from the experiment?
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3. Which of the following is TRUE?
A.White color is heavier than red color.
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【推荐2】请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格的空格处填入一个最恰当的单词。
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Why should mankind explore space? Why should money, time and effort be spent exploring and researching something with so few apparent benefits? Why should resources be spent on space instead of on conditions and people on Earth? These are questions that, understandably, are very often asked.

Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup as human beings. What drove our ancestors to move from the trees into the plains, and on into all possible areas and environments? With the wide spread of a species, human beings can get high chance of survival. Perhaps the best reason for exploring space is this genetic tendency to expand wherever possible.

Nearly every successful civilization has explored, because by doing so, any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge, we may be completely destroyed by the danger. With knowledge, we can lessen its effects.

Exploration also allows minerals and other potential resources to be found. Even if we have no need of them right now, they will perhaps be useful later. Resources may be more than physical possessions. Knowledge or techniques have been acquired through exploration. The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. We have already benefited from other spinoffs including improvements in earthquake prediction, in satellites for weather forecasting and in communications systems. Even nonstick pans and mirrored sunglasses are byproducts of technological developments in the space.

While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of space allows creative, brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The danger exists, but knowledge can help human beings to survive. Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist.

While Earth is the only planet known to support life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to live on other planets. It is true that the lifestyle would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.

Space Exploration
Outline of the paragraphsDetailed information
    1     to points for discussionWhy should we explore space?
Why should we invest so much with few visible benefits?
Why should resources be spent on space     2     than on conditions and people o earth?
Reasons for exploring spaceIt is human     3     to explore new areas and environment.
The    4     the spread of a species, the higher its chance of survival.
Human beings genetically tend to expand where possible.
By exploring we can have the information and understanding that can help us identify and get    5     for any danger in surrounding areas.
Human beings can have unexpected benefits by exploring space.
We can find more minerals for future use even if we don't need them       6    .
Besides physical possession, we can acquire knowledge or techniques through exploration, which results in    7     the life span, improving quality of life,     8     earthquakes and the weather and even developing non-stick pans.
Faced with danger, human beings'     9    , bravery and intelligence will enable us to survive.
ConclusionSpace exploration may help us     10     potential problems on Earth.
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【推荐3】People with a rare genetic disorder known as Prader-Willi syndrome never feel full, and this excess hunger can lead to life-threatening obesity (肥胖症). Scientists studying the problem have now found that the fist-shaped structure known as the cerebellum (小脑) — which had not previously been linked to hunger — is key to regulating satiation (饱食) in those with this condition.

This finding is the latest in a series of discoveries revealing that the cerebellum, long thought to be primarily involved in movement harmony, also plays a broad role in cognition, emotion and behavior. “We’ve opened up a whole field of cerebellar control of food intake,” says Albert Chen, a neuroscientist at the Scintillon Institute in California.

The project began with an accidental observation: Chen and his team noticed they could make mice stop eating by activating small pockets of neurons (神经元) in regions known as the anterior deep cerebellar nuclei (aDCN), within the cerebellum. Fascinated, the researchers gathered data using functional MRI to compare brain activity in 14 people who had Prader-Willi syndrome with activity in 14 unaffected people while each testee viewed images of food -- either immediately following a meal or after fasting (禁食) for at least four hours.

New analysis of these scans revealed that activity in the same regions Chen’s group had accurately pointed out in mice, the aDCN, appeared to be significantly disturbed in humans with Prader-Willi syndrome. In healthy individuals, the aDCN were more active in response to food images while fasting than just after a meal, but no such difference was identifiable in participants with the disorder. The result suggested that the aDCN were involved in controlling hunger. Further experiments on mice, conducted by researchers from several different institutions, demonstrated that activating the animals’ aDCN neurons dramatically reduced food intake by weakening how the brain’s pleasure center responds to food.

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