Researchers in the 1960s found bilingual（双语的）people scored higher on intelligence （智力）tests than monolinguals—people who speak only one language. The latest studies show that being bilingual does not necessarily make people cleverer, but it probably does make you better at certain skills.
Imagine driving down the highway. There are many things that could attract your attention and you really need to be able to watch all of them. Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?
The answer is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention—a function（功能）called the executive control system. It’s quite possibly the most important system we have because it’s where all of your decisions about what to attend to, what to ignore（忽视），what to process are made.
The best method to measure（测量）the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. Suppose you would have the word blue written in red but you have to say the colour red. But “blue” is so eye-catching, and you really want to say “blue”. You need to ignore it so that you can say the colour red. That’s the Stroop Test.
Bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to, because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. They need to ignore one to be able to speak in the other. This exercise might help in other ways, too. Researchers say bilingual children are more likely to have trends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing Alzheimer’s disease.
1. What did the recent research find about bilingual people?| A．They can safely drive their cars. |
| B．They can well manage their attention. |
| C．They can have a better control of imagination. |
| D．They can easily pick out the colours they want. |
| A．Red. | B．Blue. | C．Test. | D．System. |
| A．Bilingualism may do harm to people’s health. |
| B．Bilingualism helps children make more foreign friends. |
| C．People must practice speaking two languages continually. |
| D．People use more active words from their mother languages. |
| A．How does the Stroop Test work? |
| B．What is executive control system? |
| C．Are monolingual people smarter? |
| D．Are bilingual people better at some skills? |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】How do you feel about nature? After spending hours indoors, do you feel better when you visit your local park? Most people think that nature is good for our bodies and brains. However, humans are spending more time inside and less time outside. In some countries such as the USA, only 10% of the teenagers spend time outside every day. Many doctors feel that this is a problem in the twenty-first century.
Some doctors find nature and health are interrelated. One example of this is the work of Dr. Matilda in Sweden (瑞典). The doctor gave people a maths test. During the test, their heart rates (率) were fast. After the test, one group of people were chosen to sit in a 3D-virtual-reality (虚拟现实) room for fifteen minutes with pictures and sounds of nature. Their heart rates were slower than the others’. Another good example of how nature is good for health comes from Canada. In Toronto, researchers studied 31, 000 people living in the city. In general, they found that healthier people lived near parks.
Because of studies like these, some countries and cities want nature to be part of people’s everyday life. In Dubai, for example, there are plans for a new shopping mall with a large garden so shoppers can relax outside with trees, plants and water. In Switzerland, “forest schools” are popular. Students study their subjects in the forests and do lots of exercise outside. And South Korea is another good example. It has new forests near its cities and around 13 million people visit these forests every year. So after building cities for so long, perhaps it’s now time to start rebuilding nature.
根据短文内容选择最佳答案
1. The underlined word “interrelated” in the passage means “________’’ in Chinese.
| A．相互联系的 | B．毫不相干的 | C．相互排斥的 |
| A．slower than | B．faster than | C．the same as |
①the USA a. Children study in the forests and do lots of activities outside.
②Dubai b. About 13 million people visit new forests near its cities every year.
③Switzerland c. A new shopping mall with a large garden will be built.
④South Korea d. 10% of the teenagers spend time outside every day.
| A．①-a ②-d ③-b ④-c | B．①-d ②-c ③-a ④-b | C．①-d ②-c ③-b ④-a |
| A．Doctors find that many people don’t like spending time outside, which is a big problem in the twentieth century. |
| B．Canadian researchers found that healthier people lived near cities. |
| C．Dr. Matilda is a doctor from Sweden. |
| A．HOW TO LIVE LONGER |
| B．COUNTRY LIFE - HEALTHIER AND EASIER |
| C．NATURE - PART OF PEOPLE’S DAILY LIFE |
A new study finds that plants communicate with one another to warn of danger.
We often consider plants as the furniture of the natural world. They don’t move; they don’t make sounds, they don’t seem to act on anything. But as is often the case, plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is chemical.
Over the years, scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, give out chemicals into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings can spread information about one plant’s disease or infestation(虫害), so other plants can protect themselves. But how plants receive and act on many of the information exactly is still mysterious.
In this week’s Science Magazine, researchers in Japan offered some explanations. They have found out one chemical message and___ ___it all the way from beginning to end.
The scientists looked at tomato plants infested by a common pest(害虫). To start out, they grew plants in two separate plastic spaces connected by a tube(管子). One plant was infested and placed upwind and the other was uninfested and placed downwind. The downwind plants were later exposed(暴露) to the pest. The results showed that plants near sick neighbors before were able to protect themselves better against the pest.
They found one chemical appeared more often in the exposed plants. The chemical is called HexVic. The scientists discovered where HexVic come from, and put it over healthy plants. Those plants were then able to produce HexVic. Researchers made sure that uninfested plants could fight off bugs and diseases. How do they know when to protect themselves? They are warned first by their friendly plant neighbors.
It is not a simple story, and it may be happening in more plant species than tomatoes. It may also be happening with more chemical signals that are still unknown to us. In a word, we know that plants not only communicate, but also look out for one another.
1. The underlined “traced” in the fourth paragraph probably means _________ here.| A．reported | B．followed | C．doubted | D．developed |
①Place the infested plant upwind.
②Place the uninfested plant downwind.
③Expose the downwind plants to the pest.
④Grow plants in two separate plastic spaces connected by a tube.
| A．③①②④ | B．③④①② | C．④①②③ | D．④③①② |
| A．Paragraph 3 | B．Paragraph 4 | C．Paragraph 5 | D．Paragraph 6 |
| A．Communicating Plants and Terrible Diseases |
| B．Talking Plants and Friendly Warnings |
| C．Protecting Plants and Clear Information |
| D．Growing Plants and Mysterious Chemicals |
We did a survey among 1,000 students aged 12 to 16, and we found out that 30 percent of them slept for only 4 to 7 hours a day. Nearly a quarter said they fell asleep while they were watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic gadgets.’
Nowadays, almost all the teenagers have a phone, music system or TV in his or her bedroom. Almost 20 percent of the teenager boys said the quality of their sleep were not good. It was affected by leaving their TVs or computers on. The survey also found out that 40 percent of young people felt tired every day. What’s more, the girls aged 15 to 16 felt the worst among them.
“Teenagers need to realize the importance of sleeping well. If they sleep well, they will be able to study hard and perform well at school. I am shocked to know that so few teenagers have noticed the close connection between sleep and schoolwork,” said Dr Chris.
1. What disturbs British teenager in their bedrooms?
| A．Sleep. | B．Electronic gadgets. | C．Schoolwork. |
| A．3 to 7 hours. | B．4 to 7 minutes. | C．4 to 7 hours. |
| A．数量 | B．质量 | C．时间 |
| A．the girls aged 13. | B．the girls aged 15. | C．the girls aged 17. |
| A．Junk food. | B．Junk sleep. | C．Teenagers. |
