1 . Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying “curiosity killed the cat.” It’s a phrase that’s often used to _________

People — especially children — not to ask too many questions. Yet it’s widely agreed that _________ actually makes learning more enjoyable and effective. _________, research has shown that curiosity is just as important as intelligence in _________ how well students do in school.

Curiosity also _________ us to embrace unfamiliar circumstances, brings excitement into our lives, and opens up new possibilities. Being curious requires us to be both humble enough to know we don't have all the answers, and confident enough to _________ it. Asking the questions that help us _________ the gap between what we already know and what we'd like to know can lead us to make unexpected discoveries.

In science, basic curiosity-driven research — conducted without pressure to produce immediate practical results — can have _________ and incredibly important benefits. _________, one day in 1831, Michael Faraday was playing around with a coil (线圈) and a magnet (磁铁)__________ he suddenly saw how he could generate an electrical current. At first, it wasn't clear what use this would have, but it actually made __________ available for use in technology, and so changed the world.

Unsurprisingly, there are chemical and evolutionary theories to __________ why humans are such curious creatures. When we become curious, our brains __________ a chemical called dopamine (多巴胺), which makes the process of learning more pleasurable and improves memory. It is still not known why learning gives us such __________, but one theory is that we may have developed a basic need to fight uncertainty — the more we understand about the world around us, the more likely we are to __________ its many dangers!