Question

The works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth are “rocket?boosters” to the brain and better than the other self?help books，researchers will say this week.

Scientists，psychologists and the English experts at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of Shakespeare and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind，catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of self?reflection.Using scanners，they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read the works by William Shakespeare，William Wordsworth，T.S Eliot and other classical writers.

They then “translated” the texts into more “straightforward”，modern language and again monitored the readers’ brains as they read the words.Scans showed that the more “challenging” articles and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the modern versions.Scientists were able to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and record how it “lit up” as the readers came across unusual words，surprising phrases or difficult sentence structures.This “lighting up” of the mind lasts longer than the initial electrical spark，shifting the brain to a higher speed，encouraging further reading.

The research also found that reading poetry，in particular，increases the activities in the right side of the brain，an area concerned with “autobiographical memory”，helping readers to reflect on their own experiences in light of what they have read.The experts said this meant the classics were more useful than self?help books.

Philip Davis，an English professor who has worked on the study with the university，will tell a conference this week：“Serious literature acts like a rocket?booster (火箭助推器) to the brain.”

“The research shows the power of classical literature to shift mental pathways，to create new thoughts，shapes and connections in the young and the old alike.”

1.The author mentioned Shakespeare and Wordsworth in Paragraph One to________.

A．show their great achievements

B．attract our interest in literature

C．introduce the topic of the text

D．encourage us to read their works

2.According to the text，reading classical works can________.

A．help deal with some physical problems

B．benefit our mind and thinking

C．improve our reading skills

D．help learn more about history

3.The scientists and experts did the experiment by________.

A．scanning the readers’ brain activities

B．reading works of different writers

C．lighting up the activities of the brains

D．investigating the habits of the readers

4.We can learn from Paragraph 4 that reading poetry________.

A．is concerned with the right side of the brain

B．has the same effects as reading self?help books

C．helps you forget the things in the past

D．makes you more serious and objective

5.What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To introduce some great writers in England.

B．To present a study on brain activities.

C．To introduce a research on reading classics.

D．To show the power of classical literature.

 

Answer 1

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.A

5.C

【解析】文章大意：本文为一篇科研报道。科学研究表明：阅读莎士比亚，华兹华斯等经典作家的作品，尤其是诗歌，对开发人的大脑有很大好处。

1.推理判断题。文章第二至六段是通过科学家的实验来说明阅读传统作家的作品对大脑的好处，所以第一段提到莎士比亚和华兹华斯等著名作家的目的，是为了引出本文的主题。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段第一句“...have found that reading the works of Shakespeare and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind，catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of self?reflection.”可知，本题选B。

3.细节理解题。根据第二段最后一句“Using scanners，they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read the works...”可知，研究人员是通过扫描读者的大脑活动来检测试验结果的，故选A。

4.细节理解题。根据第四段第一句“The research also found that reading poetry，in particular，increases the activities in the right side of the brain...”可知，本题选A。

5.写作意图题。通读全文可知，文章第一段为本文的主题段，即为了说明一项科研成果。