Question

14．Music lessons in early childhood bring about changes in the brain that  could improve its performance far into adulthood，researchers say．
  Brain scans of young adults showed those who had formal musical training before seven had thicker brain areas dealing with hearing and self-awareness．
  The findings note how brain development can be influenced by the age when children start to learn a musical instrument，and how those changes can continue into later life．
"Early musical training benefits kids more than just making them enjoy music．It changes the brain，which could bring about cognitive advances as well，"said Yunxin Wang of Beijing Normal University．
"Our results suggest it's better to start musical training before seven，which agrees with what most piano teachers recommend，"she added．She hoped the results might help parents decide when was the best for their children to learn an instrument．
   The brain's cortex（皮层） plays a leading role in one's abilities，from thought and language to memory and attention．The area matures rapidly in the early years of life，and its development could be affected more if a person starts musical training before it fully matures．
   Wang studied 48 Chinese students aged between 19 and 21 who had received formal music training for at least a year sometime between the ages of 3 and 15．Each had a scan to measure the thickness of the brain's cortex．
   After considering sex and the number of years spent having music lessons，Wang found that musical training that started before seven appeared to thicken areas of the brain involved in language skills and executive function，which is a person's ability to plan and accomplish tasks．
"We're not sure why these changes occur，but a reasonable explanation is that early starters might depend more on hearing clues（线索） when learning music，since it might be more difficult for younger children to read music，"Wang said．
32．According to the researchers，musical training before the age of seven canA
A．contribute to future work．
B．create a successful life
C．develop all-round abilities        
D．deal with puzzling problem
33．When conducting the research with the students，WangD
A．tested their language abilities  
B．watched their musical performances
C．focused on school behavior and achievements
D．measured the thickness of the brain's cortex
34．It can be inferred from the last paragraph thatB．
A．it must be hard for kids to read music
B．kids are more likely to learn music by hearing
C．Wang's explanation has been the most reasonable
D．Wang will research into the reasons for the brain change
35．For what purpose does the author write the text？C
A．To describe the development of brain．
B．To challenge the previous discoveries．
C．To present the findings of the research．
D．To give advice on how to learn music．

Answer 1

分析 这是一篇议论文．北京师范大学的一项研究发现，儿童早期的音乐训练可以提高成年时的脑力，这一发现强调孩提时期的乐器学习如何对大脑发展产生影响以及这些影响是如何在日后生活中延续的．

解答 32．A．推理判断题．根据文章第二、三、四段可知，7岁之前有过正规音乐训练的人，处理听力和自我意识的大脑区域会相对更厚，而且这些变化能延续到以后的生活中．故选A项．
33．D．细节理解题．根据第七段中的"Each had a scan to measure the thickness of the brain's cortex"可知与学生进行研究时，王测试了大脑皮质的厚度，选择D项．
34．B．推理判断题．最后一段说不确定为什么会出现这些变化，但有一个合理的解释，那就是儿童早期学习音乐的时候可能很难读音乐，于是他们更多地依靠自己的听觉线索，也就是说，孩子们更可能通过听觉来学音乐，因此选B项．
35．C．写作意图题．本文主要是关于研究人员对于孩子早期学习音乐对大脑发育的研究的介绍，因此本文的写作意图就是介绍一项研究的成果，因此选C项．

点评 考察学生的细节理解和推理判断能力，做细节理解题时一定要找到文章中的原句，和题干进行比较，再做出正确的选择．在做推理判断题不要以个人的主观想象代替文章的事实，要根据文章事实进行合乎逻辑的推理判断．