Question

Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s．Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent（聪明的） than women．Right? Wrong．Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size．Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain．The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”．While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes．

It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women．This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time．When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time．

There are other important differences between two sexes．As white matter is the key to spatial（空间的） tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things．“A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher．That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions…and women often need to!

The differences begin when fetuses（胎儿） are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one．A boy would try to climb a barrier （障碍物） before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others．These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills．It may all go back to our ancestors（祖先）, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research．

If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t．“The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it．” says a biologist．

56．The passage mainly tells us ________．

       A．the difference between men’s and women’s brains    

       B．the changes in brain throughout our lives

       C．that men are better at spatial tasks                 

       D．that brain differences are related to our ancestors

57．Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

      A．Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s             

       B．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter．

       C．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain．         

       D．Both sexes have the same amount of white matter．

58．What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?

      A．Women prefer doing many things at a time．         

       B．Men do better dealing with one job at a time．

       C．Women do not need to tell directions．             

       D．Men have weaker spatial abilities．

59．Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?

     A．Young boys may be stronger than young girls．     

       B．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills

       C．Women may have stronger feelings than men．    

       D．Our ancestors needed more spatial skills．

60．What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?

A．Defensive．         B．Persuasive．   C．Supportive．         D．Objective．

Answer 1

56.A;57.C;58.B;59.B;60.D

解析:

56．A。本文写的是男女大脑的不同以及由此出现的男女在各方面的不同特点。

57．C。本题关键是要理解文中几个词的所指。“The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”．While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes．”其中，the latter指的是white matter，而“thinking brain”指的就是grey matter。

58．B。根据文中所述，“When it comes to…all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time”，女人在同时做多种事情时有优势，而男的显然做不好这一点，只能每次做一件事。注意选项B中的better并不等于better than woman。

59．B。细节判断题。通过倒数第二段的“more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills．”一句可以得出结论。

60．D。从文章中看不出作者有任何偏颇之处。