Do you know that women’s brains are smaller than
men’s? Normally the 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 is made up of
“grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the white matter, the
amount(数量)of “thinking” brain is almost the same in
both men and women.
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 may learn to speak earlier, and that women
can understand sorts of different information 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(性别). 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 when they are very young. A boy would try to climb a barrier
before him or push it down while a girl would ask for 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, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies
and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.
1.Which of the following is TRUE according to
Paragraph 1?
A.Grey matter
controls thinking in the brain.
B.Men’s brain is 10% less than women’s.
C.Grey matter
plays the same role as white matter.
D.Men and women
have the same amount of white matter.
2.What can you infer from Paragraphs 2 and 3?
A.Men have
weaker spatial abilities.
B.Women do not
need to tell directions.
C.Women prefer
doing many things at a time.
D.Women do many
jobs at a time better than men.
3.What can you learn from Paragraph 4?
A.Our children
needed more spatial skills.
B.Women may
have more feelings than men.
C.Young boys
may be stronger than young girls.
D.More women
take up jobs requiring speech skills.
4.The passage is mainly about _______.
A.ways of being
more intelligent
B.differences
between men and women
C.studies on
brains between two sexes
D.studies on
white matter and grey matter