With large and small keyboards everywhere, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That’s a big problem. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development — helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and create ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to give up handwriting? Have a look at the link between the brain and penmanship, and you may get the answer.
A test among students in grades 2, 4 and 6 found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard, but also created more ideas when composing essays with handwriting. And other research shows that the finger movements required to write by hand activate brain areas involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice writing letters by hand while a second group just looked at those letters. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (核磁共振)that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them the same letters. Researchers found that the brain activity in the first group was far more advanced and “adult-like”.
Handwriting also affects other people’s way they think of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting. These studies have also found that people judge the quality of a person’s ideas based on his or her handwriting. And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, all essay that is considered hard to recognize gets a big zero.
Studies show that this isn’t only an English-language phenomenon. Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from “character amnesia”. They can’t remember how to write characters, thanks to computers and text messaging. Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that China’s reading ability as a nation could suffer.
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What does the Indiana University study imply?

A．Children should practice writing letters

B．Handwriting can increase brain activity

C．It’s good for children to enter a functional MRI.

D．Letters should often be shown to children

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What does the 4th paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Handwriting affects both adults and children.

B．Handwriting helps a person write better essays.

C．SAT should be done with good handwriting.

D．Good handwriting makes a person seem smarter.

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Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Essays written with keyboards will get lower scores.

B．The quality of your ideas depends on your handwriting.

C．Chinese and Japanese youths don’t know how to write.

D．Less handwriting may affect China’s reading ability.

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The passage tries to tell us that __________________.

A．keyboards are more popular than handwriting

B．we shouldn’t judge people by their handwriting

C．handwriting is of great importance

D．it’s time to give up using keyboards

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