Having a child may improve a woman’s memory, a new study suggests.
In the study, women who were new mothers scored better on tests of visuospatial memory – the ability to understand and remember information about their surroundings—compared with women who didn’t have children.
The findings contradicts the old belief that women develop“baby brain" or a decline in memory and cognitive(认知的) function, after they have kids, said study researcher Melissa Santiago, a doctoral student at Carlos Albizu University in Miami. “You don’t have to feel that because you have kids, your memory isn’t the same," Santiago said.
The study was small, and the findings will have to be tested in larger groups of people, Santiago said.
Previous studies on the topic have had mixed results—some showed motherhood hurts cognition, and others showed the opposite. Studies on rats show those with pups have better memory than those without offspring.
Santiago analyzed information from 35 first-time mothers whose children were ages 10 to 24 months, and 35 women who had never been pregnant. Both groups scored similarly on intelligence tests. The average age of mothers was 29 and the average age of never-pregnant women was 27.
To test visuospatial memory, the women were shown a paper containing six symbols for 10 seconds, and then asked to draw what they remembered. This task was repeated several times. The first time women were shown the paper, both groups remembered about the same amount. But on the second and third pass, mothers performed better than those without children, indicating that the mothers collected more information each time than the other women.
Later, the women were shown a variety of different symbols, and asked to remember which ones were presented on the earlier task. Mothers did not make a mistake in this task—they remembered every symbol correctly—but those without children made one or two errors, Santiago said. How did Santiago lead to the findings?
| A．By observation. |
B．By comparison. |
| C．By analyzing intelligence tests. |
D．By asking women questions. |
By saying “The study was small", what did Santiago mean?
| A．The study received little attention. |
| B．The study has just started. |
| C．The study was carried out among a small group of people. |
| D．A small group of researchers were involved in the study. |
Which of the following was discussed in the text?
| A．Ways to test visuospatial memory. |
| B．Why having kids improves memory. |
| C．How young mothers are different from never-pregnant women. |
| D．The negative effects that worries of women without children have. |
It can be inferred that Santiago believe the findings of the study_________.
| A．may cause a heated discussion among parents |
| B．may cause an increase in the birth rate |
| C．are tested by previous similar studies |
| D．are encouraging news for mothers |
Severely disabled people may soon be able to use their noses to write, drive a wheelchair or surf the Internet, thanks to a device (装置) developed by doctors in Israel.
The device will be used by breathing in and out through the nose, according to a study. Healthy people who tested the device quickly learned to play computer games and write sentences by sniffing. Encouraged by the results, the researchers decided to test their device on people who are paralyzed (瘫痪) but whose intelligence remains normal. Ten paralyzed who tested the device quickly learned to use their noses to write words, open a webpage, copy words and put them into a search engine.
With their success in helping severely disabled people to communicate * the researchers decided to make use of the new technology to design an electric wheelchair to be driven by sniffs.
Ten healthy people easily mastered sniff—driving a wheelchair through a maze (迷宫), and a 30-year-old man who had been paralyzed from the neck down for six years was as good a sniff-driver as the healthy participants at his second attempt. In other words, a paralyzed person could use the sniff controller to drive an electric wheelchair.
At the moment, sniff-controlled technology is still in the stage of development, and the Weizmann Institute has already applied for a patent on the device. "Ill be very happy if it can help us to make money, but the real problem is that I hope someone will develop it, because this would help a lot of people," said Sobel, one of the lead researchers of the study.What’s the purpose of the passage?
| A．To introduce a new invention. |
| B．To equip the disabled with life skills. |
| C．To show the nose's special functions. |
| D．To instruct doctors to apply for a patent. |
In the test, the paralyzed people with normal intelligence can use their nose to ______.
| A．type long sentences quickly |
| B．play computer games easily |
| C．enter a website without much difficulty |
| D．communicate with others successfully |
With the help of the sniffing device, a 30-year-old disabled man ______.
| A．spent six years learning how to drive a wheelchair |
| B．failed to drive through the maze at his first attempt |
| C．took the wheelchair controlled by healthy participants |
| D．managed to drive an electric wheelchair by sniffing |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that the sniff-controlled technology ______.
| A．will be applied to other fields of research |
| B．needs further developing to serve more people |
| C．has become an important patented invention |
| D．shows the wisdom and talents of Israel doctors |
Dogs Don't Tell Jokes - By Louis Sachar Twelve-year-old Gary Boone knows he was born to be a comedian. He never stops joking, regardless of the fact that nobody laughs much and his classmates think he is stupid. Therefore he had no real friends at school. Due to being laughed at by his classmates, Gary Boone thought winning the school talent show would be his dream of proving himself to be a real comedian, but on the big night his dream went wrong with funny results. |
Winners Never Quit - By Mia Hamm Mia Hamm, American soccer champion, tells a true-to-life inspiring story of learning that winning and losing aren't as important as being part of a team. More than anyone, soccer superstar Mia Hamm knows the value of teamwork. She shares this lesson, paired with energetic pictures by Carol Thompson, and this story is perfect for soccer kids and their soccer moms. |
Shack let on s Incredible Voyage - By Alfred Lansing The astonishing adventure of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's survival for over a year on the ice-bound Antarctic seas, as Time t magazine put it, "defined heroism". To write the authoritative story, Lansing consulted with ten of the surviving members and gained access to diaries and personal accounts by eight others. The book has a first-hand account, expanded with maps and illustrations especially for this edition. |
The Alchemist - By Paulo Coelho The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, continues to change the lives of its readers forever. It tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andulusian shepherd-boy (牧童) who desires to travel in search of treasure. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts and above all, following our dreams. |
Why did Gary Boone want to win the school talent show?
| A．To develop his comedy skills. |
| B．To please his classmates. |
| C．To make more friends. |
| D．To realize his dream. |
From Shackletoris Incredible Voyage, we know the main character ______.
| A．is a writer for Time magazine |
| B．is a survival of one polar exploration |
| C．has left a lot of diaries and accounts |
| D．has formed a close friendship with Alfred Lansing |
If you want to know more about teamwork, you can read ______.
| A．Dogs Don't Tell Jokes |
| B．Shackletoris Incredible Voyage |
| C．Winners Never Quit |
| D．The Alchemist |
What do we know about The Alchemist?
| A．It has an everlasting influence on its readers. |
| B．It gives people magical power over their dreams. |
| C．It tells a story of how to find treasures. |
| D．It is mainly about the wisdom of listening to others. |
How do you know if your home is an easy aim for thefts ? Around the holidays, many families don't consider taking proper measures to prevent their homes from suffering holiday thefts. With just a few simple steps, you can better make sure of the safety of your home during all of the holiday celebrations. Here are a few tips for making it difficult to tell you are away from home.
● Either have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers, or tell your mailperson to hold your mail until you return. Nothing says "Hey, we are not home!" like when your postbox is filled with all kinds of mails and you have many different newspapers in your driveway.
● Set several different lights in your house on random timers (随机定时器). Don't leave your outdoor lights on all the time. Instead, put your outside lights on timers to be on during the nights. If an outdoor light remains on for days at a time, it means that nobody is home to turn it off.
● If you have pets that you are not taking with you on vacation, leave them with a friend, rather than having someone come into your house every day to take care of them. When thefts see a neighbor or friend entering your house every day, they will know you are not home.
● Close all your curtains when you leave town. This is effective to deter possible thefts, as no one can see what is in your house. If they don't know what there is to take, then the risk is even greater for them to break in.
● This article just has suggested a few tips to help you keep your house safe while you are on holiday. Nothing can truly protect your home unless you have it monitored by a professional home security system.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．to tell you to have your neighbor go to your house to take care of your pet. |
| B．to let the outdoor lights on all the time. |
| C．to tell us many families suffering from the thefts while they are on holiday. |
| D．to tell us how to prevent the thefts around the holidays. |
Most of the tips mentioned in the text seem to _____.
| A．be very popular with families |
| B．have no effect on preventing thefts |
| C．give a false impression on thefts |
| D．be a little hard to be brought into effect |
The underlined word "deter" probably means "_____".
| A．discover | B．discourage | C．surprise | D．attract |
Elizabeth Freeman was born about 1742 to African American parents who were slaves. At the age of six months she was acquired, along with her sister, by John Ashley, a wealthy Massachusetts slaveholders. She became known as Mumbet or Mum Bett.
For nearly 30 years Mumbet served the Ashley family. One day, Ashleys wife tried to strike Mumbets sister with a spade. Mumbet protected her sister and took the blow instead. Furious(狂怒的), she left the house and refused to come back. When the Ashleys tried to make her return, Mumbet consulted a lawyer, Theodore Sedgewick. With his help, Mumbet sued(起诉) for her freedom.
While serving the Ashleys, Mumbet had listened to many discussions of the new Massachusetts constitution. If the constitution said that all people were free and equal, then she thought it should apply to her. Eventually, Mumbet won her freedom---- the first slave in Massachusetts to do so under the new constitution.
Strangely enough, after the trial, the Ashleys asked Mumbet to come back and work for them as a paid employee. She declined and instead went to work for Segdewick. Mumbet died in 1829, but her legacy lived on in her many descendants(后裔). One of her great-grandchildren was W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the founder of the NAACP, and an important writer and spokesperson for African American civil rights.
Mumbets tombstone still stands in the Massachusetts cemetery where she was buried. It reads, in part: She was born a slave and remained a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years. She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal.What do we know about Mumbet according to Paragraph 1?
| A．She was born a slave |
| B．She was a slaveholder |
| C．She had a famous sister |
| D．She was born into a rich family |
What did Mumbet learn from discussions about the new consititution?
| A．She should always obey her owners’ orders |
| B．How to apply for a job |
| C．How to be a good servant |
| D．She should be as free and equal as whites |
What did Mumbet do after the trial?
| A．She chose to work for a lawyer |
| B．She found the NAACP |
| C．She continued to serve the Ashleys |
| D．She went to live with her grandchildren |
What is the test mainly about?
| A．A story of a famous writer and spokesperson |
| B．The friendship between a lawyer and a slave |
| C．A trial that shocked the whole world |
| D．The life of a brave African American woman |
When I was 13, my bedroom walls were covered with posters of the Monkees and Beatles. I wrote fan letters and daydreamed about meeting the objects of my affections. I begged my parents to attend every rock concert and watch every TV show featuring my favorite celebrities (名人) ; my friends and I discussed for hours all the things we would say and do when we met our favorite movie stars and pop singers. I drove my mother crazy! But after a few years, my obsession (迷恋) stars faded as I matured and gained the confidence to socialize with "real" boys.
In the 35 years since I was a teenager, celebrity worship (崇拜) has increased among teens due to the explosion of television celebrity gossip shows, and instant access to celebrity news on the Internet. It's no wonder that many teens are obsessed with stars when news programs often are filled with entertainment stories and the lives of celebrities.
Celebrity worship syndrome (综合征) is now considered a personality disorder. While it is normal for teenagers to follow the lives of their favorite stars, parents should try to monitor everything their child finds interesting. Parents should take action if they suspect a teen is too obsessed with celebrities and showing little interest in school or withdrawing from the family. When teens talk a lot about celebrities and view them as just means of entertainment, this is considered normal celebrity worship. However, when a teenager is obsessed with a star and often expresses a desire to have a close personal relationship with a celebrity or feels they have a special connection to a star, this may be the time for concern.
Recent studies have shown that teens who develop an unhealthy obsession with celebrities often suffer from low self confidence and depression. Teens who are overly obsessed with stars often have damaged relationships with their parents.We learn from the second paragraph that ____.
| A．teens today are not so obsessed with celebrities |
| B．the author is surprised at celebrity worship |
| C．the media greatly contributes to celebrity worship today |
| D．celebrities expose their lives too much |
Parents should become concerned when their children ____.
| A．talk a lot about celebrities with others |
| B．put up celebrity posters in their bedrooms |
| C．ask to go to their favorite star's concert |
| D．desire a close personal relationship with their favorite star |
The last paragraph implies that ____.
| A．parents should not care too much about a child's celebrity worship |
| B．children can normally get out of celebrity worship when they are older |
| C．children with celebrity worship usually have high opinion of themselves |
| D．celebrity worship syndrome can be a serious problem if left overlooked |
What is most likely to be talked about in the paragraph following the passage?
| A．The harm of celebrity worship syndrome. |
| B．What to do with children's celebrity worship syndrome. |
| C．More signs of celebrity worship syndrome. |
| D．Who will suffer most from celebrity worship syndrome. |