[研究生入学考试题库]考研英语(二)分类真题8.docx

[研究生入学考试题库]考研英语(二)分类真题8Reading ComprehensionPart AText 1 Could a simple memory workout make you smarter? An intriguing new study by researchers at the University of Michigan suggests it can—a finding that adds a wrinkle to the prevailing notion that IQ is largely fixed by genes. The study involved 62 elementary- and middle-school children from southeast Michigan who were randomly assigned to train on one of two video game-like computer tasks. One group performed a mental-training exercise aimed at improving working memory, the ability to hold and retrieve information in the short term. The other group practiced general knowledge and vocabulary skills. Both groups trained for one month, five times a week for 15 minutes per session. At the end of the intervention, many of the kids who had engaged in the working memory task had boosted a key attribute of their intelligence—by some five points. Specifically, they improved their performance on tests of so-called fluid intelligence, the ability to solve new problems and reason abstractly. Researchers have long debated whether fluid intelligence—considered a significant predictor of educational success—could be reliably improved by training. Fluid intelligence is thought to be independent of learning, experience or education and, therefore, mainly governed by genes. By contrast, the other component of overall intelligence, crystallized intelligence, which involves the acquisition of discrete bits of knowledge, improves with learning. The Michigan researchers found that kids had not only enhanced their fluid intelligence after training on the working-memory tasks, but that they also maintained the gains for three months after training ended. There were several limitations to the findings, however. To start, the size of children's improvements was inconsistent. It's possible that kids who saw greater gains in fluid intelligence were those who started out at lower ability levels and simply had more room to improve. Further; not every child improved. The authors suggested that students who failed to benefit from the working-memory training found the task too difficult or boring, and became frustrated and disengaged. Indeed, the training task is a chore, even when dressed up in a video game. The job of the child is to press the space bar whenever the character returns to a spot where it has previously been, and to ignore the other irrelevant locations. As the children advance in the task, these locations move further back in time, forcing them to sort through an increasing amount of information. Perhaps more importantly, it's not clear whether higher scores on tests of fluid intelligence have any real-world significance: whether they naturally translate to better grades or improvements in other abilities—or for that matter whether they predict better jobs or more life success down the line. For now, the Michigan researchers are planning to investigate whether the same training task could benefit children with deficits in working memory and attention. Lead author Susanne Jaeggi and her team are also working on an intervention that can be easily implemented in schools and other educational settings. 1. The conventional idea about intelligence is that ______A.simple memory work makes the mind less responsive to fresh thingsB.mental-training can only improve short-term memoryC.doing mental exercise does not help intelligence to growD.vocabulary exercise contributes little to general knowledge答案:C[解析] 从第一段我们了解到，传统的看法是，智商在很大程度上是基因或遗传决定的，而一项新的研究发现，做记忆训练可能使人变得更聪明。

2. Fluid intelligence is different from crystallized intelligence in that ______A.the former is a capacity independent of acquired knowledgeB.the former refers to the ability to solve abstract problemsC.the former cannot be improved even with proper trainingD.the former serves as the genetic basis for the latter答案:A[解析] 第三段提到，经过实验之后，完成工作记忆任务的那些孩子提高了其智力具体来说，在那些涉及流体智力的测验上，他们表现得更好流体智力指解决新问题的能力和进行抽象推理的能力第四段提到，流体智力一般被认为是独立于学习、经验或教育之外的，因此是遗传基因决定的而固化智力(crystallized intelligence)涉及获取不相干的知识，它是可以通过学习改进的注：工作记忆与流体智力紧密相关，它指在大脑中保存信息，并用这种信息解决复杂的推理、理解和学习任务的能力。

B：原文第三段提到的是ability to solve new problems and reason abstractly(解决新问题的能力和抽象推理的能力)，而不是解决抽象问题的能力 3. One of the shortcomings of the research lies in ______A.its uncertainty about what fluid intelligence isB.the design of the training task to be completedC.the irrelevance of the task to fluid intelligenceD.the use of computer games for real-life activities答案:B[解析] 最后两段提到了这项新研究存在的问题其中包括不同的儿童智力提高的幅度不一，有的提高幅度大，有的小有的学生提高不大，主要原因是被训练的任务太难、太单调，虽然它采用的是视觉游戏的形式这让参加实验的孩子感到沮丧，参与热情不高(disengaged)可见，游戏的设计显然对实验结果起到了不良作用。

4. What is not certain about the findings of the research is ______A.the influence of school education on themB.their relevance to real-world situationsC.their effect on memory and attentionD.the applicability of them to working memory答案:B[解析] 最后一段提到，在流体智力测验中能。