Question

A blind baby is doubly handicapped. Not only is it unable to see, but because it cannot receive the visual stimulus（刺激）from its environment that a sighted child does, it is likely to be slow in intellectual development. Now the ten-month old son of Dr. and Mrs. Dennis Daughters is the subject of an unusual psychological experiment designed to prevent a lag（滯后）in the learning process. With the aid of a sonar-type electronic that he wears on his head, infant(嬰兒) Dennis is learning to identify the people and objects in the world around him by means of echoes(回聲).

The device is an improvement of the “Sonicguide”, an instrument produced by Telesensory Systems,

Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif, and used by blind adults in addition to a smart or guide dog. As adapted for Dennis, it consists of a battery-powered system about the size of a half dollar that is on a headgear. A transmitter sends out an ultrasonic(超聲的) pulse that creates an 80 degree cone of sound at 6 feet. Echoes from objects within the cone are perceived (felt) as sounds that vary in pitch(音調(diào)) and volume(音量) with the size and distance of the object.

The closer an object is, the lower the pitch, and the larger the object, the louder the signal. Hard surfaces produce a sharp ping, while soft ones send back signals with a slightly fuzzy quality. An object slightly to the right of Denny’s sends back a louder sound to his right ear than to the left. Thus , by simply moving his head right and left and up and down, he can not only locate an object but also get some notion of its shape and size, thanks to the varying qualities of sounds reaching his ears as the cone of ultrasound(超聲波) passes its edges. Dennis likes to use the device to play a kind of peek-a-boo with his mother. Standing on her knee and facing her directly, he receives a strong signal in both ears. By turning his head away, he makes her seem to disappear. “From the first time he wore it,” says Mrs. Daughters, “it was like a light going on in his head.”

What remains to be determined is how well the device will help Dennis cope with his surroundings as he begins to walk and venture further into his environment.

Meanwhile, Telesensory, Inc, is working on the development of sonar(聲納) device with somewhat the same sensitivity as Dennis’s for use by school-age children.

1.Dr. and Mrs. Daughters’ research is directed to ________.

A. helping the blind to see and learn as well as others

B. benefiting the learning process of blind children

C. solving blind children’s psychological problems

D. finding out how children develop intellectually

2.Infant Dennis becomes the subject of the experiment most probably because ________.

A. he already lags behind the sighted children

B. he leads a life as normal as any other children

C. he is at the early stage of the learning process

D. he has the aid of a sonar-type electronic device

3.What can we learn about infant Dennis’ device?

A. Its first design was designed for blind adults.

B. Its battery is as small as a half-dollar coin.

C. It is functionally similar to a sane and guide dog.

D. It has been improved by Telesensory Systems, Inc.

4.In the third paragraph, “its edges” refers to ___________ .

A. the edge of an object

B. the edge of the device

C. the boundary of Dennis’ movement

D. the boundary of the sound pitch.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要介紹了一項(xiàng)針對(duì)盲童學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程的研究。

1.小題1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。首段第三句末的不定式“to prevent a lag(滯后) in the learning process”表明了Daughters夫 婦研究的目的是為了使盲童的學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程受益。另外，文章一開(kāi)頭就提到了本文討論的重點(diǎn)是針對(duì)blind baby的，由此可見(jiàn)，選項(xiàng)B為本題答案。

2.小題2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。首段首句提到的“a blind baby”，第三句提到的“ten months old”和末句提到的“infant” 等詞都表明Dennis成為研究對(duì)象是因?yàn)镈aughters夫婦 研究的是盲童從小的學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程，Dennis年齡很小，正處 于學(xué)習(xí)的最初階段，符合Daughters夫婦做研究的條件，因此選項(xiàng)C為本題答案。

3.小題3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。第二段首句中的“improvement”表 明Dennis用的聲吶定位儀是Sonicguide的改良版，也就是說(shuō)Sonicguide是Dennis的聲吶定位儀的原型，根據(jù)該句對(duì)其功能的描述The device is an improvement of the “Sonicguide”, an instrument produced by Telesensory Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif, and used by blind adults in addition to a smart or guide dog.可以確定Dennis用的聲吶定位儀原來(lái)是為盲人成年人使用的，選項(xiàng)A為本題答案。

4.小題4】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。第三段第四句中的“thanks to”表 明此處解釋了Dennis的聲吶定位儀的運(yùn)作機(jī)制，即通 過(guò)聲波描繪物體的形狀，該句中the cone指的就是該定 位儀，而its edge應(yīng)指周圍物體的邊緣，當(dāng)聲波碰到物體的邊緣時(shí)，就能通過(guò)聲音描繪出物體的形狀了，因此本題答案應(yīng)為A。

考點(diǎn)：考查科教類閱讀