Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.
Kristy Vanmarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（婴儿）are able to quantify substances（物质）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.
With the assistance of her team researchers, Vanmarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.
“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” Vanmarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”
“This information further refutes（驳斥）the long-held idea that babies know nothing of the world,” Vanmarle said.
“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” Vanmarle said.
In the future, Vanmarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.
小题1: The quantifying ability refers to the ability to .
A．choose between different substances
B．describe the quantity of something
C．get much knowledge of the world
D．obtain math-related skills小题2: What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 4?
A．The process of doing research.
B．The final choice of infants.
C．The scientific findings.
D．The observation of infants’ behavior.小题3: Babies choose the larger amount of food .
A．through their natural abilities
B．with the help of parents
C．on personal preference
D．by saying numbers小题4:We can learn from the text that .
A．some parents don’t care about their kids
B．scholars disagree on baby-training programs
C．little research has been done on infants
D．people used to think the world is known to babies小题5:What’s the best title of the text?
A．Unique Quantifying Methods
B．Amazing Baby-training Ideas
C．Early Human Abilities
D．Breakthrough in Baby Studies
小题1:B
小题1:C
小题1:A
小题1:B
小题1:D
新的研究发现婴儿具有很强的数量概念他们几乎总是本能地选择数量较多的物体尤其在食物方面这种突破性科学发现有力地驳斥了长期以来认为婴儿对世界一无所知的观点。
小题1:B推理判断题。由文章内容可知婴儿几乎总是挑选数量多的物体由此可推断这种能力指的是区分物体数量的能力。
小题1:C段落大意题。第四段介绍的是耗时15年的几个研究的科学发现故选C项。
小题1:A推理判断题。文章倒数第二段提到婴儿具有认知世界的一些基本知识.由此可推断他们选择数量比较多的食物是本能的体现。
小题1:B细节理解题。根据最后一段后半部分中的内容可知学者们就婴儿培训计划存在分歧。
小题1:D标题概括题。新的研究发现婴儿具有数量意识从而驳斥了长期以来认为他们对世界一无所知的观点显然是婴儿研究方面的突破。
