阅读理解。
In meditation (冥想), people sit quietly and focus their attention on their breath. As they breathe in and
out, they attend to their feelings. As thoughts go through their minds, they let them go. Breathe. Let go.
Breathe. Let go.
According to a recent study at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. three months
of training in this kind of meditation causes a marked change in how the brain allocates (分配) attention.
It appears that the ability to let go thoughts that come into mind frees the brain to attend to more rapidly
changing things and events in the outside world. Expert mediators are better than other people at catching
such fast—changing stimuli (刺激), like facial expressions.
The study provides evidence for changes in the workings of the brain with mental training. People can
learn and improve abilities of all sorts with practice, everything from driving to playing the piano. The
study has shown that meditation is good for the brain. It appears to reduce pressure and promote a
sense of well-being.
In an experiment, 17 volunteers with no meditation experience in the experimental group spent three
months meditating 10 to 12 hours a day. A control group also with no meditation experience meditated
for 20 minutes a day over the same period. Both groups were then given the tests with two numbers in a
group of letters. As both group looked for the numbers, their brain activity was recorded.
Everyone could catch the first number. But the brain recordings showed that the less experienced
mediators tended to grasp the first number and hang onto it, so they missed the second number. Those
with more experience gave less attention to the first number, as if letting it go, which led to an increased
ability to grasp the second number. This shows that attention can change with practice.
Just ask Daniel Levision, who meditated for three months as part of the study. "I am a much better
listener," he said. "I do not get lost in my own personal reaction to what people are saying."
1. The underlined word "them" in Paragraph 1 refers to _____ .
A. feelings
B. minds
C. people
D. thoughts
2. Meditations manage their daily tasks better because they _____ .
A. are given less pressure
B. allocate their attention better
C. have more stimuli for life
D. practice them more frequently
3. In the experiment, volunteers doing meditation for longer hours _____.
A. were more likely to catch both of the members.
B. were used to memorizing numbers in groups.
C. usually ignored the first number observed.
D. paid more attention to numbers than to letters.
4. The study proves that _____ .
A. meditation improves one's health
B. brain activity can be recorded
C. human attention can be trained
D. mediators have a good sense of hearing
