托福听力荟萃 43

In our lab today, we'll be testing the ______ that babied can count as early as five months of age. The six babies here are all less than six months old. You'll be watching them on closed-circuit TV and measuring their responses.

The experiment is based on the well-established ______that babies stare longer if they don't see what they expect to see. First, we're going to let two dolls move slowly in front of the babies. The babies will see the two dolls disappear behind a ______.Your job is to record, in seconds, how long the babies stare at the dolls when the screen is removed.

In the next stage, two dolls will again move in front of the babies and disappear. But then a third doll will follow. When the screen is removed, the babies will only see two dolls. If we're right, the babies will now ______ longer because they expect three dolls but only see two.

It seems _______to think that such young children can count. My own research has convinced¹ me that they have this ability from birth. But whether they do or not, perhaps we should raise another question --- should we take advantage of this ability by teaching² children mathematics at such a young age? They have great untapped potential, but is it good for parents to pressure young children?

 

 

【填空答案】

1.hypothesis³ n. 假设

2.observation n. 观察；监视；观察报告

3.screen n. 屏，幕；屏风

4.stare vt. 凝视，盯着看

5.remarkable⁴ adj. 卓越的；非凡的；值得注意的

【听力原文】

In our lab today, we'll be testing the hypothesis that babied can count as early as five months of age. The six babies here are all less than six months old. You'll be watching them on closed-circuit TV and measuring their responses.

The experiment is based on the well-established observation that babies stare longer if they don't see what they expect to see. First, we're going to let two dolls move slowly in front of the babies. The babies will see the two dolls disappear behind a screen. Your job is to record, in seconds, how long the babies stare at the dolls when the screen is removed.

In the next stage, two dolls will again move in front of the babies and disappear. But then a third doll will follow. When the screen is removed, the babies will only see two dolls. If we're right, the babies will now stare longer because they expect three dolls but only see two.

It seems remarkable to think that such young children can count. My own research has convinced me that they have this ability from birth. But whether they do or not, perhaps we should raise another question --- should we take advantage of this ability by teaching children mathematics at such a young age? They have great untapped potential, but is it good for parents to pressure young children?

【参考译文】

今天在我们的实验室，我们将测试的假设，即babied可以指望为早5个月的年龄。这里的六个婴儿都少于6个月的历史。你会看闭路电视和测量他们的反应。

实验的基础上行之有效的观察，婴儿凝视更长的时间，如果他们没有看到他们希望看到什么。首先，我们打算让两个娃娃在婴儿面前缓缓移动。婴儿会看到两个娃娃背后的屏幕上消失。你的任务是记录，在几秒钟内，多久的婴儿娃娃盯着屏幕时被删除。

在下一阶段，两个娃娃将再次在婴儿面前移动和消失。但是，然后第三个娃娃将随之而来。当屏幕被删除，婴儿只会看到两个娃娃。如果我们是正确的，现在盯着婴儿更长的时间，因为他们预计3娃娃，但只看到两个。

显着的似乎认为，这些年轻的孩子们可以指望。我自己的研究使我确信，他们有这个能力从出生。但是，他们是否做或没有，也许我们应该提出另一个问题---我们应采取这种能力，在这样一个年轻的年龄教孩子数学的优势？他们拥有巨大的尚未开发的潜力，但它是良好的父母施压幼童的吗？

1 convinced   

adj.确信的；深信的；有坚定信仰的v.使确信(convince的过去分词)；说服

参考例句：

• I am convinced of her innocence. 我坚信她是清白无辜的。
• I'm convinced there's a jinx on this car. 我看这辆汽车是灾星。

2 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

3 hypothesis   

n.假说，假设，(无根据的)猜测，揣测

参考例句：

• We have proved the hypothesis.我们已经证明了这种假设。
• The results confirmed his hypothesis on the use of modal verbs.结果证实了他的关于情态动词用法的假设。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。