Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(癡呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones(荷爾蒙) , U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s (早老癡呆癥). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.
“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy (懷孕) are protecting the brain, including estrogen (雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective (保護(hù)神經(jīng)的) effects,” Kinsley said.  
“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”
Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.
“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.
“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations(改變) to the brain.”
小題1:How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?
A．Some researchers have told them.
B．Many women say so.
C．They know it by experimenting on rats.
D．They know it through their own experience.
小題2:What does the phrase “l(fā)itters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?
A．Baby rats.B．Animals.C．Old rats.D．Grown-up rats.
小題3:What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?
A．Estrogen.B．The hormones of pregnancy.
C．More exercise.D．Taking care of children.
小題4:“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals.” What does the sentence suggest?
A．The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans.
B．The experiments on the rats are very important for animals.
C．The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans.
D．The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals.

小題1:C
小題2:A
小題3:B
小題4:C 

試題分析：本文介紹了科學(xué)家通過做實驗得出這個結(jié)論：母性特點能使婦女變得更加聰明靈敏。主要因為懷孕期間產(chǎn)生的荷爾蒙洗滌了大腦。
小題1:細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)Tests on rats show…可知科學(xué)家是通過做老鼠實驗得出這個結(jié)論的。選C。
小題2:詞義猜測題。后面的對比who have no babies，實際上提供了一個相反的情況，所以我們可以推測those who raise two or more litters of pups中的litters of pups指的是“剛出生不久的小老鼠”。選A。
小題3:細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第 3 段中的…the hormones of pregnancy(懷孕) are protecting the brain可得出答案選B。
小題4:句意理解題�？茖W(xué)家通過用老鼠做實驗來說明人的問題。因為人和老鼠都屬于哺乳動物，很多生理機(jī)能都相同。選C。
點評：科普類短文會有一些專業(yè)術(shù)語，但并不影響做題，在解答這類問題時要求學(xué)生抓住題干文字信息，采用針對性方法進(jìn)行閱讀，答案在文章中可以直接找到。
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小題14:
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Other polar bears could survive beyond that date but many of those could be gone by 2100, Amstrup said. By this century’s end, the only polar bears left might live in the Canadian Arctic islands and along the west coast of Greenland.
“It is likely to result in loss of approximately two-thirds of the world’s current polar bear population by the mid 21st century,” the report’s executive summary said.
“Because the observed trajectory(軌跡)of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models, this assessment of future polar bear status may be conservative(保守的).”
In January, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the polar bear as a threatened species, noting polar bears depend on sea ice as a platform to hunt seals, their main food.
Without enough sea ice, polar bears would be forced onto land, but they are poor hunters once they get out of the water and ice, the researchers said. The bears’ disappearance would probably take place as young cubs(幼獸)failed to survive to adulthood and females were unable to reproduce successfully.
小題1:What was the US Geological Survey intended to do?
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B．To measure how fast the sea ice melts in the Arctic.
C．To check the predictions of the computer models.
D．To find out the exact number of the polar bear.
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C．Fewer food sources being left.D．The temperature getting colder.
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A．help young polar bears to survive the cold winter
B．have large number of seals living in the oceans
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