【题目】 You are walking alone down the street. Suddenly, you hear footsteps. Is someone following you? How do you know the footsteps are someone else’s and not your own?
You can tell because your brain has the ability to ignore certain sounds, according to a study from New York University. Because of this, we often ignore our own footsteps. But we may easily hear others’ footsteps.
Scientists tested this on mice. They found that when mice became familiar with the sound of their own footsteps, they developed a “sensory filter (感觉过滤器)”, according to David Schneider, one of the lead authors of the study. This allowed the mice to ignore the sounds of their own footsteps. They could more easily notice the sounds of their environment.
“For mice, this is really important,” Schneider told Science Daily. “They need to listen for a cat getting close to them, even when they’re walking and making noise.”
Our brains don’t just ignore our footsteps. We also ignore some other sounds that we make ourselves, including the sound of eating, breathing heavily and typing on a keyboard. Being able to ignore these unimportant noises lets us focus on more important and dangerous ones. For example, we are quick to notice the sound of a baby crying. So we can rush to make sure they are okay and keep them alive. The same idea applies to humans screaming. When we hear this sound, we can quickly go to help the screaming person.
【1】What help(s) mice ignore the sounds of their own footsteps?
A. The environment.B. Their sensory filters.
C. Cats’ footsteps.D. A study from New York.
【2】What do human brains normally fail to notice?
A. Others’ footsteps.B. Human’s screaming.
C. a baby crying.D. Self-made sounds.
【3】How does ignoring some sounds benefit humans?
A. More important things can be focused on.
B. People can stay calm in face of danger.
C. It’s easy to stay healthy and strong.
D. People tend to do dangerous things.
【4】What can we learn from the text?
A. More studies on human brains are needed.
B. Mice are very helpful in human brain studies.
C. Ignoring certain sounds helps mice survive.
D. Screaming and crying are unimportant noises.
在线课程【答案】
【1】B
【2】D
【3】A
【4】C
【解析】
这是一篇说明文。根据纽约大学的一项研究，你可以分辨出来，因为你的大脑有能力忽略某些声音。人类大脑通常不会注意到自己发出的声音，而忽略这些不重要的噪音让人类们专注于更重要和危险的噪音。
【1】细节理解题。根据第三段中They found that when mice became familiar with the sound of their own footsteps, they developed a “sensory filter”, according to David Schneider, one of the lead authors of the study. This allowed the mice to ignore the sounds of their own footsteps.（该研究的主要作者之一大卫施耐德说，他们发现，当老鼠熟悉了自己的脚步声时，它们就形成了一种“感官过滤器”。这使得老鼠可以忽略自己的脚步声。）可知感官过滤器帮助老鼠忽略自己的脚步声。故选B。
【2】细节理解题。根据最后一段第二句We also ignore some other sounds that we make ourselves, including the sound of eating, breathing heavily and typing on a keyboard.（我们也会忽略一些我们自己发出的声音，包括吃饭的声音、沉重的呼吸声和敲击键盘的声音。）可知人类大脑通常不会注意到自己发出的声音。故选D。
【3】细节理解题。根据最后一段中Being able to ignore these unimportant noises lets us focus on more important and dangerous ones.（能够忽略这些不重要的噪音让我们专注于更重要和危险的噪音。）可知忽略一些声音可以让人类对更重要的事情集中精力。故选A。
【4】细节理解题。根据第四段“For mice, this is really important,” Schneider told Science Daily. “They need to listen for a cat getting close to them, even when they’re walking and making noise.”（“对老鼠来说，这真的很重要，”施耐德告诉《科学日报》。“他们需要听到猫靠近他们的声音，即使是在他们走路和制造噪音的时候。”）可知忽略某些声音可以帮助老鼠存活。故选C。