Reading Comprehension
(40 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one wordfor each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read thepassage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank isidentified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in thebank more than once.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are "male" and "female" brains,believing that explains just about every difference between the sexes. A new study26that belief,questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.
In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers27for sex differences throughout the entirehuman brain.
And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for28brains as "male" or"female," research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in themiddle.
Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based29, many different types of brain can't always be distinguished by gender.
While the "average" male and "average" female brains were30different, you couldn't tell itby looking at individual brain scans. Only a small31of people had "all-male" or "all-female"characteristics.
Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist ( 神经科学家), said the study is an important addition toa growing body of research questioning32beliefs about gender and brain function. But hecautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same,33of gender.
"There's a mountain of evidence34the importance of sex influences at all levels of brainfunction," he told The Seattle Times.
If anything, he said, the study35that gender plays a very important role in the brain--" evenwhen we are not clear exactly how. "
A.abnormal
B.applied
C.briefly
D.categorizing
E.challenges
F.figure
G.percentage
H.proving
I.regardless
J.searched
K.similarities
L.slightly
M.suggests
N. tastes
0.traditional