Grown-ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if

Grown-ups know that people and objects aresolid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all wewill feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?

To see whether babies know objects are solid,T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion (视觉影像) of a hanging ball. His plan was to firstgive babies a real ball, one they could reach out and touch, and then to showthem the illusion. If they knew that objects are solid and they reached out forthe illusion and found empty air, they could be expected to show surprise intheir faces and movements. All the-16-to-24-week-old babies tested weresurprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was notthere.

Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence.We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still bethere when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under achair does not disappear and go to never-never land?

Experiments done by Bower suggest that babiesdevelop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In hisexperiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen.  When 16-week-old and 22-week-old babieswatched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they lookedto the right, expecting it to reappear. If the experimenter took the train offthe table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see thetrain. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence.But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case.The researcher substituted(替换)a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babiesseemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the16-week -old babies did not seem to notice the switch (更换). Thus, the 16-week-old babies seemed tohave a sense of “something permanence”, while the 22-week-old babies had asense of object permanence related to a particular object.

1. The passage is mainly about ________.

A.babies' sense of sight

B.effects of experiments on babies

C.babies' understanding of objects

D.different tests on babies' feelings

2. In Paragraph 3, “object permanence” means that when out of sight, anobject _______.

A. stillexists

B. keepsits shape

C. stillstays solid

D. isbeyond reach

3. What did Bower use in his experiments?

A. Achair.

B. Ascreen.

C. Afilm.

D. A box.

4. Which of the following statements is true?

A. Thebabies didn't have a sense of direction.

B. Theolder babies preferred toy trains to balls.

C. Theyounger babies liked looking for missing objects.

D. Thebabies couldn't tell a ball from its optical illusion.

试题答案

答案：C;A;B;D