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

Grown-ups know that people andobjects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch TomCruise, all we will feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?

    To see whetherbabies know objects are solid. T. Bower designed a method for projecting anoptical illusion (视觉影像) of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball,one they could be expected to show surprised in their faces and movements. Allthe 16 to 24-week-old babies tested were surprised when they reached for theillusion and found that the ball was not there.

Grown-ups also have a sense of objectpermanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, thebox will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ballthat rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?

Experiments done by Bower suggestthat babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeksold. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When16-week-old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind theleft side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to re-appear.If the experiment took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all thebabies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all thebabies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experimentshowed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted (替换) a ball for the trainwhen it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised andlooked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week-old babies did notseem to notice the switch (更换). Thus, the 16-week-oldbabies seemed to have a sense of “somethingpermanence,” while the 22-week-old babies hada sense of object permanence related to a particular object.

1.The passage is mainly about         .

A. babies’sense ofsight                   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. still exists          B.keeps its shape    C. still stays solid      D.is beyond reach

3.What did Bower use in his experiments?

A. Achair             B.A screen         C. Afilm             D.A box

4.Which of the following statements is true?

A. The babies didn’t have a sense of direction.

B. The older babies preferred toytrains to balls.

C. The younger babies likedlooking for missing objects

D.The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its opticalillusion.

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.B

4.D

【解析】

1.本题考查主旨大意的把握能力.

2.略

3.第二段和第四段中所述的Bower的两个实验中都用到了screen.

4.说明他们事先不能区分一个真正的球和它的影像。