常春藤解析英語 47 My Brilliant Brain　神奇大腦

My Brilliant Brain　神奇大腦

by Kevin Lustig

Geniuses amaze us, impress us, and make us all a little jealous. How do they differ from the average person? Scientists are working hard to figure out that answer. Tune in to the National Geographic Channel to find out about the discoveries they're making in the series My Brilliant Brain.

When Marc Yu was only two years old, he began to play the piano. After a year, he started learning pieces by Beethoven. Now he's a world-renowned concert pianist at age eight. He learns newer and more difficult pieces with ease and can identify any note he hears. He seems to be specially designed for music. In Born Genius, National Geographic looks at the science behind child prodigies to explain why some children seem to be born without limits.

Genius didn't come naturally to Tommy McHugh. His came only after he nearly died from bleeding in his brain. After recovering, McHugh's head was filled with new thoughts and pictures. So, he began to express them in the form of poetry and art. Now, he's a seemingly unstoppable creative machine. Sufferers of autism and brain injury have shown that great mental ability can sometimes come from damage or disease. Accidental Genius explores this puzzling relationship.

Can normal people be trained to be geniuses? Susan Polger has shown no signs of extraordinary intelligence. Yet, during her childhood, she studied thousands of chess patterns and learned to recognize them immediately. As a result, she was able to beat skilled adult players by age 10 and can now play up to five games at the same time without even seeing the boards. Make Me a Genius examines what it takes to turn an ordinary brain into that of a genius.

If becoming a genius were easy, we'd all be one. Yet, there is much more to super intelligence than simply being born lucky. Learn more about amazing brains this month on National Geographic's My Brilliant Brain.

1. What is the main idea of the article?

(A) There's no such thing as a true genius.

(B) People can only be born as geniuses.

(C) Scientists completely understand the brain.

(D) There are many factors in being a genius.

2. An example of a child prodigy is _____.

(A) a person who can do complex math at a young age

(B) a kid who works really hard to do well in school

(C) a student who practices an instrument a lot

(D) a child who is eager to learn new things

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the article?

(A) People are usually smarter when they recover from brain injury.

(B) New things about the brain are still being discovered.

(C) Some people naturally have more active brains.

(D) People without natural abilities can learn to do things very well.

4. What would be the best way to describe Susan Polger's special abilities?

(A) Native.

(B) Standard.

(C) Developed.

(D) Restricted.

單字小鋪

1. brilliant a. 聰明的

2. impress vt. 使印象深刻

3. world-renowned a. 世界知名的

4. born a. 天生的

5. prodigy n. 天才(尤指神童)

child prodigy　　神童

6. bleeding n. 出血

7. poetry a. 詩(集合名詞，不可數(shù))

poem n. 詩(可數(shù)名詞)

8. unstoppable a. 停不下來的，止不住的

9. autism n. 自閉癥

10. extraordinary a. 不尋常的;非凡的

11. chess n. 西洋棋

12. recognize vt. 認出，辨識出

13. skilled a. 技巧專精的

be skilled in/at...　　專精于……

14. board n. 棋盤

15. factor n. 因素

16. complex a. 復雜的

17. native a. 天生的;本土的

native intelligence 　　天生的才智

詞組小鋪

1. tune in to...　　轉(zhuǎn)到……(電視、電臺頻道)

2. with ease　　輕松地，容易地

3. die from...　　死于……(外傷等其它因素)

die of...　　死于……(疾病、饑餓、衰老等)

4. turn A into B　　將 A 變成 B

5. recover from...　　從……復原

精解字詞詞組

1.jealous　　a. 嫉妒的

be jealous of...　　嫉妒……

= be envious of...

例:Aging stars are often jealous of their younger co-stars.

(年華老去的明星通常會嫉妒同臺演出的年輕演員。)

2.differ from...　　和……不同

= be different from...

例:Monique's personality differs from her twin sister's.

(莫妮可的個性和她的雙胞胎姊妹迥異。)

3.make discoveries/a discovery　　發(fā)現(xiàn)

例:Scientists are now making discoveries they hope will someday cure cancer.

(科學家希望現(xiàn)在的發(fā)現(xiàn)有朝一日能治愈癌癥。)

4.identify　　vt. 辨識;確定

例:Can you identify the problem, doctor?

(醫(yī)生，你能確定是什么毛病嗎?)

5.be designed for...　　為……而設計

be designed to V　　被設計來……

例:This new aircraft is specially designed for space travel.

(這架新的飛行器是專為太空旅行而設計的。)

例:The chair was designed for overactive children.

(這種椅子是為過動兒而設計的。)

例:The knife is designed to carve wood.

(這把刀是設計來雕刻木頭的。)

6.without limits　　無限制地

within limits　　在限度內(nèi)，有限度的

例:I can help you, but within limits.

(我可以幫助你，不過是有限度的。)

7.be filled with...　　充滿著……

= be full of...

例:Henry was filled with compassion for the earthquake victims.

(亨利對地震災民滿懷同情。)

8.in the form of...　　以……的形式

= in the shape of...

例:The director tried to present this fable in the form of a cartoon.

(該導演試圖以卡通的方式來呈現(xiàn)這個寓言。)

9.seemingly　　adv. 看來;似乎

例:It was a seemingly innocent comment, but for some reason it upset me.

(那些話似乎沒有惡意，但不知為何卻使我不高興。)

10.puzzling　　a. 令人困惑的

puzzled a. 感到困惑的

puzzle vt. 使困惑

be puzzled about...　　對……感到困惑

= be confused about...

例:My friend told me a riddle that was extremely puzzling.

(我的朋友跟我說了一個極度令人困惑的謎題。)

例:Police are puzzled about how the thief avoided the security cameras.

(警方很納悶小偷如何避開監(jiān)視攝影機。)

11.show no signs of...　　沒有顯露……的跡象

例:The poker players showed no signs of emotions about their cards.

(那些撲克牌玩家對自己拿到的牌沒有露出任何情緒。)

12.examine　　vt. 檢查，審查

= go over...

例:I examined Peter's plan five times and could find nothing wrong with it.

(我把彼得的計劃審查了五遍，找不出有任何不對的地方。)

13.be eager to V　　渴望(做)……

例:Jeremy is eager to start working at his new job.

(杰若米渴望開始他的新工作。)

14.restrict　　vt. 限制;禁止

restrict sb from...　　限制∕禁止某人(做)……

例:The hospital staff restricts visitors from entering patients' rooms without permission.

(醫(yī)院的工作人員禁止訪客未經(jīng)允許進入病房。)

中文翻譯&標準答案

天才讓我們驚艷，讓我們印象深刻，讓我們有點嫉妒。他們和一般人有何不同呢?科學家正努力找出答案。鎖定國家地理頻道的《神奇大腦》，看看他們有什么新發(fā)現(xiàn)。

余馬克兩歲就開始彈鋼琴。一年之后，他開始學習貝多芬的曲子。八歲的他現(xiàn)在是世界知名的鋼琴家。他能輕易學會更新、更難的樂曲，也可以辨識出任何他聽到的音符。他似乎是為音樂而生。在 Born Genius 中，國家地理頻道將瞧一瞧神童背后的科學現(xiàn)象，并解釋為何有些孩子天生就不可限量。

Tommy McHugh 不是天生的天才。他的天賦異秉在經(jīng)歷腦出血而幾乎進了鬼門關后才出現(xiàn)。復原后，McHugh 的腦子里充斥著各種新奇的想法和畫面。因此，他開始以詩和藝術的形式來表達這些東西?，F(xiàn)在他宛如一部停不下來的創(chuàng)意機器。自閉癥和腦部創(chuàng)傷的患者顯示出巨大的精神能力有時來自于創(chuàng)傷或疾病。Accidental Genius 將探索這令人費解的關聯(lián)性。

一般人可以被訓練成天才嗎?Susan Polger 一點都沒有天才的跡象。不過她從小研習數(shù)千盤西洋棋局，并學會立即辨識出這些棋局。結果，她十歲的時候就能打敗棋藝精湛的成年棋士，甚至還能不看棋盤同時下五盤棋。Make Me a Genius 將檢視要將一般平庸的腦子變成天才的腦袋需要什么條件。

如果成為天才很容易，我們都可以變成天才。然而，聰明絕頂除了好運之外，應該還有更多其它原因。這個月在國家地理頻道的《神奇大腦》中一起探索更多了不起的大腦。

1.本文主旨為何?

(A) 沒有真正的天才這回事。

(B) 只有天生的天才。

(C) 科學家完全了解大腦。

(D) 成為天才的因素很多。

題解:根據(jù)本文第二、三、四段，分別舉出天生的、疾病康復后和后天訓練的天才，可知成為天才的因素有很多，故選 (D)。

2.天才兒童的例子之一是 _____。

(A) 年紀輕輕就能算出復雜數(shù)學題的人

(B) 很用功以求在學校表現(xiàn)杰出的孩子

(C) 經(jīng)常練習一種樂器的學生

(D) 渴望學習新事物的孩子

題解:根據(jù)第二段的例子，天才兒童是指一個人年幼時就有某方面的天賦異秉，選項中只有 (A) 符合這個范疇，故選之。

3.根據(jù)本文，下列敘述何者為非?

(A) 腦部受創(chuàng)的人復原后通常比較聰明。

(B) 關于腦部的新知仍持續(xù)發(fā)掘中。

(C) 有些人的腦子天生比較活躍。

(D) 沒有天賦的人可以靠學習把事情做好。

題解:根據(jù)本文第三段，腦部受創(chuàng)傷的患者有時會顯出巨大的精神能力，但這并非常態(tài)，而其它選項在本文其它段落均提及，故 (A) 為錯誤敘述。

4.下列何者最能描述 Susan Polger 的特別能力?

(A) 天生的。

(B) 標準的。

(C) 培養(yǎng)的。

(D) 限制的。

題解:根據(jù)本文第四段，Susan Polger 從小研習數(shù)千盤西洋棋局，并學會立即辨識出棋局。結果，她十歲時就能打敗棋藝精湛的成年棋士，由此可知，她是透過訓練和學習得到這項技能，故應選 (C)。

標準答案: 1. (D)　2. (A)　3. (A)　4. (C)