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Every person yawns. While yawning is contagious (有感染力的), not everyone catches a yawn. Around 60-70% of people yawn if they see another person yawn in real life or in a photo or even read about yawning. Scientists have proposed many theories for why we catch yawns.

Catching a yawn shows you are attuned to a person’s emotions. Scientific evidence comes from a 2010 study at the University of Connecticut, which concluded yawning does not become contagious until a child is about four years old, when empathy skills develop. In the study, children with autism (孤独症), who may have impaired empathy development, caught yawns less often than their peers. A 2015 study addressed contagious yawning in adults. In this study, college students were given personality tests and asked to view video clips of faces, which included yawning. The results indicated students with lower empathy were less likely to catch yawns.

However, the link between yawning and empathy is inconclusive. In the Research at the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation, 328 healthy volunteers watched a video of people yawning and counted how many times they yawned while watching it. While most people yawned, not everyone did. Of the 328 participants, 222 yawned at least once. Repeating the video test multiple times revealed no obvious connection between empathy, time of day, or intelligence and contagious yawning, yet there was a statistical correlation between age and yawning. Older participants were less likely to yawn. However, age-related yawning only accounted for 8% of the responses.

Scientists aren’t completely certain why contagious yawning occurs. It has been linked to empathy, age, and temperature, yet the underlying reason why isn’t well understood. Not everyone catches yawns. Those who don’t may simply be young, old, or genetically related to not-yawning, not necessarily lacking empathy.

1.1.What do the underlined words “are attuned to” probably mean?

A Understand.

B Recognize.

C Observe.

D Refuse.

解析：选A。A 词义猜测题。根据第二段中划线词的后文“when empathy skills develop”当共情能力发展时，“who may have impaired empathy development, caught yawns less often than their peers”他们的共情能力可能受损，比同龄人更少打哈欠，“students with lower empathy were less likely to catch yawns”同理心较低的学生更不容易打哈欠，由此可知，打哈欠可能表明你很能共情他人的情绪，即能理解他们的情绪。故选A。

2.2.Which group had a reduced response to contagious yawning in the 2015 study?

A Students with higher empathy.

B Children with autism.

C College students with lower empathy.

D Older adults.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据第二段最后的“college students were given personality tests”“The results indicated students with lower empathy were less likely to catch yawns.”可知，2015年的研究表明，同理心较低的大学生更不容易打哈欠。故选C。

3.3.What is NOT mentioned about the Duke Center’s research?

A Data collection methods.

B Test procedures.

C Analysis of age connection.

D Repeating the test.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“volunteers watched a video of people yawning and counted how many times they yawned while watching it.”显示了Test procedures.；“Repeating the video test multiple times”显示了Repeating the test；“there was a statistical correlation between age and yawning. Older participants were less likely to yawn.”显示了Analysis of age connection。并未提及A项“数据收集方法”。故选A。

4.4.What’s the limitation of the Duke Center’s research?

A It was based on other researchers’ studies.

B It used an oldfashioned research method.

C It did research only on dozens of participants.

D It might fail to suit people of all ages.

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据第三段最后的“However, age-related yawning only accounted for 8% of the responses.”可知，该研究与年龄有关的哈欠只占8%。由此可知，只有一小部分回应与年龄有关，这意味着研究结果可能不能广泛推广到所有年龄段或所有人群。故选D。