六级真题2024年12月第一套 Passage One
六级真题2024年12月第一套 Passage One


①　There are hundreds of personality quizzes online that assert they can ascertain whether the right or left half of your brain is dominant. Left-brained people are suppdsedly logical and excel at language and math while right-brained people are more imaginative, emotionally intelligent and skilled with spatial reasoning. There’s just one problem: That’s not how brains work.

②　Popular science enthusiasts sort of took this idea and ran with it, and it’s become woven in popular culture now, and it’s not going away.
③　Despite this enduring belief, there’s no such thing as being “right-brained” or “left-brained”. Whether you’re someone who tends more towards creativity or logic has nothing to do with one hemisphere of your brain being dominant over the other. But the actual science of how the two halves of our brains work together is sometimes stranger than fiction.
④　The human brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left and right. In all vertebrate (脊椎的) animals, the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and vice versa. And scientists have long known, thanks to the behaviors of patients who suffered brain injuries, that different areas of the brain do different things.
⑤　But many scientists struggled with this idea, because the very suggestion that the left and right halves of the brain operate differently disrupted the idea that nature tends toward perfect symmetry.
⑥　Work by neuroscientists (神经科学家) has revealed the importance of different hemispheres of the brain for different activities. However, their research quickly saw some misinterpretations in the general public: Some presumed creative people must be right-brained and logical people left-brained. It is proven that not only is personality unrelated to the different halves of the brain, but people aren’t really right- or left-brained to begin with. The idea that we have left-dominant people and right-dominant people, and that this is related to personality, is categorically false. That’s never been supported in the neuroscience community. Neuroscientists don’t believe that and never have.
⑦　What scientists learned is that there are really important differences between the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. It’s just that they have nothing to do with personality or whether cognitive strategy is more logical or free spirited or creative. While researchers have shown the limitations of how the hemispheres of our brains influence our lives, it’s not difficult to understand the appeal of such ideas. People are endlessly fascinated by themselves and their friends, and the subtle differences in how people think about the world are really meaningful to them. When you come up with an online quiz that tells us something about ourselves, we’re drawn to that. It’s irresistible. But you have to take it with an enormous grain of salt.

1.1. What do numerous personality quizzes online claim they are able to do?

A Distinguish between the two hemispheres of one’s brain.

B Determine whether one is left-brained or right-brained.

C Tell if one is more of a linguist or of a mathematician.

D Ascertain how one’s brain performs different tasks.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。首段①②句指出网上有大量的性格测验声称能够判定人们是右脑主导型还是左脑主导型,其中左脑主导型的人逻辑思维能力强,擅长语言和数学,而右脑主导型的人更富有想象力,情商更高,且擅长空间推理。B项契合文意,Determine whether one is left-brained or right-brained 同义替换首段①句中的whether the right or left half of your brain is dominant.

2.2. What does the author say is sometimes stranger than fiction?

A How one hemisphere of the brain impacts creativity.

B How the two halves of our brains work alternately.

C How the two hemispheres of our brains cooperate.

D How one half of the brain dominates the other.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。第三段末句指出,关于我们大脑两半球如何协同工作的科学事实,有时比大众想象的更加离奇。C项是对③句 how the two halves of our brains work together 的同义改写。

3.3. Why did many scientists have difficulty endorsing the idea that different areas of the brain do different things?

A It contradicts the assumption that the two hemispheres of the brain are symmetrical.

B It dismisses the view that the universe has been evolving in a consistent manner.

C It is in conflict with the suggestion that the left and right halves of the brain work together.

D It disrupts the idea that the right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。第五段指出,科学家难以接受这一观点(大脑不同区域承担不同功能),因为它颠覆了“自然界倾向于完美对称”的观念。A项与之对应。

4.4. What belief have neuroscientists long rejected according to the passage?

A There are left-dominant people and right-dominant people with different personalities.

B There are noticeable differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

C One’s personality is hardly related to the different halves of the brain.

D Different areas of the brain are responsible for different activities.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。第六段①至③句指出,神经科学家的研究表明大脑两半球在不同活动中有重要作用,但这些差异与性格无关,且人类从一开始就没有真正的左右脑型之分。④至⑥句进一步强调,那些认为“我们有左脑主导型人和右脑主导型人之分且这与性格相关”的观点是完全错误的,神经科学家从未支持也从未相信过这一观点。综上可知,神经科学家长期反对“左脑主导型的人和右脑主导型的人性格不同”这类说法,A项是对原文we have left-dominant people and right-dominant people, and that this is related to personality 的近义替换。

5.5. What are we advised to do with an online quiz that tells us something about ourselves?

A Challenge its authority.

B Scrutinize its originality.

C Evaluate its popularity.

D Question its reliability.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。第七段⑤句提到,当遇到一个告诉我们一些关于自身信息的在线测验时,我们就会被它吸引。⑥⑦句顺而指出,这是难以抗拒的,但我们必须对此保持谨慎的态度(take...withagrain of salt 意为“对……持怀疑/谨慎态度”)。D项正确,Question its reliability 对应原文 take it with an enormous grain of salt。