Section B: Information Matching
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Children Understand Far More About Other Minds Than Long Believed
[A] Until a few decades ago, scholars believed that young children know very little, if anything, about what others are thinking. Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who is credited with founding the scientific study of children's thinking, was convinced that preschool children cannot consider what goes on in the minds of others. The interviews and experiments he conducted with kids in the middle of the 20th century suggested that they were trapped in their subjective viewpoints, incapable of imagining what others think, feel or believe.
[B] Much of the subsequent research on early childhood thinking was highly influenced by Piaget's ideas. Scholars sought to refine his theory and empirically confirm his views. But it became increasingly clear that Piaget seemed to have gravely underestimated the intellectual powers of very young kids before they can make themselves understood by speech. Researchers began to devise ever more ingenious ways of figuring out what goes on in the minds of babies, and the resulting picture of their abilities shows subtle variations. Consequently, the old view of children's egocentric (自我中心的) nature and intellectual weaknesses has increasingly fallen out of favor and become replaced by a more generous position that sees a budding sense not only of the physical world but also of other minds' even in the youngest young.
[C] Historically, children didn't receive much respect for their mental powers. Piaget not only believed that children were 'egocentric' in the sense that they were unable to differentiate between their own viewpoint and that of others; he was also convinced that their thinking was characterized by systematic errors and confusions. When playing with others, they don't cooperate because they do not realize there are different roles and perspectives. He was convinced that children literally cannot 'get their act together': instead of playing cooperatively and truly together, they play side by side, with little regard for others. And when speaking with others, a young child supposedly cannot consider the listener's viewpoint but 'talks to himself without listening to others.'
[D] Piaget and his followers maintained that children go through something like a dark age of intellectual development before slowly and gradually becoming enlightened by reason and rationality as they reach school age. Alongside this enlightenment develops an ever growing understanding of other persons, including their attitudes and views of the world.
[E] Today, a very different picture of children's mental development emerges. Psychologists continually reveal new insights into the depth of young children's knowledge of the world, including their understanding of other minds. Recent studies suggest that even infants are sensitive to others' perspectives and beliefs.
[F] Part of the motivation to revise some of Piaget's conclusions stemmed from an ideological shift about the origin of human knowledge that occurred in the second half of the 20th century. It became increasingly unpopular to assume that a basic understanding of the world can be built entirely from experience. This was in part prompted by theorist Noam Chomsky, who argued that something as complex as the rules of grammar cannot be picked up from exposure to speech, but is supplied by an inborn language faculty. Others followed suit and defined further 'core areas' in which knowledge allegedly cannot be pieced together from experience but must be possessed at birth. One such area is our knowledge of others' minds. Some even argue that a basic knowledge of others' minds is not only possessed by human infants, but must be evolutionarily old and hence shared by our nearest living relatives, the great apes.
[G] To prove that infants know more in this realm than had been acknowledged, researchers needed to come up with innovative ways of showing it. A big part of why we now recognize so much more of kids' intellectual capacities is the development of much more sensitive research tools than Piaget had at his disposal.
[H] Instead of engaging babies in dialog or having them execute complex motor tasks, the newer methods capitalize on behaviors that have a firm place in infants' natural behavior repertoire: looking, listening, sucking, making facial expressions, gestures and simple manual actions. The idea of focusing on these 'small behaviors' is that they give kids the chance to demonstrate their knowledge implicitly and spontaneously without having to respond to questions or instructions. For example, children might look longer at an event that they did not expect to happen, or they might show facial expressions indicating that they have sympathetic concern for others. When researchers measure these less demanding, and often involuntary, behaviors, they can detect a sensitivity to others' mental states at a much younger age than with the more taxing methods that Piaget and his followers deployed.
[I] In the 1980s, these kinds of implicit measures became customary in developmental psychology. But it took a while longer before these tools were employed to measure children's grasp of the mental lives of others.
[J] In a set of experiments, my colleagues at the University of Southern California and I found evidence that babies can even anticipate how others will feel when their expectations are disappointed. We acted out several puppet (木偶) shows in front of two-year-old children. In these puppet shows, a protagonist (Cookie Monster) left his precious belongings (cookies) on stage and later returned to fetch them. What the protagonist did not know was that an antagonist had come and messed with his possessions. The children had witnessed these acts and attentively watched the protagonist return. We recorded children's facial and bodily expressions. Children bit their lips, wrinkled their nose or wiggled (扭动) in their chair when the protagonist came back, as if they anticipated the bewilderment and disappointment he was about to experience. Importantly, children showed no such reactions and remained calm when the protagonist had seen the events himself and thus knew what to expect. Our study reveals that by the tender age of two, kids not only track what others believe or expect; they can even foresee how others will feel when they discover reality.
[K] Studies like this reveal that there is much more going on in small kids' and even infants' minds than was previously believed. With the explicit measures used by Piaget and successors, these deeper layers of kids' understanding cannot be accessed. The new investigative tools demonstrate that kids know more than they can say: when we scratch beneath the surface, we find an emerging understanding of relations and perspectives that Piaget probably did not dream of.
[L] Despite these obvious advances in the study of young children's thinking, it would be a grave mistake to dismiss the careful and systematic analyses compiled by Piaget and others before the new tests dominated the scene because the original methods revealed essential facts about how children think that the new methods cannot uncover.
[M] There's no consensus in today's science community about how much we can infer from a look, a facial expression or a hand gesture. These behaviors clearly indicate a curiosity about what goes on in the mind of others, and probably a set of early intuitions coupled with a willingness to learn more. They pave the way to richer and more explicit forms of understanding of the minds of others. But they can in no way replace the child's growing ability to articulate and refine her understanding of how people behave and why.
36. Piaget believed that small children could not collaborate with others while playing.
37. The author and his colleagues' study shows two-year-old may be able to predict other people's feelings.
38. In the latter half of the last century, fewer and fewer people believed the basis for our understanding of the world is wholly empirical.
39. Research conducted by Jean Piaget in the last century suggested babies were insensitive to others' thinking.
40. Our improved understanding of babies' intellectual power is attributable to better research tools.
41. It has been found in recent research that even small babies are sensitive to other people's points of view.
42. Scientists are still debating what inference can be drawn from certain physical expressions of a child.
43. The newer research methods focus on infants' simple behaviors instead of requiring them to answer questions.
44. With the progress in psychology, the traditional view of children's self-centered nature and limited thinking abilities has become less and less influential.
45. Even though marked advances have been made, it is wrong to dismiss Piaget's fundamental contributions to the study of kids' cognitive abilities.
Answers & Explanations (答案与解析)
36. C。解析：题干意为“皮亚杰认为，小孩在玩耍时无法与他人合作。”对应 [C] 段的 “When playing with others, they don't cooperate because they do not realize there are different roles and perspectives... instead of playing cooperatively and truly together, they play side by side, with little regard for others.”（当和别人玩耍时，他们不合作，因为他们没有意识到存在不同的角色和视角……他们不是合作地、真正地在一起玩耍，而是肩并肩地玩耍，几乎不顾及他人。）collaborate 对应 cooperate。
37. J。解析：题干意为“作者及其同事的研究表明，两岁儿童可能能够预测他人的感受。”对应 [J] 段首尾：“...my colleagues at the University of Southern California and I found evidence that babies can even anticipate how others will feel... Our study reveals that by the tender age of two, kids not only track what others believe or expect; they can even foresee how others will feel...”（……我和南加州大学的同事们发现证据表明，婴儿甚至能预料到别人会有什么感受……我们的研究表明，在两岁这么小的年纪，孩子们不仅能追踪别人相信或期待什么；他们甚至能预见别人会作何感受。）predict 对应 anticipate / foresee。
38. F。解析：题干意为“在上个世纪下半叶，越来越少的人相信我们对世界的理解完全是基于经验的。”对应 [F] 段的 “...in the second half of the 20th century. It became increasingly unpopular to assume that a basic understanding of the world can be built entirely from experience.”（……在20世纪下半叶。假设对世界的基本理解完全建立在经验之上，变得越来越不受欢迎。）wholly empirical 对应 built entirely from experience，latter half of the last century 对应 second half of the 20th century，fewer and fewer people believed 对应 became increasingly unpopular to assume。
39. A。解析：题干意为“让·皮亚杰在上个世纪进行的研究表明，婴儿对他人的想法不敏感。”对应 [A] 段的 “The interviews and experiments he [Jean Piaget] conducted with kids in the middle of the 20th century suggested that they were trapped in their subjective viewpoints, incapable of imagining what others think, feel or believe.”（他[让·皮亚杰]在20世纪中叶对孩子们进行的访谈和实验表明，他们被困在自己的主观视角中，无法想象别人的想法、感觉或信仰。）insensitive to 对应 incapable of imagining。
40. G。解析：题干意为“我们对婴儿智力的进一步了解，归功于更好的研究工具。”对应 [G] 段的 “A big part of why we now recognize so much more of kids' intellectual capacities is the development of much more sensitive research tools than Piaget had at his disposal.”（我们现在之所以能如此多地认识到孩子们的智力，很大一部分原因是比皮亚杰所能使用的研究工具灵敏得多的工具的发展。）is attributable to 对应 is the development of...。
41. E。解析：题干意为“最近的研究发现，即使是小婴儿也对其他人的观点很敏感。”对应 [E] 段最后一句：“Recent studies suggest that even infants are sensitive to others' perspectives and beliefs.”（最近的研究表明，即使是婴儿也对他人的观点和信仰很敏感。）points of view 对应 perspectives。
42. M。解析：题干意为“科学家们仍在争论可以从孩子的某些身体表情中得出什么推论。”对应 [M] 段首句：“There's no consensus in today's science community about how much we can infer from a look, a facial expression or a hand gesture.”（当今科学界对于我们能从一个眼神、一个面部表情或一个手势中推断出多少东西，还没有达成共识。）debating 对应 no consensus，inference can be drawn 对应 how much we can infer。
43. H。解析：题干意为“较新的研究方法侧重于婴儿简单的行为，而不是要求他们回答问题。”对应 [H] 段首尾：“...the newer methods capitalize on behaviors that have a firm place in infants' natural behavior repertoire... The idea of focusing on these 'small behaviors' is that they give kids the chance to demonstrate their knowledge implicitly and spontaneously without having to respond to questions or instructions.”（……较新的方法利用了在婴儿自然行为库中占有稳固地位的行为……关注这些“小行为”的想法是，它们给了孩子们隐性地、自发地展示知识的机会，而不需要对问题或指示做出反应。）instead of requiring them to answer questions 对应 without having to respond to questions。
44. B。解析：题干意为“随着心理学的发展，关于儿童以自我为中心的天性以及思维能力有限的传统观点已经变得越来越没有影响力了。”对应 [B] 段的 “Consequently, the old view of children's egocentric nature and intellectual weaknesses has increasingly fallen out of favor...”（因此，认为儿童具有自我中心本性以及智力较弱的旧观点已日益失宠……）。less and less influential 对应 increasingly fallen out of favor，self-centered 对应 egocentric。
45. L。解析：题干意为“尽管已经取得了显著的进展，但是否定皮亚杰对儿童认知能力研究的根本性贡献是错误的。”对应 [L] 段：“Despite these obvious advances in the study of young children's thinking, it would be a grave mistake to dismiss the careful and systematic analyses compiled by Piaget and others...”（尽管在研究幼儿思维方面取得了这些明显的进展，但是，如果不考虑皮亚杰和其他人在新测试主导这一领域之前所汇编的仔细和系统地分析，那将是一个严重的错误……）。marked advances 对应 obvious advances，wrong to dismiss 对应 a grave mistake to dismiss。
核心搭配与高分句型
【核心搭配与高频短语】
fall out of favor：失宠，不再受欢迎，不再有影响力（has increasingly fallen out of favor）
stem from：源自于，由...引起（stemmed from an ideological shift）
at one's disposal：任某人支配/使用（tools than Piaget had at his disposal）
capitalize on：利用（the newer methods capitalize on behaviors）
pave the way to：为...铺平道路，为...创造条件（pave the way to richer and more explicit forms）
in no way：决不，绝不（But they can in no way replace...）
【亮点句型解析】
Not only... but also 倒装句型（C段）：
"Piaget not only believed that children were 'egocentric' in the sense that... he was also convinced that..."
（皮亚杰不仅认为儿童在某种意义上是“以自我为中心”的……而且他还确信……）结构严密，表达了皮亚杰对儿童能力的双重负面评价。
"Piaget not only believed that children were 'egocentric' in the sense that... he was also convinced that..."
（皮亚杰不仅认为儿童在某种意义上是“以自我为中心”的……而且他还确信……）结构严密，表达了皮亚杰对儿童能力的双重负面评价。
Without having to... 介词短语（H段）：
"...without having to respond to questions or instructions."
（……而无需对问题或指令作出回应。）`without` 引导介词短语作状语，表伴随/条件，非常简洁地说明了新实验方法的最大优势。
"...without having to respond to questions or instructions."
（……而无需对问题或指令作出回应。）`without` 引导介词短语作状语，表伴随/条件，非常简洁地说明了新实验方法的最大优势。