[問題] 戴爾美語練功坊 雅思閱讀測驗試題6/20
戴爾美語練功坊 雅思閱讀測驗試題(6/20日)
Right and Left-handedness in Humans
Why do humans, virtually alone among all animal species, display
a distinct left or right handedness? Not even our closest relatives among
the apes possess such decided lateral asymmetry, as psychologists call it.
Yet about 90 percent of every human population that has ever lived
appears to have been right-handed. Professor Bryan Turner at Deakin
University has studied the research literature on left-handedness and
found that handedness goes with sidedness. So nine out of ten people
are right-handed and eight are right-footed. He noted that this
distinctive asymmetry in the human population is itself systematic.
"Humans think in categories: black and white, up and down, left and
right. It's a system of signs that enables us to categorize phenomena
that are essentially ambiguous."
Research has shown that there is genetic or inherited element to
handedness. But while left-handedness tends to run in families, neither
left nor right handers will automatically produce off-spring with the
same handedness; in fact about 6 percent of children with two
right-handed parents will be left-handed. However, among two
left-handed parents, perhaps 40 percent of the children will also be
left-handed. With one right and one left-handed parent, 15 to 20
percent of the offspring will be lefthanded. Even among identical twins
who have exactly the same genes, one in six pairs will differ in their
handedness.
What then makes people left-handed if it is not simply genetic?
Other factors must be at work and researchers have turned to the brain
for clues. In the 1860s the French surgeon and anthropologist, Dr. Paul
Broca, made the conspicuous finding that patients who had lost their
powers of speech as a result of a stroke (a blood clot in the brain) had
paralysis of the right half of their body. He noted that since the left
hemisphere of the brain controls the right half of the body, and vice
versa, the brain damage must have been in the brain's left hemisphere.
Psychologists now believe that among right handed people, probably
95 percent have their language centre in the left hemisphere, while 5
per cent have right-sided language. Left-handers, however, do not show
the reverse pattern but instead a majority also have their language in the
left hemisphere. Some 30 percent have right hemisphere language.
Dr. Brinkman, a brain researcher at the Australian National University
in Canberra, has suggested that evolution of speech went with
right-handed preference. According to Brinkman, as the brain evolved,
one side became specialized for fine control of movement (necessary
for producing speech) and along with this evolution came righthand
preference. According to Brinkman, most left-handers have left
hemisphere dominance but also some capacity in the right hemisphere.
She has observed that if a left-handed person is brain-damaged in the
left hemisphere, the recovery of speech is quite often better and this is
explained by the fact that left-handers have a more bilateral speech
function. In her studies of macaque monkeys, Brinkman has noticed that
primates (monkeys) seem to learn a hand preference from their mother
in the first year of life but this could be one hand or the other. In humans,
however, the specialisation in function of the two hemispheres results
in anatomical differences; areas that are involved with the production
of speech are usually larger on the left side than on the right. Since
monkeys have not acquired the art of speech, one would not expect
to see such a variation but Brinkman claims to have discovered a trend
in monkeys towards the asymmetry that is evident in the human brain.
Two American researchers, Geschwind and Galaburda, studied the
brains of human embryos and discovered that the left-right asymmetry
exists before birth. But as the brain develops, a number of things can
affect it. Every brain is initially female in its organisation and it only
becomes a male brain when the male fetus begins to secrete hormones.
Geschwind and Galaburda knew that different parts of the brain mature
at different rates; the right hemisphere develops first, then the left.
Moreover, a girl's brain develops somewhat faster than that of a boy.
So, if something happens to the brain's development during pregnancy,
it is more likely to be affected in a male and the hemisphere more likely
to be involved is the left. The brain may become less lateralized and this
in turn could result in left-handedness and the development of certain
superior skills that have their origins in the left hemisphere such as logic,
rationality and abstraction. It should be no surprise then that among
mathematicians and architects, left-handers tend to be more common
and there are more left-handed males than females.
The results of this research may be some consolation to left-handers
who have for centuries lived in a world designed to suit right-handed
people. However, what is alarming, according to Mr. Charles Moore, a
writer and journalist, is the way the word 'right' reinforces its own virtue.
Subliminally he says, language tells people to think that anything on the
right can be trusted while anything on the left is dangerous or even
sinister. We speak of left-handed compliments and according to Moore,
" it is no coincidence that left-hand, often develop a stammer as they are
robbed of their freedom of speech." However, as more research is
undertaken on the causes of left handedness, attitudes towards
left-handed people are gradually changing for the better. Indeed when
the champion tennis player Ivan Lendl was asked what the single thing
improve his game, he said he would like to become a left-hander.
Questions 1-7
Use the information in the text to match the people (listed A-E ) with
the opinions ( listed 1-7 ) below. Write the appropriate letter ( A-E ) in
boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet. Some people match more than one
opinion.
A Dr. Broca
B Dr. Brinkman
C Geschwind and Galaburda
D Charles Moore
E Professor Turner
Example
Monkeys do not show a species specific preference for left or
right-handedness.
Answer
B
1. Human beings started to show a preference for right-handedness
when they first developed language.
2. Society is prejudiced against left-handed people.
3. Boys are more likely to be left-handed.
4. After a stroke, left-handed people recover their speech more quickly
than right-handed people.
5. People who suffer strokes on the left side of the brain usually lose
their power of speech.
6. The two sides of the brain develop different functions before birth.
7. Asymmetry is a common feature of the human body.
Question 8-10
Using the information in the passage, complete the table below.
Write your answer in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.
Percentage of children left-handed
One parent left-handed & One parent right-handed ......(8).....
Both parents left-handed ......(9)......
Both parents right-handed ......(10)......
Answers:
1. B --- Dr. Brinkman, a brain researcher at the Australian National
University in Canberra, has suggested that evolution of speech went
with right-handed preference.
2. D --- However, what is alarming, according to Mr. Charles Moore,
a writer and journalist, is the way the word 'right' reinforces its own
virtue. Subliminally he says, language tells people to think that anything
on the right can be trusted while anything on the left is dangerous or
even sinister.
3. C --- Geschwind and Galaburda knew that different parts of the
brain mature at different rates; the right hemisphere develops first,
then the left. Moreover, a girl's brain develops somewhat faster than
that of a boy. It should be no surprise then that among mathematicians
and architects, left-handers tend to be more common and there are
more left-handed males than females.
4. B --- According to Brinkman, most left-handers have left hemisphere
dominance but also some capacity in the right hemisphere. She has
observed that if a left-handed person is brain-damaged in the left
hemisphere, the recovery of speech is quite often better and this is
explained by the fact that left-handers have a more bilateral speech
function.
5. A --- In the 1860s the French surgeon and anthropologist, Dr. Paul
Broca, made the conspicuous finding that patients who had lost their
powers of speech as a result of a stroke (a blood clot in the brain) had
paralysis of the right half of their body.
6. C ---Two American researchers, Geschwind and Galaburda, studied
the brains of human embryos and discovered that the left-right
asymmetry exists before birth.
7. E --- Professor Bryan Turner at Deakin University has studied the
research literature on left-handedness and found that handedness goes
with sidedness.
8. 15-20%
9. 40 %
10. 6%
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