2016年6月英语六级考试冲刺模拟题及答案(三)

　　To investigate the link, Kosuke Narita of Gunma University, Japan, scanned the brains of 50 people in their 20s and asked them to fill out a survey about their relationship with their parents during their first 16 years. The researchers used a survey called the Parental Bonding Instrument, an internationally recognized way of measuring children’s relationships with their parents. It asks participants to rate their parents on statements like “Did not want me to grow up”, “tried to control everything I did” and “tried to make me feel dependent on her / him”. Narita’s team found that those with overprotective parents had less grey matter in a particular area of the prefrontal cortex than those who had healthy relationships. Neglect from fathers, though not mothers, also correlated with less grey matter. This part of the prefrontal cortex develops during childhood, and abnormalities there are common in people with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Narita and his team propose that the excessive release of the stress hormone cortisol (皮质醇) — due either to neglect, or to too much attention — and reduced production of dopamine as a result of poor parenting leads to stunted grey matter growth.

　　Anthony Harris, director of the Clinical Disorders Unit at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia, says the study is important for highlighting to the wider community that parenting styles can have long-term effects on children. But he adds that such brain differences are not always permanent. “Many individuals show great resilience (弹性),” he says. Stephen Wood, who studies adolescent development at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre in Australia, says the brain abnormalities cannot necessarily be blamed on children’s relationship with their parents. He points out that the subjects studied may have been born with the abnormalities and as a result didn’t bond well with their parents, rather than vice versa. Wood also takes issue with the study team’s decision to exclude individuals with low socioeconomic status and uneducated parents — two factors known to contribute to poor performance in cognitive tests. “The effect they found may be real, but why worry about parenting if there are other factors that are so much larger?” he says.

　　47. It is believed that children with overprotective or neglectful parents are _____________________.

　　48. The researchers from Gunma University of Japan used a survey — the Parental Bonding Instrument — to measure _____________________.

　　49. Narita’s team found that children whose parents are overprotective or neglectful had _____________________ in part of the prefrontal cortex.

　　50. Stephen Wood from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre in Australia says that children’s relationship with their parents cannot necessarily be blamed for _____________________.

　　51. Stephen Wood believes that if there are other factors that are so much larger, it is no need worrying about _____________________.

　　Section B

　　Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

　　The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than ￡70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy, triggering the most severe financial crisis since the 1920s.