《2025年新坐标名题汇高中英语必修第二册外研版》

D
Babies blink and cry—and a few weeks into their lives, they might smile. But do these movements mean that newborns have conscious (有意识的) experiences of understanding the world around them?
Based on recent studies valuing babies’ brain activities and eye movements, the case for consciousness in newborns is increasingly strong. “We still don’t have a final answer, but new evidence has contributed to an increasing agreement that consciousness starts early, in comparison with other theories that claim we need more cognitive (认知的) development for babies to become conscious,” says Ferreira, professor of biology at the NYU School.
This new evidence for consciousness relies on methods that creatively value brain activity in newborns. Babies can’t respond to directions and sleep quite a bit, making their minds difficult to study. Ferreira’s new article discusses the new ways that scientists value whether babies are conscious: measuring brainwave responses to unexpected sounds, using imaging to value the brain’s networks, and tracking eye movements such as blinks to see how babies react to different stimuli (刺激).
Knowing when and how consciousness arises is really important for parents’ relationships with babies. Parents usually already believe that their babies are conscious creatures and can experience suffering and pleasure. They try to make their babies comfortable and make sure that they have a better environment for their development. If we have a better understanding about babies’ conscious minds, we may be able to better the way we relate to babies.
This may also be useful for baby care. Until quite recently, people thought that babies needed more brain development to be able to feel pain. Now we know that even though the baby brain is still developing, the feeling of pain seems to already be there.
12. How did Ferreira get the new evidence?
A. By measuring babies’ brain activity.
B. By searching for related experience.
C. By collecting unknown sounds.
D. By comparing different pictures.
13. What is the challenge of studying consciousness in babies?
A. Behaviour observation is unreliable.
B. Babies can’t follow researchers’ directions.
C. Babies’ sleep state is completely different.
D. Valuing the brain’s networks is not scientific.
14. What does the underlined word “This” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. Tracking brains’ networks.
B. The ways of stimulating eyes.
C. Understanding how and when consciousness appears.
D. Parents’ previous belief on taking care of kids.
15. What does the author imply in the last two paragraphs?
A. Our knowledge of baby consciousness needs improvement.
B. The development of brain causes the feeling of pain.
C. A comfortable environment cannot be ignored.
D. The quality of present baby care is of low level.

答案： 12.A 13.B 14.C 15.A