Question

Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior.

One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harvard University in the United States and the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden did the study.

They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The game is based on the tension (緊張氣氛) between the interests (利益) of an individual and a group. The students played in groups of four. Each player could win points for the group, so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players, at a cost to the punisher.

Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded it the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded it the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings were. The group with the most punishment earned twenty-five percent less than the group with the least punishment. The study appeared last month in the journal Science.

The other study involved children. It was presented last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse. Researchers used intelligence tests given to two groups. More than eight hundred children aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children aged five to nine.

The two groups were retested four years later, and the study compared the results with the first test. Both groups contained children whose parents used physical punishment and children whose parents did not. The study says the IQs--or intelligence quotients--of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were. In the older group, the difference was almost three points.

Murray Strauss from the University of New Hampshire worked with Mallie Paschall from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Professor Strauss has written extensively about physical punishment of children. He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development. He also looked at average IQs in other nations and found them lower where spanking was more common.

1.Which could be the best title of the passage?

A. Punishment

B. The Best Way to Influence Behavior.

C. Punishment or Reward: Which Works Better on Behavior?

D. Two Recent Studies.

2.The underlined word “spanked” probably means______.

A. won B. punished C. tested D. praised

3.According to the passage, the researchers may agree the best way to influence behavior is______.

A. rewarding good behavior

B. correcting bad behavior

C. punishing badly-behaved children

D. praising well-behaved children

4.The author develops the passage______.

A. in order of time

B. in order of importance

C. by describing his experiences

D. by using quotations and statistics

Answer 1

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.D

【解析】

試題分析：文章主要介紹了兩項研究的過程和研究成果。近期的兩項研究顯示，懲罰不是影響行為的最好方法。其中一項研究顯示，成年人在一個基于獎勵的機制中更具合作性。另一項研究表明，懲罰不利于孩子心智的發展。

1.One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards.”和第六段“of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were”可知，研究表明，獎勵能夠促進合作，懲罰不利于孩子的心智發展，故選C。

2.who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were”可知，被父母體罰的孩子，他們的智商比沒有受到體罰的孩子的低5分，根據最后一段“He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.”可知，孩子受到的懲罰越多，他們的心智發展得越慢，說明劃線詞是“懲罰”的意思，故選B。

3.of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were”和最后一段“the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development”可知，懲罰不利于孩子的身心發展，排除C；根據第二段“adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards”和第六段“five points higher than those who were”可知，獎勵能夠促進合作，而懲罰不利于孩子心智的發展，只有A項與獎勵有關，故選A。

4.They had about two hundred college students play...”和第四段“David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation...”與第五段“More than eight hundred children aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children aged five to nine.”及第六段“The study says the IQs--or intelligence quotients--of the younger children...”和第七段“He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.”可知，作者引用了研究人員說的話，還使用了具體的數據，故選D。

考點：科學類短文閱讀