高考阅读理解中纯实证研究类文章的考点探究

罗丽雯

純实证研究类的文章在近三年的考题中出现了两篇。事实上，我们就读大学后进行研究时，免不了需要参考外文文献。因此了解此类文章的结构特点，对我们的高考或未来的深造都有所帮助。下面我们先来看看这两篇文章的相似考点。

一、高考真题

2019年全国Ⅲ卷D篇

Monkeys seem to have a way with numbers.

A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 clearly different symbols consisting of numbers and selective letters with 0-25 drops of water or juice as a reward. The researchers then tested how the monkeys combined—or added—the symbols to get the reward.

Heres how Harvard Medical School scientist Margaret Livingstone， who led the team， described the experiment： In their cages the monkeys were provided with touch screens. On one part of the screen， a symbol would appear， and on the other side two symbols inside a circle were shown. For example， the number 7 would flash on one side of the screen and the other end would have 9 and 8. If the monkeys touched the left side of the screen they would be rewarded with seven drops of water or juice; if they went for the circle， they would be rewarded with the sum of the numbers—17 in this example.

After running hundreds of tests， the researchers noted that the monkeys would go for the higher values more than half the time， indicating that they were performing a calculation， not just memorizing the value of each combination.

When the team examined the results of the experiment more closely， they noticed that the monkeys tended to underestimate（低估）a sum compared with a single symbol when the two were close in value—sometimes choosing， for example， a 13 over the sum of 8 and 6. The underestimation was systematic： When adding two numbers， the monkeys always paid attention to the larger of the two， and then added only a fraction（小部分）of the smaller number to it.

“This indicates that there is a certain way quantity is represented in their brains，”Dr. Livingstone says.“But in this experiment what theyre doing is paying more attention to the big number than the little one.”

32. What did the researchers do to the monkeys before testing them？

A. They fed them. B. They named them.

C. They trained them. D. They measured them.

33. How did the monkeys get their reward in the experiment？

A. By drawing a circle. B. By touching a screen.

C. By watching videos. D. By mixing two drinks.

34. What did Livingstones team find about the monkeys？

A. They could perform basic addition.

B. They could understand simple words.

C. They could memorize numbers easily.

D. They could hold their attention for long.

35. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear？

A. Entertainment.   B. Health.   C. Education.   D. Science.

2020年全國Ⅱ卷B篇

Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child， but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.

Psychologist Susan Levine， an expert on mathematics development in young children the University of Chicago， found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition（认知）after controlling for differences in parentsincome， education and the amount of parent talk， Levine said.

The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.

“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not， on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate（旋转）and translate shapes，”Levine said in a statement.

The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would， and about half of children in the study played with puzzles at one time. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently， and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However， boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls， and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.

The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.

24. In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play？

A. Building confidence.   B. Developing spatial skills.

C. Learning self-control. D. Gaining high-tech knowledge.

25. What did Levine take into consideration when designing her experiment？

A. Parentsage.  B. Childrens imagination.

C. Parentseducation. D. Child-parent relationship.

26. How do boy differ from girls in puzzle play？

A. They play with puzzles more often.

B. They tend to talk less during the game.

C. They prefer to use more spatial language.

D. They are likely to play with tougher puzzles.

27. What is the text mainly about？

A. A mathematical method. B. A scientific study.

C. A woman psychologist D. A teaching program.

二、考点分析

第一篇是研究猴子是否能进行计算，第二篇则是研究拼图对孩童成长的影响。两篇阅读都考查了研究前的准备工作。第一篇是第32题，研究者在进行测试前先要做什么，根据第二段最后两句“A team of researchers trained three Rhesus monkeys ... The researchers then tested...”可知，选C项。第二篇第25题问研究者在设计实验时考虑了什么因素。由第二段的最后一句“Puzzle play was found to be ... after controlling for differences in parentss income， education and the amount of parent talk”可知选C项。

第一篇34题考查实验结果，由第四段最后一句的“indicating that they were performing a calculation”可知选A项，猴子可以进行简单的计算。第二篇的第24题，孩童从玩拼图中可以获得什么好处，根据第一段最后一句，第二段第一句“found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills”可知选B项。

考查细节的差别在于，第一篇文章的第33题考查考生对实验方法的理解，即实验过程中猴子如何得到奖励。根据第三段的内容可知选B项。而第二篇的第26题则考查了男孩与女孩在实验过程中的差异性，由最后一段的“However， boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls”可知选D项。虽然这两题的考查方向有所差异，但实质都是考查学生对实验过程的把握。

此外，第一篇的第35题考查文章出处，问“这篇文章可能会出现在报纸的哪个部分”，显然是D项正确，“娱乐”“健康”“教育”与本文无关。第二篇的第27题，考查文章的主旨要义，显然选B项，这是一项科学研究。“一种数学方法”“一位妇女心里学家”“一个教學项目”均与本文无关。

三、语篇结构

实证类研究报告的语篇结构一般为：研究目的、研究对象、研究过程和研究结果。研究过程一般要将研究对象进行分组实验，通过组别间的差异验证预想是否正确。在这个过程中会涉及研究对象的某些背景条件，比如年龄、性别、收入、受教育程度等，看这些条件是否会对研究结果有所影响。

让我们来梳理一下这两篇文章的结构，开篇都是介绍“预想或实验目的”：第一篇Monkeys seem to have a way with numbers;第二篇but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills。第二段则是对实验团队、实验前的准备做了介绍。第三段至结尾则是介绍实验方法、过程和实验结论等。实验前准备、实验过程、研究结论或结果、分组实验的差异，都是高考考查的重点。

责任编辑 蒋小青