Question

A blind baby is doubly handicapped. Not only is it unable to see, but because it cannot receive the visual stimulus（刺激）from its environment that a sighted child does, it is likely to be slow in intellectual development. Now the ten-month old son of Dr. and Mrs. Dennis Daughters is the subject of an unusual psychological experiment designed to prevent a lag（滯后）in the learning process. With the aid of a sonar-type electronic that he wears on his head, infant(嬰兒) Dennis is learning to identify the people and objects in the world around him by means of echoes(回聲).

The device is an improvement of the “Sonicguide”, an instrument produced by Telesensory Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif, and used by blind adults in addition to a smart or guide dog. As adapted for Dennis, it consists of a battery-powered system about the size of a half dollar that is on a headgear. A transmitter sends out an ultrasonic(超聲的) pulse that creates an 80 degree cone of sound at 6 feet. Echoes from objects within the cone are perceived (felt) as sounds that vary in pitch(音調) and volume(音量) with the size and distance of the object.

The closer an object is, the lower the pitch, and the larger the object, the louder the signal. Hard surfaces produce a sharp ping, while soft ones send back signals with a slightly fuzzy quality. An object slightly to the right of Denny’s sends back a louder sound to his right ear than to the left. Thus , by simply moving his head right and left and up and down, he can not only locate an object but also get some notion of its shape and size, thanks to the varying qualities of sounds reaching his ears as the cone of ultrasound(超聲波) passes its edges. Dennis likes to use the device to play a kind of peek-a-boo with his mother. Standing on her knee and facing her directly, he receives a strong signal in both ears. By turning his head away, he makes her seem to disappear. “From the first time he wore it,” says Mrs. Daughters, “it was like a light going on in his head.”

What remains to be determined is how well the device will help Dennis cope with his surroundings as he begins to walk and venture further into his environment.

Meanwhile, Telesensory, Inc, is working on the development of sonar(聲納) device with somewhat the same sensitivity as Dennis’s for use by school-age children.

66. Dr. and Mrs. Daughters’ research is directed to ______________.

A. helping the blind to see and learn as well as others

B. benefiting the learning process of blind children

C. solving blind children’s psychological problems

D. finding out how children develop intellectually

67. Infant Dennis becomes the subject of the experiment most probably because _____________.

A. he already lags behind the sighted children                    B. he leads a life as normal as any other children

C. he is at the early stage of the learning process        D. he has the aid of a sonar-type electronic device

68. What can we learn about infant Dennis’ device?

A. Its the first design was designed for blind adults.    B. Its battery is as small as a half-dollar coin.

C. It is functionally similar to a sane and guide dog.    D. It has been improved by Telesensory Systems, Inc.

69. In the third paragraph, “its edge” refers to ___________ .

A. the edge of an object                                B. the edge of the device

C. the boundary of Dennis’ movement                    D. the boundary of the sound pitch.

70. What is Telesensory Systems, Inc. most likely to think about infant Dennis’ device?

A. It had better be used by blind children from school age.

B. It needs improving for use in a complicated environment.

C. It may not be so suitable for the blind adults.

D. It benefits blind children in terms of learning.

Answer 1

66. 答案B。細節理解題。首段第3句末的不定式to prevent a lag in the learning process 表明了Daughters夫婦研究的目的。另外，文章一開頭就提到了本文討論的重點是針對blind baby的，由此可見，選項B為本題答案。

67. 答案C。細節理解題。首段首句提到的a blind baby，第3句提到的ten-month old和末句提到的infant等詞都表明Dennis成為研究對象是因為Daughters夫婦研究的是盲童從小的學習過程，Dennis年齡很小，正處于學習的最初階段，符合Daughters夫婦做研究的條件，因此選項C為本題答案。

68. 答案A。細節理解題。第2段首句中的improvement表明Dennis用的聲納定位儀是Sonciguide的改良版，也就是說Sonciguide是Dennis的聲納定位儀的原型，根據該句對其功能的描述可以確定選項A為本題答案。

69. 答案A。細節理解題。第3段第4句中的thanks to 表明此處解釋了Dennis的聲納定位儀的運作機制，即通過聲波描繪物體的形狀，該句中the cone指的就是該定位儀，而its edge應指周圍物體的邊緣，當聲波碰到物體的邊緣時，就能通過聲音描繪出物體的形狀了，因此本題答案應為A。

70. 答案D。細節推理題。從末段末句中的school-age children及句中的其他內容可以推斷telesensory 最可能認為Dennis的聲納定位儀有利于兒童的學習過程，因此選項D為本題答案。