Question

I have been consistently opposed to feeding a baby regularly. As a doctor, mother and scientist in child development I believe there is nothing to recommend it, from the baby’s point of view.

Mothers, doctors and nurse alike have no idea of where a baby’s blood sugar level lies. All we know is that a low level is harmful to brain development and makes a baby easily annoyed. In this state, the baby is difficult to calm down and sleep is impossible. The baby asks for attention by crying and searching for food with its mouth.

It is not just unkind but also dangerous to say a four-hourly feeding schedule will make a baby satisfied. The first of the experts to advocate a strict clock-watching schedule was Dr Frederic Truby King who was against feeding in the night. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous. Baby feeding shouldn’t follow a timetable set by the mum. What is important is feeding a baby in the best way, though it may cause some inconvenience in the first few weeks.

Well, at last we have copper-bottomed research that supports demand feeding and points out the weaknesses of strictly timed feeding. The research finds out that babies who are fed on demand do better at school at age 5, 7, 11 and 14, than babies fed according to the clock. By the age of 8, their IQ （智商）scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable. This research comes from Oxford and Essex University using a sample （樣本）of 10,419 children born in the early 1990s,taking account of parental education, family income, a child’s sex and age, the mother’s health and feeling style. These results don’t surprise me. Feeling according to schedule runs the risk of harming the rapidly growing brain by taking no account of sinking blood sugar levels.

I hope this research will put an end to advocating strictly timed baby feeling practices.

1.According to Paragraph 2, one reason why a baby cries is that it feels______.

A．sick

B．upset

C．sleepy

D．hungry

2.What does the author think about Dr King?

A．He is strict

B．He is unkind

C．He has the wrong idea

D．He sets a timetable for mothers

3.The word copper-bottomed in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________.

A．basic

B．reliable

C．surprising

D．interesting

4.What does the research tell us about feeling a baby on demand?

A．The baby will sleep well

B．The baby will have its brain harmed

C．The baby will have a low blood sugar level

D．The baby will grow to be wiser by the age of 8

5.The author supports feeling the baby_______.

A．in the night

B．every four hours

C．whenever it wants food

D．according to its blood sugar level

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.D

5.C

【解析】本文是典型的議論文，論點：是“反對定期喂養嬰兒”；論據：1.我們不知道嬰兒的血糖的情況2.定期喂養的危害 3.實驗表明，按需喂養較定期喂養的孩子更聰明；結論：希望結束定期喂養的習慣。

1.細節理解題。由第二段最后一句 “The baby asks for attention by crying and searching for food with its mouth”可知。其中searching for food 和hungry 是同義重現。ABC項在文中沒有提及，屬于無中生有。

2.推理判斷題。由第三段第三句I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous （荒謬可笑的）以及本文最后一句可知。ridiculous 和wrong idea屬于同義重現。

3.詞義猜測題。由第四段及第五段的實驗結果的具體描述可知。另外，也可以代入ABCD四個選項的意思，A為基本的，B為可靠的，C為令人驚訝的，D為有趣的，只有B最合適。

4.細節理解題。由第四段第三句 “By the age of 8, their IQ（智商）scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable”可知。IQ 高和 wiser 屬于同義重現。

5.細節理解題。由本文的第一句（I have been consistently opposed to feeding a baby regularly）就提出觀點，“反對定期喂嬰兒”，最后一句（I hope this research will put an end to advocating strictly timed baby feeding practices）希望結束主張嚴格按時喂養的習慣。既然“不定期”，也就是按嬰兒需要喂養，故選C。另外，也可以根據“The research finds out that babies who are fed on demand do better at school at age 5, 7, 11 and 14, than babies fed according to the clock. By the age of 8, their IQ （智商）scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable.”句中的on demand和whenever it wants food 是同義重現。