(福州一中月考)
There is a popular saying in the English language：“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that is not true. Unkind words, namecalling or even the socalled “the silent treatment” can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so.
A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents. The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.
The images showed that the people who reported suffering verbal abuse from peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain. The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.
The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period have the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of people had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.
The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatry's website.
Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children.
文章介绍了语言暴力对孩子的不良影响。
1．Why does the author use the popular saying at the beginning?
A．To show the power of words.
B．To introduce an opposite view.
C．To prove the author's argument.
D．To show ancient people's wisdom.
答案：B
解析：作者意图题。引用名人名言、谚语等是文章开篇的常见写作方式，且大多用来引出文章的话题。但是根据此谚语后面的“Well, that is not true. Unkind words, namecalling or even the socalled ‘the silent treatment’ can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so”可知，本文引用这个谚语恰恰是为了引出一个不同的或者说是相反的观点，故选B。
2．What did the subjects of the study have in common?
A．They were hurt by unkind words.
B．They performed poorly in imaging tests.
C．They had their brain slightly damaged.
D．They experienced no physical abuse at home.
答案：D
解析：细节理解题。根据第二段中的“These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents”可知，这些实验对象都没有遭受过父母的残酷或暴力对待，也就是说，他们在家里都没受到过身体上的虐待。故选D。
3．What will be discussed in the next paragraph?
A．Comments on the findings.
B．Approaches to further studies.
C．Suggestions to parents.
D．Different opinions on the matter.
答案：C
解析：推理判断题。根据文章最后一段“Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children”可知，作者接下来应该会就“父母如何帮助自己的孩子为可能遭受的语言暴力做好准备，使他们不会受到语言暴力的影响”给出一些方法或建议。故选C。
4．What is the main idea of the passage?
A．The way we speak matters.
B．Verbal violence should be stopped.
C．Unkind words hurt the brain.
D．Words are worse than sticks and stones.
答案：C
解析：主旨大意题。文章介绍了语言暴力对孩子的不良影响，再根据第二段中的“verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm development in the brain”可以看出，其影响主要体现在孩子的大脑发育方面。故选C。
