Question

They may be small, and unable to have an adult conversation, but babies are proving their collective cleverness.

While your baby still might not be able to speak, he or she knows about you’re feeling down. Babies as young as 5 months of age can distinguish an exciting tune from a sad one, according to a study published in 2014 in the journal Neuron.

Speaking of music, it seems that babies can’t resist it. Not only are their ears sensitive to the beats, babies can actually dance in time to them, according to a study published in 2010. To test their dancing ability, the researchers played recordings of classical music and speech to them, and videotaped the results. The babies moved their arms, hands, legs, feet, and heads much more in response to the music than to speech. The findings suggest this dancing ability is innate(天生的) in humans.

Babies can apparently learn even while asleep. As newborn babies spend most of their time sleeping, this newfound ability might be crucial(至关重要的) for them to adapt rapidly to the world around them, and help ensure survival, the researchers say. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Deciding whether another person is helpful or harmful is crucial in choosing friends — and that ability starts being visible early. Kiley Hamlin of Yale University showed both 6– and 10–month–olds some anthropomorphized(人格化的) shapes, in which one shape helped another climb a hill, while a third shaped pushed the climber down. The little ones then got to choose which shape they preferred. For both age groups, most babies chose the helper shapes. This character–judging ability could be the first step in the formation of morals, Hamlin says.

1.What does the third paragraph mainly say?

A. Babies are born to dance.

B. Babies prefer classical music.

C. Babies love listening to music.

D. Babies can tell different tunes apart.

2.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Babies can understand emotions.

B. Babies value friendship very much.

C. It’s hard for babies to adapt to the world around them.

D. Babies show no reaction to speech.

3.Kiley Hamlin found that babies ________.

A. love to make friends

B. learn nothing while asleep

C. can tell right from wrong

D. like watching anthropomorphized shows

Answer 1