题目内容
---This passage is difficult for me. Could you please explain it to me?
---I’m afraid I have to say sorry, but the book is ________ my understanding.
A. beyond B. over C. above D. off
A
We hear with our ears, right? Yes, but scientists have known for years that we also hear with our eyes. In a study published in 1976, researchers found that people combined both auditory cues(听力提示) and visual ones,like mouth and face movements, when they heard speech.
A new study that looks at a different set of sensory cues adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests such combination is natural. In a paper, Bryan Gick and Donald Derrick report that people can hear with their skin.
The researchers had volunteers listen to spoken syllables. Meanwhile, they connected the volunteers to a device that would blow a tiny puff (气流) of air onto the skin of their hands or necks. The syllables included “ba” and “pa”, which produce brief puffs from the mouth when spoken, and “da” and “ta,” which do not produce puffs. They found that when listeners heard “da” or “ta” while a puff of air was blown onto their skin, they considered the sounds as “ba” or “pa”.
Dr. Gick said the findings were similar to those from the 1976 study, in which visual cues defeated auditory ones — volunteers listened to one syllable but thought it another because they were watching a video of mouth movements corresponding to the second syllable. In his study,he said,cues from sensory receivers on the skin defeated the ears as well. “Our skin is doing the hearing for us,” he said.
Dr. Gick noted that it would normally be rare that someone actually sensed a puff of air produced by another, although people might occasionally sense their own puffs. “What’s so persuasive about this particular effect,” he added. “is that people are picking up on this information that they don’t know they are using.” That supports the idea that combining different sensory cues is natural.
Dr. Gick said the finding also suggested that other sensory cues might be at work in speech perception(知觉) — that, as he put it, “we are these fantastic perception machines that take in all the information available to us and combine it faultlessly.”
【小题1】“Da” or “ta” were considered as “ba” or “pa” when __________.
A.they were spoken quickly |
B.puffs of air were blown onto the listener’s skin |
C.they were pronounced using a special device |
D.they were made with face movements |
A.Humans combine different sensory cues through experience. |
B.Dr. Gick’s new study is more important than the one in 1976. |
C.People sometimes can sense their own puffs when speaking |
D.Only auditory and visual cues are at work in speech perception. |
A.We Can Hear with Our Skin |
B.Our Visual Cues Is Doing the Hearing for Us |
C.Facial Expressions Are Important |
D.We Are Fantastic Machines |
Nicole Delian, 17, suffers from a condition that makes her sleep up to 19 hours a day and as much as 64 days in a row. Nicole Delian is tired of sleeping.
This 17-year-old teenager from North Fayette, Pa., has a rare condition called Kleine-Levin Syndrome -- or "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" -- that makes her sleep 18 to 19 hours a day.
And when she does wake up, she is often so tired out that she is in a sleepwalking state and doesn't remember doing basic things like eating, according to KDKA-TV.
Nicole's sleepwalking state has been so severe that she once slept through the holidays, awaking one day in January when she finally opened Christmas gifts alongside her family, according to ChartiersValley.Patch.com. .
"She's never really adjusted to it," her mother, Vicki Delien told the website. "She's 17 now and it really upsets her. She's missed out on a lot."
Delien told talk show host Jeff Probst that the teen has at times slept 32 to 64 days in a row, waking only in sleepwalking mode to eat.
Kleine-Levin Syndrome is incredibly rare, only affecting about l,000 people worldwide, and very hard to diagnose.
In Nicole's' case, it took 25 months for doctors to diagnose her, according to ChartiersValley.Patch.com, and everything from a virus, to epilepsy(癫痫) to West Nile was mentioned, including, unfortunately, the possibility she was faking it for attention..
When a typical episode of Sleeping Beauty Syndrome begins, the patient becomes progressively drowsy(昏昏欲睡的) and sleeps for most of the day and night, waking only to eat or go to the bathroom, according to the Klein-Levin Syndrome Foundation website. "When awake, the patient's whole behavior is changed, often appearing “stupid" or childlike. When awake he experiences confusion, complete lack of energy, and lack of emotions."
Patients also report that everything seems out of focus, and that they are hypersensitive to noise and light. Some patients also have intense food cravings(渴望).
The Delians did not say whether Nicole has experienced these symptoms.
There is no known cure, but Nicole's family is using a combination of epilepsy and narcolepsy(发作性嗜睡病)medication to minimize the incidents to just two a year.
【小题1】What's the reflection of Nicole's sleepwalking state?
A.Being forgetful. | B.Missing Christmas. |
C.Sleeping around the clock. | D.Being exhausted and bad-tempered. |
A.is not impossible for doctors to diagnose |
B.affects approximately l,000 people all round the country |
C.is also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome which only affects females |
D.makes those suffering this condition sleep as much as 64 days in a row without eating |
A.the disease will change the patients' behavior for good |
B.the case of Nicole has been covered several times by different media |
C.the.patients of this kind are more and more sleepy when the syndrome begins |
D.the patients of this kind become too sensitive to being exposed to any noise and light |
A.was once suspected of lying about her condition |
B.has a good appetite for food because of the disease |
C.has adapted to the condition and can well cope with it |
D.will be cured of the disease by using the combined medication |