She’s not afraid of anything. Snakes? No problem. Walking alone in the dark? Easy. We’re not talking about a superhero here -- SM is a 44-year-old mother. And she’s fearless because she happens to be missing part of her brain: the amygdala(扁桃腺).
Shaped like a pair of almonds sitting in the middle of your brain, the amygdala helps control fear and anxiety. A rare condition called Urbach-Wiethe disease left SM without her amygdala, and seems to have pletely erased her sense of fear.
To try to understand how the amygdala works, a team of researchers made their efforts to scare SM. They showed her horror movies and took her to the Waverly Hills Sanatorium Haunted House in Kentucky. She pushed out one of the monsters(巨物) and laughed. SM said she didn’t like snakes, but at a pet store full of poisonous creatures, she kept asking to touch them. When asked to rate her feelings, SM reported feeling surprised or disgusted, but never fearful.
“She tends to approach everything she should be avoiding,” says Justin Feinstein of the University of Iowa. This means the amygdala could control deeper urges to approach or avoid danger. Other scientists have a different opinion, though. “I don’t believe you can make a general statement about what the amygdala does by a single case study,” Elizabeth Phelps said. In 2002, Phelps published a study on a similar patient with amygdala damage who still showed fear.
It may sound like fun to be totally fearless, but we get scared for a good reason. “The nature of fear is survival and the amygdala helps us stay alive by avoiding situations, people, or objects that put our life in danger,” Feinstein said. SM was once followed in a park after dark by a man with a knife, and she simply walked away. “It is quite remarkable that she is still alive,” said Feinstein.
【小题1】SM dares to walk alone in the dark mainly because .A．she is a superheroB．she has experienced such conditions a lotC．she is a mental patientD．she has no sense of fear【小题2】Researchers tried their best to frighten SM in order to find .A．The function of a particular organB．SM’s reaction of fear and anxietyC．The process of removing amygdaleD．A special way to get along with monsters【小题3】What do we know from the research on SM?A．It was easy for her to avoid danger.B．SM never felt fearful but disgusted.C．SM was frightened by nothing except monsters.D．SM got along well with the snakes.【小题4】What is Elizabeth Phelps’ attitude toward the function of the amygdala based on the research on SM?A．IndifferentB．SupportiveC．DisapprovingD．Interested【小题5】What can we infer from the last paragraph?A．People can remove their amygdala to be fearless.B．SM will be admired because of her bravery.C．No one can survive if their amygdala is removed.D．The sense of fear is crucial to humans.D
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(答案→)D
解析：本文叙述了对于没有扁桃腺的人SM的一次实验，研究人员的目的就是看一下扁桃腺的功能，他们让SM看恐怖电影看恐怖的动物，但是她都想动手去摸，没有感到害怕和恐惧，只是感到惊奇和有点厌恶，因此，研究人员就确定扁桃腺是来控制人的害怕的感官，它在人的身体中是很重要的。当然对此还有的人提出了不同的观点。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据she’s fearless because she happens to be missing part of her brain: the amygdala(扁桃腺).因为她没有了控制人们害怕的扁桃腺，所以她没有感到害怕，故选D。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据To try to understand how the amygdala works, a team of researchers made their efforts to scare SM.研究人员为了找到特殊的器官的功能，故选A。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据SM reported feeling surprised or disgusted, but never fearful.她从来没有感到害怕只是感到厌恶和吃惊，故选B。
【小题4】细节理解题。A.Indifferent中立的； B. Supportive支持的； C. Disapproving不赞成的； D. Interested感兴趣的。根据“I don’t believe you can make a general statement about what the amygdala does by a single case study,” Elizabeth Phelps said.他不赞成这个观点，他认为这是一个特例，故选C。
【小题5】推理判断题。根据It is quite remarkable that she is still alive,可以推出不害怕也不行，害怕的感觉对人也是很重要的，故选D。