What makes humans smarter than other animals? We’ve got a bigger brain, of course. But when it es to brains, is bigger always better?
Traditionally, scientists have thought that humans’ superior intelligence derived(源于)mostly from the fact that our brains are three times bigger than those of our nearest living relatives, chimpanzees. People even used to believe that because men have slightly larger brains than women that men are smarter.
This, however, is not the truth. Scientists at University College London in the UK have found that brain organization, and not brain size, is the key to the superiority of human intelligence, reported Live Science.
Through millions of years of evolution, our ancestors were constantly pushed to get smarter so that they could meet the demands of new environments. However, holding this growing intelligence in increasingly large brains was not the best choice because bigger brains require more energy to power. “This is when reorganization may e into play, ”said Christophe Soligo, a member of the London research team.
In the study, scientists looked at the brains of 17 species of primates(灵长目动物), including monkeys, apes and humans. They found that in the process of evolution, brains didn’t keep growing as a whole. Certain regions of the brain grew prior to others in response to species’ needs, and in this way they could make the best use of their limited brain space.
For example, when early humans were struggling to survive, the brain region in charge of using tools and finding food grew in size more than other regions. But in modern times, the prefrontal cortex(前额皮质)—the region in charge of social cognition(认知), moral judgments and goal-directed planning—grew more than the rest of the brain.
Think of the brain as a room. If a big room is poorly organized, it doesn’t necessarily store more stuff than a smaller one.
Paul Manger, professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, explains this principle using the example of whales. He told Scientific American: “Whales have big brains, absolutely. But if you look at the actual structure of the brain, it’s not very plex. Brain size only matters if the rest of the brain is organized properly. ”
【小题1】It has recently been found that humans are smarter than the other animals mainly because .A．they are a species of primatesB．they have much larger brainsC．their brain structure is more plexD．they were constantly pushed to get smarter【小题2】According to the article, in recent human evolution, .A．the brain kept growing in size to adapt to new environmentsB．most regions of the brain didn’t changeC．the prefrontal cortex grew more than the rest of the brainD．humans’ brains became increasingly simple so that humans could survive【小题3】What can we conclude from the article?A．Gender makes a difference in intelligence.B．The size of the brain has nothing to do with intelligence.C．Species whose brain is organized properly tend to be smarter.D．Larger brains are usually organized better than smaller ones.【小题4】The method the writer uses to develop the last paragraph is .A．by presenting research dataB．by giving examplesC．by making a parisonD．by analyzing cause and effectC
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(答案→)C
解析：是不是大脑越大越聪明? 看看科学家们是怎么说的吧。
【小题1】选C。细节理解题。由第三段的“. . . have found that brain organization, and not brain size, is the key to the superiority of human intelligence, reported Live Science”可以推知C为正确答案。
【小题2】选C。细节理解题。由倒数第三段的“But in modern times, the prefrontal cortex—the region in charge of social cognition, moral judgments and goal-directed planning—grew more than the rest of the brain. ”可知C正确。
【小题3】选C。推理判断题。由最后一段的“But if you look at the actual structure of the brain, it’s not very plex. Brain size only matters if the rest of the brain is organized properly. ”可以推知, 以一种合适的方式建构的相对复杂的大脑趋向于更聪明, 故C正确。
【小题4】选B。逻辑结构题。最后一段以鲸鱼为例来说明并非大脑越大, 就越聪明, 故选B。