I have been consistently opposed to feeding a baby regularly. As a doctor, mother and scientist in child development I believe there is nothing to remend it, from the baby’s point of view.
Mothers, doctors and nurse alike have no idea of where a baby’s blood sugar level lies. All we know is that a low level is harmful to brain development and makes a baby easily annoyed. In this state, the baby is difficult to calm down and sleep is impossible. The baby asks for attention by crying and searching for food with its mouth.
It is not just unkind but also dangerous to say a four-hourly feeding schedule will make a baby satisfied. The first of the experts to advocate a strict clock-watching schedule was Dr Frederic Truby King who was against feeding in the night. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous. Baby feeding shouldn’t follow a timetable set by the mum. What is important is feeding a baby in the best way, though it may cause some inconvenience in the first few weeks.
Well, at last we have copper-bottomed research that supports demand feeding and points out the weaknesses of strictly timed feeding. The research finds out that babies who are fed on demand do better at school at age 5, 7, 11 and 14, than babies fed according to the clock. By the age of 8, their IQ （智商）scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable. This research es from Oxford and Essex University using a sample （样本）of 10,419 children born in the early 1990s,taking account of parental education, family ine, a child’s sex and age, the mother’s health and feeling style. These results don’t surprise me. Feeling according to schedule runs the risk of harming the rapidly growing brain by taking no account of sinking blood sugar levels.
I hope this research will put an end to advocating strictly timed baby feeling practices.
【小题1】According to Paragraph 2, one reason why a baby cries is that it feels .A．sickB．upsetC．sleepyD．hungry【小题2】What does the author think about Dr King?A．He is strictB．He is unkindC．He has the wrong ideaD．He sets a timetable for mothers【小题3】The word copper-bottomed in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .A．basicB．reliableC．surprisingD．interesting【小题4】What does the research tell us about feeling a baby on demand?A．The baby will sleep wellB．The baby will have its brain harmedC．The baby will have a low blood sugar levelD．The baby will grow to be wiser by the age of 8【小题5】The author supports feeling the baby .A．in the nightB．every four hoursC．whenever it wants foodD．according to its blood sugar levelD
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(答案→)D
解析：本文是典型的议论文，论点：是“反对定期喂养婴儿”；论据：1.我们不知道婴儿的血糖的情况2.定期喂养的危害 3.实验表明，按需喂养较定期喂养的孩子更聪明；结论：希望结束定期喂养的习惯。
【小题1】细节理解题。由第二段最后一句 “The baby asks for attention by crying and searching for food with its mouth”可知。其中searching for food 和hungry 是同义重现。ABC项在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
【小题2】推理判断题。由第三段第三句I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous （荒谬可笑的）以及本文最后一句可知。ridiculous 和wrong idea属于同义重现。
【小题3】词义猜测题。由第四段及第五段的实验结果的具体描述可知。另外，也可以代入ABCD四个选项的意思，A为基本的，B为可靠的，C为令人惊讶的，D为有趣的，只有B最合适。
【小题4】细节理解题。由第四段第三句 “By the age of 8, their IQ（智商）scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable”可知。IQ 高和 wiser 属于同义重现。
【小题5】细节理解题。由本文的第一句（I have been consistently opposed to feeding a baby regularly）就提出观点，“反对定期喂婴儿”，最后一句（I hope this research will put an end to advocating strictly timed baby feeding practices）希望结束主张严格按时喂养的习惯。既然“不定期”，也就是按婴儿需要喂养，故选C。另外，也可以根据“The research finds out that babies who are fed on demand do better at school at age 5, 7, 11 and 14, than babies fed according to the clock. By the age of 8, their IQ （智商）scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable.”句中的on demand和whenever it wants food 是同义重现。