During a lab meeting, one of our PhD researchers recalls how her father would forbid her from using paper to help solve maths ho

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问题    During a lab meeting, one of our PhD researchers recalls how her father would forbid her from using paper to help solve maths homework problems by writing them down. 【F1】Another admits that she sometimes still uses her hands to make small calculations, although she does so while hiding them behind her back. When we realize that all of us use our fingers in order to answer demands for the "third, fifth, and seventh digits" of our secret online banking password, we laugh in relief. We are not so foolish after all, or at least we are not alone.
   Our ability to think and reason has been trained and tested in real world situations that restrict our ability to use our hands. At school, children quickly learn to count "in their heads", without using their fingers as props. At university, we ask our students to take "closed-book" exams, relying only on that information committed to memory. Job applicants take intelligence tests during which their interaction with the world is limited to a tick-box (or computer key-press) to mark their selected answers. 【F2】The implicit assumption that supports these practices is that truly intelligent behavior originates from the inner parts of the brain, and the brain alone.
   Of course educators are well aware that props are a great help in teaching young children to reason with numbers and solve problems. Likewise, neuropsychologists use props to assess memory loss in the elderly. 【F3】In other words, it’s acceptable to engage with the material world to support your thinking if your mental abilities are still developing or if you are losing your cognitive powers. For the rest of us, however, it’s seen as a sign of cognitive weakness.
   It is this view we aim to challenge, rejecting the metaphor of mind as computer according to which thoughts ultimately emerge from the brain’s processing of information from the outside world. 【F4】The subtle consequence of this metaphor is that it implies that simulating a situation in your head while you think is equivalent to living through that situation while you think. In both cases, your answer will depend only on how (well) your brain processes the information.
   Our research strongly challenges this assumption. We show instead that people’s thoughts, choices and insights can be transformed by physical interaction with things. 【F5】So next time your child counts using her fingers, or you see your employees spread out information over their desk and walls, be reassured: they are not limited in their capacity to think well. In fact, they are enhancing their ability to think.
【F3】

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答案换句话说,如果你的思维能力仍在发展中,又或者你的认知能力正在减弱,通过与物质世界打交道来帮助你思考是可以接受的。

解析 ①本句为复合句,包含两个并列的条件状语从句。②句首的In other words可视为插入语,意为“换句话说”。主句为主系表结构,主语it为形式主语,真正的主语为第一个to引出的不定式结构to engage with the material world。第二个to引出的不定式结构to support your thinking为目的状语,说明to engage with the material world的意图。③句子的后半部由连接词or连接两个并列的if引导的条件状语从句。
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