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  3. Why should we bother reading a book? All children say this occasionally. Many among our educated classes are also asking why, in

Why should we bother reading a book? All children say this occasionally. Many among our educated classes are also asking why, in

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问题     Why should we bother reading a book? All children say this occasionally. Many among our educated classes are also asking why, in a world of accelerating technology, increasing time poverty and diminishing attention spans, should they invest precious time sinking into a good book?
    The beginnings of an answer lie in the same technology that has posed the question. Psychologists from Washington University used brain scans to see what happens inside our heads when we read stories. They found that "readers mentally simulate each new situation encountered in a narrative". The brain weaves these situations together with experiences from its own life to create a new mental synthesis. Reading a book leaves us with new neural pathways.
    The discovery that our brains are physically changed by the experience of reading is something many of us will understand instinctively, as we think back to the way an extraordinary book had a transformative effect on the way we viewed the world. This transformation only takes place when we lose ourselves in a book, abandoning the emotional and mental chatter of the real world. That’s why studies have found this kind of deep reading makes us more empathetic, or as Nicholas Carr puts it in his essay, The Dreams of Readers, "more alert to the inner lives of others".
    This is significant because recent scientific research has also found a dramatic fall in empathy among teenagers in advanced western cultures. We can’t yet be sure why this is happening, but the best hypothesis is that it is the result of their immersion in the internet. So technology reveals that our brains are being changed by technology, and then offers a potential solution—the book.
    Rationally, we know that reading is the foundation stone of all education, and therefore an essential underpinning of the knowledge economy. So reading is—or should be—an aspect of public policy. But perhaps even more significant is its emotional role as the starting point for individual voyages of personal development and pleasure. Books can open up emotional and imaginative landscapes that extend the corridors of the web. They can help create and reinforce our sense of self.
    If reading were to decline significantly, it would change the very nature of our species. If we, in the future, are no longer wired for solitary reflection and creative thought, we will be diminished. But as a reader and a publisher, I am optimistic. Technology throws up as many solutions as it does challenges: for every door it closes, another opens. So the ability, offered by devices like e-readers, smartphones and tablets, to carry an entire library in your hand is an amazing opportunity. As publishers, we need to use every new piece of technology to embed long-form reading within our culture. We should concentrate on the message, not agonize over the medium.
According to the psychologists from Washington University, reading a book will______.
选项 A、create new mental experience that is totally different from real-life experience
B、make readers simulate what they have read in real life
C、bring tangible changes to the readers’ brain
D、enhance the thinking capability of readers
答案C
解析 根据题干中的psychologists from Washington University锁定文章第二段的内容。华盛顿大学的心理学家通过使用脑部扫描仪探究人们阅读故事时的脑部活动。他们发现readers mentally simulate each new situation encountered in a narrative，读者在读书的时候会在心里模拟故事中遇到的每个场景。说得通俗一点，就是读书的时候读者会发挥自己的想象力。[B]利用simulate一词设置干扰，这里读者并不是模拟他们现实生活中发生的事情，而是对故事中的情景在大脑中进行模拟。因此，该选项错误。The brain weaves these situations togetherwith experiences from its own life．．．，读书的时候，大脑将这些场景(从书中模拟出的场景)与自己的生活经历交织在一起……可见读书并不能够脱离现实生活，人们总是在读书的时候一边想象一边联想自己的生活，[A]错误。这样联想的结果是创造出了a new mental synthesis，“一种全新的心理化合物”，而且读书能够在“人的大脑中留下更多的神经通路”。可见，读书确实给人的大脑带来了实质性的变化，[C]正确。[D]偷换概念，读书能够使人们大脑中的神经通路更多，但这并不意味着能够提升读者的思维能力。
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