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.
【F1】

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答案另一个研究员承认说,她有时还会用手指做简单的计算,尽管她这么做时会把手藏到背后。

解析 ①本句为复合句,主句主干为Another admits that…;句首的Another结合上文的one of our PhD researchers可知,是指Another PhD researcher,翻译时可简单译作“另一个研究员”。admit后是由that引导的从句作admit的宾语,说明承认的内容;uses her hands to make small calculations中的use sth.to do sth.结构意为“用……做……”。②although引导让步状语从句,其中so作does的宾语,指代uses her hands to make small calculations这件事;while引出的时间状语可视为省略了主语(she)和助动词was的时间状语从句,其中的them指代hands;句末的behind her back为地点状语,说明该研究员用手指做计算时,手藏在背后。
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