Question

【题目】Fear may be felt in the heart as well as in the head, according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear.

Tests on healthy volunteers found that they were more likely to feel a sense of fear at the moment when their hearts are contracting（收缩）and pumping blood around their bodies, compared with the point when the heartbeat is relaxed. Scientists say the results suggest that the heart is able to influence how the brain responds to a fearful event, depending on which point it is at in its regular cycle of contraction and relaxation.

Sarah Garfinkel at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School said: “Our study shows for the first time that the way in which we deal with fear is different depending on when we see fearful pictures in relation to our heart.”

The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces. Dr Garfinkel said, “The study showed that fearful faces are better noticed when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxed. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don’t see and guide whether we see fear.”

To further understand this relationship, the scientists also used a brain scanner（扫描仪）to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person’s feeling of fear.

“We have found an important mechanism by which the heart and brain ‘speak’ to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear,” Dr Garfinkel said.

“We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is dealt with and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for anxiety disorders, and also for those who may be suffering from serious stress disorder.”

【1】What is the finding of the study?

A. Fear is a result of one’s relaxed heartbeat.

B. One’s heart affects how he feels fear.

C. Fear has something to do with one’s heart health.

D. One’s fast heartbeats are likely to cause fear.

【2】The conclusion was drawn by analyzing .

A. volunteers’ heartbeats when they saw terrible pictures

B. the time volunteers saw fearful pictures and their health conditions

C. volunteers’ reactions to horrible pictures and data from their brain scans

D. different pictures shown to volunteers and their heart-brain communication

【3】Which of the following is closest in meaning to “mechanism” in Paragraph 6?

A. Order B. Treatment

C. Machine D. System

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】D

【解析】

试题分析：这是一篇说明文。介绍了对20名健康的志愿者进行的恐惧反应试验，告诉读者大脑与心脏都能感知到恐惧，而且心脏跳动的周期与人们感知恐惧的机会有关联。这份研究成果未来有望更成功地用于治疗忧虑症以及应激障碍疾病。

【1】B细节理解题。难度：较易。题干关键词finding，定位第一段第一句according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear（依据研究，发现：心跳循环与人感知恐惧是有关联的）。锁定选项B。One’s heart affects how he feels fear（人的心脏影响他对恐惧的感知）。

【2】C 细节理解题。难度：较难。题干关键词carried out。定位文章对实验的介绍在3-6段。找到Para.4. The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces.（这项研究对20名健康的志愿者试验了当他们看到恐惧面孔图片时的反应）以及Para.5. the scientists also used a brain scanner(扫描仪) to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person’s feeling of fear.（为了演示大脑是如何影响心脏改变人对恐惧的感知方式，科学家们还使用扫描仪)。因此。选项C。volunteers’ reactions to horrible pictures and data from their brain scans.（志愿者们对恐惧图片的反应以及来自大脑扫描仪的数据）。

【3】D词义猜测题。由题干的mechanism定位文章Para.6,找到此词所在的句子，这个词后面的句子就是答案。We have found an important mechanism by which the heart and the brain ‘speak’ to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear翻译mechanism后面的句子：通过这个mechanism，心脏和大脑可以相互“交流”以便于改变我们的感觉减少恐惧。因此，mechanism是心脏与大脑交流的一个完整系统，而不是“命令、机器以及治疗”。故D正确。