概括:内容选自老托福听力,是练习托福听力的绝佳材料。


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closed-circuit TV
In our lab today, we'll be testing the hypothesis that babies can count as early as five months of age. The six babies here are all less than six months old. You'll be watching them on closed-circuit TV and measuring their responses. The experiment is based on the well-established observation that babies stare longer if they don't see what they expect to see. First, we're going to let two dolls move slowly in front of the babies. The babies will see the two dolls disappear behind a screen. Your job is to record, in seconds, how long the babies stare at the dolls when the screen is removed. In the next stage, two dolls will again move in front of the babies and disappear. But then a third doll will follow. When the screen is removed, the babies will only see two dolls. If we're right, the babies will now stare longer because they expect three dolls but only see two. It seems remarkable to think that such young children can count. My own research has convinced me that they have this ability from birth. But whether they do or not, perhaps we should raise another question - should we take advantage of this ability by teaching children mathematics at such a young age? They have great untapped potential, but is it good for parents to pressure young children?
在我们今天的实验中,我们将检验婴儿早在五个月大的时候就能数数的假说。参加实验的6个婴儿被试年龄都在5个月以下。你需要通过闭路电视观察他们,测量他们的反应时。 如果婴儿没有看到自己想看的东西,他会注视更长的时间,实验是建立在这一已经确认的观察结论的基础之上的。首先,我们会让两个布偶在婴儿面前缓慢移动,婴儿会看见那两个布偶消失在屏幕后方。你的工作就是在短时间内记录当屏幕被移开时,婴儿会注视布偶多长时间。 下一步,两个布偶还会在婴儿面前移动并且逐渐消失。但是这时后面会跟上第三个布偶。当屏幕被移开时,婴儿只能看见两个。如果我们的理论是正确的,婴儿现在会凝视更长的时间因为他们期望看到的是三个布偶,但是现在只看到了两个。 考虑到这么小的孩子能够数数,这看起来不同凡响。我自己的研究使我相信他们的这种能力是从一出生就有的。但是无论他们是否这样做,也许我们应该提出另一个问题——我们应该教这么小的孩子学数学来利用和发展他们的这种能力吗?他们有巨大的未发现和开发的潜能,但是作为父母来说给小孩子压力是一种值得称赞的事情吗? ——译文来自: zjxsdnu01