新编四级听力练习 第435期

Passage Two
Most kids are much better than their parents at programming the video or setting up the new computer. Almost certainly they can beat Mum and Dad at video games. And they probably think they are smarter than their parents. But here's the surprise: those kids may be right. If IQ tests tell us anything at all, today's young people really are smarter than their parents. [31]Studies from numerous countries suggest that IQ scores have been rising fast since at least the 1950s -enough to mean that someone with an IQ classed as average then could be labelled as having low intelligence today. [30]Humans, it seems, are getting cleverer and cleverer with each passing generation. But not so fast. There's a serious argument among psychologists over just what the upward trend in IQ scores really means. Some researchers argue that we're not getting more intelligent overall, just getting better at a particular sort of problem-solving. Others, though, say they have found echoes of rising IQ scores in "real world" measures of intelligence. A study last year analysed a basket of indicators including scientific productivity and performance in intellectual games such as chess and bridge. Admittedly, none of the measures taken alone is compelling evidence of a rise in intelligence. An increase in scientific productivity, for example, could simply reflect the fact that scientists are under ever-increasing pressure to publish papers. [32]And some measures, such as the number of patents awarded, did not show clear trends.

Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
30. What is the speaker mainly talking about?
正确答案：C
解析：主旨题需要把握全文内容。文章前半部分说的是人类似乎越来越聪明了，但是中间话锋一转（But not so fast. There's a serious argument...）说明有不同看法，后半部分主要讲异议。故C是对文章最全面的概括。
31. What do studies from some countries suggest?
正确答案：A
解析：原文提到，有一些国家的研究表明，至少从20世纪50年代开始，人们的智商在不断上升。A是原文的同义转换。
32. What message does the number of patents awarded convey?
正确答案：B
解析：此题虽然是考查对文章尾句的理解，但也应该结合前文，由于文中后半部分都是否定含义，尾句中的did not show clear trends应该也是说没有明显的“上升趋势”。