单选题     Babies cry to call attention to their immediate needs: food, or rest, or a diaper change or cuddles. But without intending to, crying babies might also provide insight into a defining trait that will develop later in life. As Matt Stevens of the New York Times reports, a new study has found that the pitch of a baby's cry could predict what he or she will sound like as an adult.
    Researchers in the U.K. and France wondered if vocal pitch might be determined even earlier than age seven—during infancy, perhaps, or even in the womb (子宫). To find out, the team recorded the cries of 15 French babies—six girls and nine boys, from two to five months old. Researchers then compared those recordings to recordings of the same children at age four or five. The team found that the pitch of babies' cries was a 'substantial predictor' of vocal pitch at four or five years of age. 'Differences in voice pitch,' the researchers conclude, 'may—at least partly—arise very early in life.'
    The authors of the study suggest that these differences might develop in the womb, when fetuses are exposed to varying levels of hormones.
    As Carl Engelking of Discover reports, the team also analyzed the children's 2D:4D digit ratio, or the ratio between the lengths of the index finger and the ring finger. Studies have suggested that this ratio can reveal how much testosterone (睾丸激素) a person was exposed to in the womb.
    Researchers found that 2D:4D digit ratio in the right hand correlated positively with differences in vocal frequency in both baby cries and children's speech (this is consistent with other studies showing that 2D:4D ratios are expressed more strongly in the right hand). In other words, as a statement announcing the new research explains, 'if the index finger on the right hand is longer than the ring finger, a baby will be likely to grow up to have a high-pitched voice. Conversely, if it is shorter, they will be more likely to have a lower-pitched voice.'
单选题     What has the new study found about the pitch of a baby's cry?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第一段最后一句提到，据《纽约时报》的马特•史蒂文斯报道，一项新的研究发现，婴儿啼哭的音调可以预测他或她成年后的声音，由此可知，成年人的嗓音可以由婴儿期的哭声来预测，故本题应选D。选项中How an adult sounds同义替换了原文的what he or she will sound like as an adult；而how he or she cried as a baby是对原文the pitch of a baby's cry的同义改写。 [参考译文] 婴儿哭泣是为了唤起人们对他们当前需求的关注：食物、休息、换尿布或拥抱。但在无意中，哭泣的婴儿可能也会让我们了解到一种决定性的特征，这种特征将在以后的生活中得到发展。据《纽约时报》的马特•史蒂文斯报道，一项新的研究发现，婴儿啼哭的音调可以预测他或她成年后的声音。 英国和法国的研究人员想知道，人的音高是否在7岁之前——也许在婴儿时期，甚至在子宫里——就可以被决定。为了找到答案，研究小组记录了15名法国婴儿的哭声——6名女孩和9名男孩，年龄从2个月到5个月不等。然后，研究人员将这些录音与那些儿童在四、五岁时的录音进行了比较。研究小组发现，婴儿啼哭的音调是四、五岁时音高的“重要预测因素”。研究人员总结说：“音高的差异可能——至少部分上——在生命早期就出现了。” 该研究的作者认为，当胎儿接触到不同水平的激素时，这些差异可能就在子宫内形成了。 据《发现》杂志的卡尔•恩格尔金报道，研究小组还分析了儿童的2D:4D手指比例，即食指和无名指长度的比例。研究表明，这一比例可以揭示一个人在子宫内接触到了多少睾丸激素。 研究人员发现，右手2D:4D手指比例与婴儿啼哭和儿童说话声音频率的差异呈正相关（这与其他研究是一致的，都表明2D:4D比值在右手中体现得更加明显）。换句话说，正如宣布这项新研究的一份声明所解释的那样，“如果右手的食指比无名指长，婴儿长大后可能会嗓门大。相反，如果食指比无名指短，他们更有可能嗓门比较小。”
单选题     What do we learn about the study conducted by the British and French researchers?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第二段第二句提到，研究小组记录了15名法国婴儿的哭声，然后第三句介绍说，研究人员将这些录音与那些儿童在四、五岁时的录音进行了比较，由此可知，研究人员测试了同一批孩子在不同年纪的嗓音，故本题应选C。A、D两项与原文不一致，故排除；B项属于无中生有，也排除。
单选题     What does the study authors suggest about the differences in voice pitch?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第三段指出，该研究的作者认为，当胎儿接触到不同水平的激素时，这些差异可能就在子宫内形成了，由此可知，本题应选A。其余三项，文中均未提及，故排除。
单选题     What does 2D:4D digit ratio refer to?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第四段第一句提到，据《发现》杂志的卡尔•恩格尔金报道，研究小组还分析了儿童的2D:4D手指比例，即食指和无名指长度的比例，由此可知，2D:4D手指比例指的就是食指和无名指之间长度的关系，故本题应选C。
单选题     What does the study show about the index finger and the ring finger of a baby's right hand?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】最后一段第二句提到，换句话说，正如宣布这项新研究的一份声明所解释的那样，如果右手的食指比无名指长，婴儿长大后可能会嗓门大，相反，如果食指比无名指短，他们更有可能嗓门比较小，由此可知，如果右手无名指长于食指，那么婴儿长大后可能嗓门较小，故本题应选D。