单选题 Researchers are increasingly interested in manipulating the environment early in children's lives when they are perceived to be at risk for impoverished intelligence. In a program conducted in North Carolina by Craig Ramey and his associates, pregnant women with IQs averaging 80 were recruited for a study. After their babies were born, half of the infants were cared for during the day at an educational day-care center and half were reared at home by their mothers. Both groups of children were given medical care and dietary supplements, and their families were given social services if they requested them.
At the age of 3, the children who attended the educational day-care center had significantly higher IQs than did the home-reared children. This difference was likely due to the decline in the IQs of the home-reared children during the period from 12 to 18 months of age. By the time the children were 5 years old, 39 percent of the home-reared children had IQs below 85 but only 11 percent of the educational day-care children had IQs this low. In the most recent evaluation of this project, positive effects of educational day-care on the intellectual development and academic achievement of the children were evident at age 12.
Some parents, such as those in Ramey's study, have difficulty providing an adequate environment for the intellectual needs of their infants. Once these difficulties are a recurring part of the family system, changing efforts probably will be more difficult and costly. Early intervention in the family system is directed at changing parental adaptive and responsive functioning so that permanent negative effects are minimized.
In another investigation, the Infant Health and Development (IHD. Program, early intervention with low birth weight children revealed that both home visitation (探望) and an educational child curriculum improved the children's IQs, decreased behavior problems, and improved the home environment. The intervention was more effective with mothers with low educational attainment than those with high educational attainment, more effective for African-American than White children, and effective for most at-risk children.
Intervention programs have the most positive effects on children's well-being when theya. begin as early as possible,b. provide services to parents as well as to the children,c. have a low child-teacher ratio,d. have high parental involvement, ande. have frequent contacts. In one review of family intervention studies, intervention was more effective when there were eleven or more contacts between the intervener and the family. While eleven sessions is a somewhat arbitrary number, it does indicate that a certain duration of contact is necessary for intervention success.

单选题 From the first sentence we learn that researchers

A. have increased the risks to child growth by manipulating the natural environment.
B. are increasingly aware of the effects of environmental factors on intelligence development.
C. are increasingly interested in figuring out how intelligence is developed in early childhood.
D. are increasingly interested in manipulating the environment without being aware of the risks involved to children.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】事实细节题。文章首句提到，研究者对控制孩子早期的成长环境越来越有兴趣了，因为他们发现孩子的智力可能有发育不良的风险。由此可知，研究者越来越意识到环境因素对孩子智力发育的影响，故答案为B)。

单选题 It is implied in the passage that the babies at the day-care center

A. were born of mothers with higher IQs.
B. were more closely attended to by their mothers.
C. were reared under a more favorable environment.
D. were given more medical care than those at home.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推理判断题。第二段首句提到，在day-care center抚养的孩子的智商比在家里抚养的孩子的智商要高，而第三段首句说有的家长不能在家提供能满足孩子智力发展的环境，由此可推知，相对于家里，日托所对于孩子智力发育更有好处，故答案为C)。

单选题 The finding that children reared at home had low IQs at age 12 indicates

A. educational day-care centers are the best place for children to grow up in.
B. parents fail to provide an adequate environment for their intelligence growth.
C. the age of 12 is a critical point in time for intellectual development in children.
D. intellectual development and academic achievement of children are closely related.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】事实细节题。第二段末句提到，孩子12岁时，日托所对孩子的智力发育和学业会有积极影响；第三段首句又指出，一些家长没有能力为婴儿提供适合其智力发展需要的环境，综合可知答案为B)。原文只是把日托所和家庭这两种环境作比较分析，指出在日托所抚养的孩子智商比在家里抚养的孩子的智商要高，但不能说明日托所就是孩子成长的最好环境，故A)错误。

单选题 The investigation done in the IHD programs

A. focused on children from poor families.
B. was less convincing than Ramey's research.
C. confirmed the findings made in Ramey's research.
D. focused on the intelligence growth &children with low IQs.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】事实细节题。第四段末句提到，IHD的调查结果指出，对孩子成长的干预对于那些受教育程度低的妈妈的孩子来说更有效果，因为这些妈妈不能给孩子提供智力发育所需要的环境，这与Ramey调查的结果是一致的，故答案为C)。

单选题 It is clear from the passage that the author advocates

A. the natural development of children's intelligence.
B. early intervention in children's intellectual growth.
C. providing enough day-care centers for children of working mothers.
D. depriving poor mothers of the opportunities to raise their children at home.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】观点态度题。通读全文可知，孩子的智力发育需要早期干预，因为家庭教育可能提供不了孩子智力发育所需要的环境，这正是作者所提倡的观点，故答案为B)。