单选题 Pregnant women who suffer lapses (忘却) in memory or concentration may no longer be able to blame it on "the bump". The idea that bearing children affects one"s brain power—the "baby brain"—is a myth, researchers say.
Their study found no difference in how pregnant women or new mothers scored on tests of thinking speed and memory compared with those who were childless. Writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry , the authors said that pregnant women should be encouraged to stop attributing lapses in memory or logical thinking to their growing baby.
The findings contradict previous studies that claimed women"s brains decline in size by up to 4 per cent while they are pregnant, potentially leading to worse performance on tests of memory and oral skills.
Helen Christensen, author of the latest study, said that the effect was "a myth". Professor Christensen"s team recruited 1,241 women aged 20-24 in 1999 and 2003 and asked them to perform a series of tasks. The women were followed up at four-year intervals and asked to perform the same cognitive (认知的) tests. A total of 77 women were pregnant at the follow-up assessments, 188 had become mothers and 542 remained childless.
The researchers found no significant differences in cognitive change for those women who were pregnant or new mothers during the-assessments and those who were not.
"Not so long ago, pregnancy was "confinement" and motherhood meant the end of career aspirations," Professor Christensen said, "but our results challenge the view that mothers are anything other than the intellectual peers of their contemporaries."
Cathy Warwick, of the Royal College of Midwives, said that the difficulties of pregnancy and motherhood could explain why some women felt absent-minded or tired.
The number of infants in England dying before their first birthday is still greater than in countries such as France, Spain, the Audit Commission says.
The health of pre-school children has not significantly improved despite the Government having spent ￡10 billion, directly or indirectly, since 1998 on improving the health of children under the age of 5 in England. Infant death rates have fallen but are "still relatively high" compared with other European countries.

单选题 According to the first paragraph, some women attributed lapses in memory or concentration to ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干定位到第1段。
第1段第1句中的blame it on "the bump"表明只要找到the bump指的是什么，就能找到答案。对比第1段两句的内容可以推断the bump和bearing children意思相近，而在选项当中，A与bearing children的意思相同，因此，本题应选A。
本题最具干扰性的是B。题干中的lapses in memory or concentration是怀孕女性表现出来的两种普遍现象，本题要求查找是什么原因造成这些现象。第1段第2句中的破折号表明baby brain指的是怀孕时受影响的大脑状况(过去的传统观念)，它本身是一种结果，题干中的“记忆力衰退，注意力不集中”是其表现，故B错误。

单选题 By saying that "the effect was "a myth"", Helen Christensen points out that the idea of "baby brain" ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干定位到第4段第1句。
根据第4段和第5段Helen Christensen所做的实验及其研究结果可知Helen Christensen并不认同怀孕会对大脑造成影响，由此可推断她应该认为这种effect是“无根据”的，可见，本题应选B。
从Helen Christensen的研究结果首先应推断她对“怀孕会对大脑造成影响”这种说法持否定的态度，这样，首先将具有正面词义的C排除掉，A、D属于中性含义，也可排除。

单选题 Helen Christensen concludes in the sixth paragraph that ______.

单选题 Cathy Warwick is most likely to agree that pregnant women ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的Cathy Warwick定位到倒数第3段。
该段指出Cathy Warwick认为怀孕和当母亲的艰辛可以解释为什么一些妇女会感到精神不集中或疲劳，而“精神不集中或疲劳”与原文开头说的lapses in memory or concentration含义相对应，即Cathy Warwick最可能认为怀孕女性会遭受记忆力衰退以及精神不集中。D与之相符，因此，本题应选D。
本题最具干扰性的是C，该选项中的hardships与倒数第3段中的difficulties为同义司，但原文没有讨论对这些difficulties应持什么态度，因此，C不正确。虽然Cathy Warwick认为怀孕是一件辛苦的事，但并没有进一步提出应对妇女多加照顾或妇女应待在家里休养，因此，A和B均不正确。