Passage 1
What we know of prenatal development makes all this attempt made by a mother to mold the character of her unborn child by studying poetry, art, or mathematics during pregnancy seem utterly impossible. How could such extremely complex influences pass from the mother to the child? There is no connection between their nervous systems.
Even the blood vessels of mother and child do not join directly. An emotional shock to the mother will affect her child, because it changes the activity of her glands and so the chemistry her blood. Any chemical change in the mother‟s blood will affect the child for better or worse. But we cannot see how a looking for mathematics or poetic genius can be dissolved in blood and produce a similar liking or genius in the child.
In our discussion of instincts we saw that there was reason to believe that whatever we inherit must be of some very simple sort rather than any complicated or very definite kind of behavior. It is certain that no one inherits a knowledge of mathematics. It may be, however, that children inherit more or less of a rather general ability that we may call intelligence. If very intelligent children become deeply interested in mathematics, they will probably make a success of that study.
As for musical ability, it may be that what is inherited is an especially sensitive ear, a peculiar structure of the hands or the vocal organs connections between nerves and muscles that make it comparatively easy to learn the movements a musician must execute, and particularly vigorous emotions. If these factors are all organized around music, the child may become a musician. The same factors, in other circumstance might be organized about some other center of interest. The rich emotional equipment might find expression in poetry. The capable fingers might develop skill in surgery. It is not the knowledge of music that is inherited, then nor even the love of it, but a certain bodily structure that makes it comparatively easy to acquire musical knowledge and skill. Whether that ability shall be directed toward music or some other undertaking may be decided entirely by forces in the environment in which a child grows up.
Which of the following statements is not true?
本题需要选择错误选项。 由文章第一段第一句“What we know of prenatal development makes all this attempt made by a mother to mold the character of her unborn child by studying poetry, art, or mathematics during pregnancy seem utterly impossible”可知我们所知道的产前发展使母亲塑造自己未出世的孩子的性格似乎是完全不可能的。 选项B指出这种做法是完全不可能的， 与原意相悖， 故选B。
A mother will affect her unborn baby on the condition that ________.
由文章第一段中间部分“An emotional shock to the mother will affect her child， because it changes the activity of her glands and so the chemistry of her blood. Any chemical change in the mother‟s blood will affect the child for better or worse”可知如果一个母亲在情绪上很震惊会影响她未出生的婴儿， 故选A。
According to the passage, a child may inherit ________.
根据文章第二段最后一句“It may be, however, that children inherit more or less of a rather general ability that we may call intelligence. If very intelligent children become deeply interested in mathematics, they will probably make a success of that study”可知一个孩子可能会遗传父母的智力， 非常聪明的小孩会变得对数学很感兴趣， 故选C。
If a child inherits something from his mother, such as an especially sensitive ear, a peculiar structure of the hands or of the vocal organs, he will ________.
根据文章第三段第一句“As for musical ability, it may be that what is inherited is an especially sensitive ear, a peculiar structure of the hands or the vocal organs connections between nerves and muscles that make it comparatively easy to learn the movements a musician must execute, and particularly vigorous emotions”可知如果孩子遗传了母亲特别敏感的耳朵， 特殊的手部结构或者是独特的发声器官， 那么这个孩子成为音乐节的可能性会大大得， 故选D。
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
通读全文可知文中作者主要向我们介绍了母亲对未出生孩子的影响以及遗传问题， 故选A。