【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[听力原文]31-35 The human brain processes male and female voices differently, according to a recent study, which explains why most of us hear female voices more clearly. The study also explains how we form mental images of people based only on the sound of their voices. The findings, published in the journal NeuroImage, might also give insight into why many men tire of hearing women speak. It seems the complexity of female voices requires a lot of brain activity. "It is females' increased use of prosody, or the natural melody of speech, that makes their voices more complex," says author Professor Michael Hunter. Hunter, professor of medicine and biomedical sciences at the University of Sheffield's Cognition and Neuroimaging Laboratory, says these qualities are not related to pitch, but rather to the vibration and number of sound waves. For the study Hunter and his colleagues played recordings of male and female voices to 12 men while they underwent MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, brain scans. Test subjects assigned a gender to the voices they heard while the scans took place, and were 98 to 99 percent accurate. Researchers monitored the areas of the brain that showed activity during the scans. The scientists found that female voices activate the brain's auditory section. But male voices activated the area at the back of the brain called the mind's eye, where people compare other individuals and things to themselves. While the researchers only analyzed how a male brain works, they theorized that female voices are always processed in the brain's auditory region, even when women are listening to other women. But Hunter thinks female voices may also activate the mind's eye in females, since a woman would compare her voice to that of the other female speaker. Since humans process female voices in an area of the brain that's geared for sound, we tend to hear female voices more clearly. While Hunter believes female voices are complex, he says that once they are interpreted in the auditory part of the brain, they are more fully and readily decoded. [分析] 因果关系的找寻和判断。 根据原文The human brain processes male and female voices differently，according to a recent study，which explains why most of us hear female voices more clearly可知，人类大脑处理男女声音的方式不同，说明了为什么我们大多数人听女性的声音更清晰。因此选项B内容与原文相符，该项为正确答案。 [解题关键] 根据表因果关系的信号词why判断因果关系。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[分析] 事实细节的找寻和判断。 根据文中研究者Hunter的说法says these qualities are not related to pitch，but rather to the vibration and number of sound waves可知，声音的性质与音高无关，而与声波的震动和数量有关。由此可见，D项说法与原文相符，该项为正确答案。 [解题关键] 掌握特殊句子结构not…but rather．．．的含义。该结构意思是“不是……而是……”。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[分析] 事实细节的找寻和判断。 根据原文The scientists found that female voices activate the brain's auditory section．But male voices activated the area at the back of the brain即科学家发现女性声音激活大脑的听觉部分而男性声音激活大脑后部。由此可见，男女处理声音的大脑部位不同。因此A项内容与原文相符，该项为正确答案。 [解题关键] 掌握连词but的用法。该词的使用使其前后内容产生对比。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[分析] 事实细节的找寻和判断。 根据原文But male voices activated the area at the back of the brain called the mind's eve， where people compare other individuals and things to themselves可知男性声音激活大脑后部被成为思维之眼的区域，那里人们将人和物与自己作比。由此可见，B项内容与原文相符，该项为正确答案。 [解题关键] 掌握复合句的语义。本题原文中where引导的定语从句内容是解题的重点。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[分析] 因果关系的找寻和判断。 Hunter为什么认为女性声音也可激活女性脑部的思维之眼呢?根据原文可知since a woman would compare her voice to that of the other female speaker即因为女性会将自己声音与其他女人的声音作比。由此可见，B项内容与原文相符，因此该项为正确答案。 [解题关键] 根据表因果关系的信号词since判断因果关系。