单选题 Are smart people just naturally attracted to study art or perform music, dance, or drama? Or does early education in the art actually cause changes in the brain that develop important components of cognition? Recent findings show that there may be some significant causal relationships between arts training and the brain"s ability to learn. The Dana Foundation, an organization with interest in neuroscience, immunology, and arts education, just released a three-year study that found that early training in the arts is possibly good for your brain. Neuroscientists and psychologists at several universities have now enhanced understanding of just how the arts might improve thinking, memory, and language skills. Music education is linked with the ability to control both short-term and long-term memory, geometric representation, and development of reading skills. Dance training improves thinking though mimicry and acting classes seem to expand language. Visual arts lessons outside the classroom in childhood are linked to improved math calculations. In retrospect, I wish I had more art lessons before I took on that advanced math class in high school. It"s not a new idea that the arts can make us smarter. The notion caught fire in the 1990s when researchers showed that college students did better on certain math tests" after listening to a little bit of Mozart. And while the current report from the Dana Foundation did not provide definite theories as to how arts make us smart, what it does is to end the popular notion that people are either right-or left-brain learners. Apparently artists are not that fundamentally different and perhaps there is even an underlying connection between the cognitive processes that give rise to both arts to both arts and sciences.

单选题 At the beginning of the passage, two questions are raised to explore the relation between______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：题干：文章开始提出两个问题来研究——之间的关系。从文章首段的最后一句可知：通过研究表明，艺术训练与大脑的学习能力可能有着某种重大的关系。因此文章开始所提出的问题也就是为了研究这两者之间的关系而被提出的。故本题选C。

单选题 Form music education to dance training to visual arts lessons, the researchers found the______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：题干：从音乐教育到舞蹈培训，再到视觉艺术课程，研究者发现——。第二段提到了题干中这些课程及训练名称，并指出“have now enhanced understanding of just how the arts might improve thinking，memory，and language skills”(提高了对艺术如何提高思维、记忆及语言技能的理解)。因此可知，本题A是正确答案(早期的艺术培训能改善认知技能)。

单选题 What can be inferred about the author"s art lessons during childhood?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：题干：关于作者童年时期的艺术课程我们能推理得知什么?从第二段末尾可知“I wish I had more art lessons before I took on that advanced math class in high school．”(我希望在高中开始上高等数学前多上点艺术课程)，从其中的虚拟语气可以推理得知作者童年时期的艺术课程是不够的。因此本题选B。

单选题 According to the passage, the current findings______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：题干：根据文章表述，现有的发现——。从最后一段“what it does is end the popular notion that people are either right-or left-brain learners”可知，现在的发现结束了人们不是右脑学习者就是左脑学习者这一观点。由此可推理得知，现有发现是对这一观点的挑战。故本题选B。