Motherhood may make women smarter and may help pr dementia（痴呆） in old age by bathing the brain in pr

Motherhood may make women smarter and may help pr dementia（痴呆） in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones（荷尔蒙） , U．S．researchers reported on Thursday． Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s（早老痴呆症）．University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans．“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy（怀孕） are protecting the brain, including estrogen（雌激素）, which we know has many neuroprotective （保护神经的） effects,” Kinsley said． “It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview．“They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes．” Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline． “When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida． “They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain．If you look at female animals that have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young．But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations（改变） to the brain．” 小题1:How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”? A．Some researchers have told them． B．Many women say so． C．They know it by experimenting on rats． D．They know it through their own experience． 小题2:What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph? A．Baby rats． B．Animals． C．Old rats． D．Grown-up rats． 小题3:What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage? A．Estrogen． B．The hormones of pregnancy． C．More exercise． D．Taking care of children． 小题4:“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals．” What does the sentence suggest? A．The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans． B．The experiments on the rats are very important for animals． C．The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans． D．The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals． 小题5:Which title is the best for this passage? A．Do You Want to Be Smarter? B．Motherhood Makes Women Smarter C．Mysterious Hormones D．An Important Study

小题1：C

科学家通过在大鼠身上进行实验得出“母亲身份可能使女性更聪明”的结论。第二段明确提到“Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies”，即实验结果显示生育过的大鼠在记忆和技能测试中表现更优，这为结论提供了直接证据。

小题2：A

“litters of pups”指“幼鼠”。结合上下文，此处对比的是“抚养幼鼠的大鼠”与“未生育的大鼠”在认知测试中的表现，因此“pups”应指大鼠的幼崽，与“baby rats”同义。

小题3：B

根据第三段“the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen”可知，怀孕相关的荷尔蒙（包括雌激素）能够保护女性大脑。雌激素（A选项）是其中一种成分，但B选项“怀孕荷尔蒙”更全面，符合原文表述。

小题4：C

这句话表明“虽然数据来自大鼠，但人类和这些动物一样都是哺乳动物”，暗示大鼠实验的结论可能适用于人类。因为哺乳动物在怀孕和荷尔蒙变化方面存在相似性，实验结果具有一定的可迁移性。

小题5：B

文章核心观点是“母亲身份可能使女性更聪明”，通过大鼠实验说明怀孕荷尔蒙对大脑的保护作用，以及这种效应可能对人类的意义。B选项“Motherhood Makes Women Smarter”直接点明主旨，其他选项（如A“你想变聪明吗？”、C“神秘荷尔蒙”、D“一项重要研究”）均未能准确概括核心内容。

答案：1-5 CABCB

这一研究为理解母性与认知能力的关系提供了新视角，但需注意动物实验结果在人类中的适用性仍需进一步验证。你认为现实中母亲的认知优势是否还有其他影响因素？