2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 60

Unit 60

“Half the game is 90 percent mental,” Yogi Berra once said, or something like that, and science is now getting around to putting his aphorism to the test. Researchers including Debbie Crews of Arizona State University and John Milton of the University of Chicago have been studying patterns of brain activation—not in baseball players but in golfers, who make better subjects because they don’t move around as much and the electrodes stay stuck to their heads. Yogi might have been surprised by the researchers’ conclusion, though: the better the golfer, the less brain activity he shows in the seconds before he makes his shot.

Crews, a sports psychologist who studies putting—even the minimal agitation of a chip shot can upset her experimental apparatus—has found that a key difference between amateurs and pros lies in the left hemisphere. This is the seat of logic, analysis, verbal reasoning and the kinds of thoughts—Maybe I should just kind of squinch over a little more to the left—that you never imagine crossing Tiger Woods’s mind. Professionals, once they’ve determined how to make a shot, follow an invariable routine that renders conscious thought unnecessary. “How you think is probably more important than what you think,” Crews says. “Quieting the left hemisphere is really critical.”

Or, to put it another way, when Milton asked some LPGA golfers what they thought about just before taking a shot, they answered: nothing. To test this, he rounded up a half-dozen pros and an equal number of amateurs and had them imagine making a specific shot—a wedge shot of 100 yards to the green, with no wind—while monitoring their brains in a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine. “The professionals are just much more specialized and efficient,” Milton says. “You put in a quarter and you get your shot.” The amateurs, by contrast, showed more total brain activation, involving more areas of the brain. In particular, amateurs activated the basal ganglia—involved in learning motor functions—and the basal forebrain and amygdala, responsible for, among other functions, emotions. “They’re not fearful or anxious,” Milton says, “but they get overwhelmed by details, by the memories of all the shots they’ve missed in the past.” Some of his subjects worried about hitting the ball into the water, which was curious, because he hadn’t even mentioned a water hazard in describing the imaginary shot to them.

Professional athletes, as a rule, know how to keep focus, although there are exceptions, like Chuck Knoblauch, the Yankee second baseman who suddenly lost the ability to make a routine throw to first base. Milton is already trying to apply these lessons to stroke and other rehabilitation patients who have to relearn skills like walking; he recommends putting more emphasis on visualization and improving mental focus. In many aspects of life, it seems, half the game really is 90 percent mental.

注（1）：本文選自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象為2004年真題Text 4（個別題目順序加以調整）。

1. The views of Yogi Berra and researchers including Crews and Milton are ______.

A) similar

B) identical

C) opposite

D) complementary

2. We can learn from the text that the difference between pros and amateurs lies in ______.

A) the activity of the left hemisphere

B) the way of their thinking

C) the ability to control one’s brain

D) the ability to forget the past failures

3. Tiger Woods, according to the text, is probably ______.

A) a researcher

B) a professional baseball player

C) a sports psychologist

D) a professional golf player

4. What is the key to the success of golfers according to the text?

A) Not to think of anything related to your past losses.

B) Quiet your left hemisphere and think of nothing.

C) Try to activate your whole brain.

D) To be more specialized and efficient.

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A) What the researchers have found proves Yogi Berra’s words.

B) Baseball player should do as Yogi Berra said.

C) Mentality plays a very important role in many aspects of life.

D) Sports and medicine share some common principles.

篇章剖析

本文以約吉·貝拉一句非常有名的話開頭，引出文章的主要論點，研究人員的研究成果卻正好與之相反，指出運動員球技越高，他在擊球之前幾秒鐘內的大腦活動就越少。第一段指出研究人員的實驗結果與約吉·貝拉的觀點正好相反；第二段指出體育心理學家克魯斯發(fā)現一名業(yè)余球手與一名職業(yè)球手之間的關鍵區(qū)別在于大腦的左半球；第三段指出另一名研究人員米爾頓發(fā)現業(yè)余球手和職業(yè)球手的區(qū)別在于業(yè)余球手的大腦活動較多；第四段指出集中注意力對治療一些病人的作用。

詞匯注釋

get around 繞過，規(guī)避；到處走動，到處旅游；散布，流傳

aphorism /??f?r?z(?)m/ n. 格言，警語，諺語，箴言

putting /?put??/ n. （高爾夫球）打球入洞

agitation /?d???te??(?)n/ n. 攪動；激動；焦慮

chip shot （高爾夫球）打出滾地球，讓球滾進球洞

pro /pr??/ n. 專業(yè)人員；職業(yè)人員

verbal reasoning 言語推理

squinch /skw?nt?/ v. 斜眼；擠緊；蹲下

LPGA 美國女子職業(yè)巡回賽（Ladies Professional Golf Association）

functional magnetic resonance imaging machine功能磁諧振成像機

put in 打擊；花時間

basal ganglia /?g??gl??/ 基底神經節(jié)

motor /?m??t?(r)/ adj. 運動神經的；肌肉運動的

visualization /?v???la??ze???n/ n. 形成思維圖像；視覺化；具體化；想象

難句突破

Researchers including Debbie Crews of Arizona State University and John Milton of the University of Chicago have been studying patterns of brain activation—not in baseball players but in golfers, who make better subjects because they don’t move around as much and the electrodes stay stuck to their heads.

主體句式：Researchers have been studying patterns of brain activation.

結構分析：本句雖是個長句，但句子結構并不復雜。主語是researchers，后面跟的是include的現在分詞形式作后置定語來修飾主語；破折號之后的句子成分起到進一步解釋說明的作用；who引導從句來修飾golfers，從句中又有because引導的原因狀語從句。需要注意make、as much和stay的用法。make在這里的意思是“成為”，as much的意思是“同樣，同樣多”，stay同其他許多表狀態(tài)的動詞一樣，比如lie, keep, stand, etc.，后面跟形容詞表示所處的狀態(tài)，stuck在這里是形容詞，意思是“卡住的，不能動彈的”。

句子譯文：研究人員——其中包括亞利桑那州州立大學的黛比·克魯斯和芝加哥大學的約翰·米爾頓——一直在研究（不是棒球球員的，而是高爾夫球球手的）大腦活動方式。高爾夫球球手之所以是更好的研究對象在于他們不怎么移動，這樣，電極就可以一直貼在他們頭上。

題目分析

1. C 細節(jié)題。Yogi Berra的觀點是“Half the game is 90 percent mental”，他強調了比賽中精神因素的重要性，而研究人員的發(fā)現是“the better the golfer, the less brain activity he shows in the seconds before he makes his shot”，這句話的意思是說，越是好的運動員，他在擊球之前數秒鐘內的大腦活動越少。這跟Yogi Berra的觀點是完全不一樣的，所以“Yogi might have been surprised by the researchers’ conclusion”。

2. A 推理題。原文對應信息是：“a key difference between amateurs and pros lies in the left hemisphere”。

3. D 細節(jié)題。在文章第一段就介紹了做這一研究的是Crews和Milton，他們把研究對象定為高爾夫運動員；后來又進一步介紹Crews是“a sports psychologist who studies putting”，在這里“putting”的意思是“（高爾夫球）打球入洞”，從這里我們可看出Crews是一位體育心理學家，專門研究高爾夫球比賽中擊球入洞問題。根據上下文，Tiger Woods應該是一位高爾夫運動員，屬于Crews的研究范圍。

4. B 細節(jié)題。文章第一段介紹研究結果：高爾夫球手的球技越高，他在擊球之前幾秒鐘內的大腦活動就越少。第二段繼續(xù)指出“職業(yè)球手一旦決定擊球，他們會按照一種視有意識的思想為多余的固定不變的常規(guī)行事”，并引用研究人員的話：“讓大腦左半球平靜下來的確是極其重要的”，由此可見答案應該為B。

5. C 推理題。原文對應信息是：“In many aspects of life, it seems, half the game really is 90 percent mental.”從這句話我們可看出心理作用對日常生活的意義重大。

參考譯文

約吉·貝拉曾經說：“半數的比賽90%的是心理戰(zhàn)”，或類似這樣的話，而科學目前正在尋找檢驗他的格言的時機。研究人員——其中包括亞利桑那州州立大學的黛比·克魯斯和芝加哥大學的約翰·米爾頓——一直在研究（不是棒球球員的，而是高爾夫球球手的）大腦活動方式。高爾夫球球手之所以是更好的研究對象在于他們不怎么移動，這樣，電極就可以一直貼在他們頭上。但研究人員得出的結論或許會使約吉驚訝不已：高爾夫球手的球技越高，他在擊球之前幾秒鐘內大腦活動就越少。

克魯斯是一名體育心理學家，專門研究高爾夫球比賽中擊球入洞問題——甚至連滾地球入洞時最輕微的搖動都會擾亂她的實驗儀器的正常工作——她發(fā)現一名業(yè)余球手與一名職業(yè)球手之間的關鍵區(qū)別在于大腦的左半球。這是邏輯、分析、言語推理和思維——我也許應該稍稍偏向些左腦——那種你永遠想象不出泰格·伍茲頭腦中閃過何種念頭的所在地。職業(yè)球手一旦決定擊球，他們會按照一種視有意識的思想為多余的固定不變的常規(guī)行事?！澳闳绾蜗肟赡鼙饶阆胧裁锤匾笨唆斔拐f，“讓大腦左半球平靜下來的確是極其重要的?！?

或換一種方式說，當米爾頓問一些美國女子職業(yè)巡回賽高爾夫球手在擊球之前想些什么的時候，球手回答說，什么都不想。為了對此進行驗證，他召集了6名職業(yè)球手和6名業(yè)余球手，并讓他們想象正要擊球——在無風情況下從100碼處劈起桿向果嶺（球洞區(qū)）擊球——同時用功能磁共振成像機監(jiān)測他們的大腦。米爾頓說：“職業(yè)選手顯得更加專業(yè)，效率更高，用了一刻鐘的時間就完成了擊球。”相反，業(yè)余選手更多地顯示出整個大腦的活動，涉及更多的大腦區(qū)域。尤其是業(yè)余選手使基底神經節(jié)——涉及學習運動功能——和基底前腦和扁桃體組織興奮起來。這些組織除了負責其他功能外，還負責人的情感。米爾頓說：“他們不是害怕，也不是緊張，但他們被一些細節(jié)和過去沒有打好球的記憶所控制?！庇行┭芯繉ο髶臅亚虼蛉胨校@聽起來很奇怪，因為他在給他們說明虛構的擊球條件時根本未提到過有球入水的危險。

盡管有例外，比如，像揚基壘球隊的二壘手查克·諾布勞奇，他突然間喪失了向一壘例行投擲的能力，但一般來說，職業(yè)運動員懂得如何集中精力。米爾頓已開始嘗試把這些經驗教訓應用到中風患者和其他康復患者身上，因為這類患者必須重新學習走路等這樣的技能。他建議把更多重點放在想象和提高注意力的能力上。生活中的很多方面似乎符合下面這句話——半數比賽的確是90%的心理戰(zhàn)。