【听力答案】

7. D 8. B 9. A 10. C

【听力原文】

Passage 3

People appear to be bom to compute. The counting skills of children develop so that it is easy to imagine（8）an internal clock of computing guiding their growth.（内在的“计算钟”在引导儿童的成长。）（9）Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracy one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs.（在学习走路和说话不久后，他们能准确地摆出餐具。）Soon they are so capable of anything that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table and, a bit later amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware.

Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of psychologists has explained the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped concepts that adults take for granted——quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short glass into a tall thin one. Psychologists have since demonstrated that（7）young children. asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils. but must be led to find the total.（小孩子很容易数出蓝色或红色的铅笔，但需要指导才能算出总数。）

Such studies have suggested that the introduction of mathematics is mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the（10）very concept of abstract numbers that applies to any class of objects and is a factor for doing anything more mathematical and demanding than setting a table—is far from born to be.（文章旨在证明计算能力不完全是天生的，还需要后天的指导和学习。）

【核心词汇】

accuracy n.精确性，正确度

computing n.计算;处理

impressive a.给人深刻印象的

abstract number （数）抽象数；不名数

be capable of 能够