American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “langua

American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “language protein(蛋白质)” in the brain.
The study, conducted by neuroscientists （神经学家）and psychologists from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day—over 13,000 more than men. “This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal（能发出声音或语言的） than their female friends.
They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic（超声波的） range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups幼崽were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocalcalls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.
The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.
“Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.
“Our results imply Foxp2 as a component of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals.”
【小题1】From the second paragraph, we can learn that .A．women always speak more words than menB．men and male rats have low levels of language proteinC．women and male rats have similar levels of Foxp2D．McCarthy isn’t the first to find females more talkative【小题2】The underlined phrase “fussed over” in the third paragraph probably means .A．paid attention to B．related toC．put pressure onD．counted on【小题3】The researchers carried out the experiments on rats in order to .A．test which part of the brain is key to language in rats and humansB．prove the levels of Foxp2 protein in humans and rats are differentC．determine the reason why female rats are more talkative than male ratsD．discover the association between Foxp2protein and vocal communication【小题4】Which of the following can be the best title for the passage ?A．Tests on humans and ratsB．Why women are the talkative sexC．Sex differences in fussed overD．Foxp2 protein determines oral abilityD

(答案→)D 解析：本文主要讲解美国研究人员发现女性比男性更健谈，因为她们大脑中有一种“语言蛋白质”比男性要多，在老鼠的实验中，雄性比雌性多。【小题1】细节题：从第二段的句子：Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day—over 13,000 more than men. 可知McCarthy 不是第一个发现女性健谈的科学家。选D【小题2】猜词题：从第三段的句子：But when the pups幼崽 were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocalcalls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females.可知动物妈妈更倾向于Foxp2蛋白质含量较高的孩子。选A【小题3】推理题：从第二段的最后一句话和最后两段的内容，可知对老鼠的实验主要发现Foxp2蛋白质和声音的交流的联系，选D【小题4】主旨题：文章本文主要讲解美国研究人员发现女性比男性更健谈，因为她们大脑中有一种“语言蛋白质”比男性要多，所以文章主要是讲为什么女性更加健谈。选B

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