3．
Research at the University of Liverpool, UK, has found
that Shakespeare’s language stimulates positive brain activity.
Shakespeare uses a linguistic（语言的）technique known as functional change that involves,
for example, using a noun to serve as a verb．Researchers
found that this technique allows the brain to understand what a word means
before it understands the function of the word within a sentence．This process causes a sudden peak in brain activity
and forces the brain to work backwards in order to fully understand what
Shakespeare is trying to say.
Professor Philip Davis, from the university’s School
of English, said: “The brain reacts to reading a phrase such as ‘he godded me’
from the tragedy of Coriolanus, in a similar way to putting a jigsaw puzzle（拼图玩具）together．If it is easy
to see which pieces fit together you become bored of the game．But if the pieces don’t appear to fit, when we know
they should, the brain becomes excited．By throwing
irregular words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare surprises the
brain in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity — a sense of drama
created out of the simplest of things.”
Experts believe that this heightened brain activity
may be one of the reasons why Shakespeare’s plays have such a dramatic impact
on their readers.
Professor Neil Roberts, from the university’s Magnetic
Resonance and Image Analysis Research Center, and Professor Davis, together
with Dr Guillaune Thierry, from the University of Wales, UK, monitored 20
participants using an electroencephalogram (EEG) as they read selected lines
from Shakespeare’s plays.
“The brain signal is relatively stable when we
understand the meaning of a word but when the word changes the grammar of the
whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak．The brain is
then forced to retrace its thinking process in order to understand what it is
supposed to make of this unusual word,” explains Professor Roberts.
1.The research conducted by the professors has showed
that ___________.
A．Shakespeare
uses functional change to mislead readers
B．Shakespeare’s language excites positive brain activity.
C．Shakespeare’s plays have a dramatic effect on their readers.
D．Shakespeare’s language makes the brain signal relatively stable
2.Which of the following words can replace the
underlined pronoun “it” in the 2nd paragraph?
A．technique
B．word C．brain C．sentence
3.In the 3rd paragraph, the example of a jigsaw puzzle
is used here to state___________.
A．the function
of Shakespeare’s linguistic technique
B．a sense of
drama created by playing the game
C．the
Shakespeare’s thinking process
D．the brain’s reaction to reading a book
4.Based on the research, Shakespeare’s plays have a
great effect on their reader lies in_______.
A．language used
in plays
B．characters
showed in works
C．brain
activity increased in reading
D．thinking
process when writing