The first year of life

1. The article ...

• compares the brains of adults and children.
• describes studies into brain development in babies.
• explains how human brains work.

2. According to the article, which statement is true?

• Different languages influence the brain in different ways.
• Interactive experiences are important in brain development.
• Babies can learn Mandarin Chinese easily.

3. According to the first paragraph ...

• most five-year-olds ride bikes.
• scientists understand child development very well.
• technology is useful in child development studies.

4. Why are early experiences important?

• They affect a baby’s relationships.
• They affect brain development.
• They affect how babies feel.

5. What information is given in the second paragraph?

• Attention and IQ are connected.
• It’s difficult to change a baby’s IQ.
• Some three-year-old children have a high IQ.

6. According to the second paragraph, what makes new connections in the brain?

• experiencing new information
• having a high IQ
• the child’s age

7. Which statement is true?

• Babies’ brains can’t recognise different sound patterns.
• The pattern ‘A-B-B’ is easier to understand than A-B-C’.
• The pattern ‘A-B-C’ is easier to understand than A-B-B’.

8. Experiments with sound patterns show that babies …

• can begin to understand grammar.
• understand different words.
• understand Mandarin Chinese.

9. The experiment in paragraph 3 used sound patterns because ...

• word order is part of grammar.
• different languages have different grammar.
• words have different sounds.

10. The study described in the last paragraph shows that …

• babies can understand television at the age of nine months.
• social interaction has a big influence on the brain.
• watching videos is a good way to develop a child’s brain.