英语阅读新视野第6课

Left-Handedness左撇子

Before You Read 阅前思考

Answer the following questions.

1. Are you left-handed? How many left-handed people do you know?

2. Do you know any famous people who are left-handed?

3. What percentage of people do you think are left-handed?

Target Vocabulary 目标词汇

Match each word with the best meaning.

1. abnormal a. to make a plan for something

2. architect b. feelings or ideas about someone or something.

3. attitude c. (verb) change something for the worse; (noun) injury; harm

4. damage d. related to the body (rather than the mind)

5. mental e. related to the mind

6. mild f. job

7. occupation g. not serous; gentle

8. physical h. a trained professional who draws plans for buildings

9. (to) design i. someone who never eats animals

10. vegetarian j. unusual; not normal

Reading Comprehension 阅读理解

What do Leonardo da Vinci, Paul McCartney, and Albert

Einstein have in common? They were all left-handed, along with

other famous people including Pablo Picasso, Prince William,

and Marilyn Monroe. In fact, an estimated 11 percent of

Americans and Europeans are left-handed.

Most people around the world are right-handed. This fact

also seems to have held true throughout history. In 1977,

scientists studied works of art made at various times in history starting with cave drawings from 15,000 B.C. and ending with paintings from the 1950s. Most of the people shown in these works of art are right-handed, so scientists guessed that right-handedness has always been common.

Many researchers claim to have found relationships between left-handedness and various 1 and 2 characteristics, such as blond hair, blue eyes, 3 , and sleep difficulties. Other studies have found a higher-than-normal level of left-handed people in certain 4 , including professional baseball and tennis players, 5 , lawyers, as well as prisoners. However, some of these connections are very weak, and others haven’t been proven.

What makes a person become right-handed rather than left-handed? As yet, no one really knows for sure. One simple idea suggests that people normally get right-handedness form their parents. Studies have found that two right-handed parents have only a 9.5 percent chance of having a left-handed child, whereas two left-handed parents have a 26 percent chance of having a left-handed child. Another common theory is that left-handed people suffer 6 brain 7

during birth, which makes them left-handed. However, if this theory were true, it wouldn’t explain why the percentage of left-handed people is so similar in every society, when birth conditions vary so much form society to society.

Whatever the reasons behind it, people’s 8 toward left-handed have changed a lot over the years. Statistics show that although 13 percent of young people(10-20 years old) are left-handed, only 6 percent of the elderly are left-handed. Left-handed children used to be punished until they began using their right hand like other children, but today people who are left-handed are no longer looked down on nor are they considered 9 . For most people today either case is perfectly acceptable. There are even a number of shops now that specialize in selling products 10 for left-handed people, such as left-handed scissors, can openers, guitars, and even a left-handed camera.

In 1976, Left-Handers International, group of left-handed people in Topeka, Kansas, in the United States, decided to start an annual event in order to clear up misunderstandings about left-handedness. They decided that August 13th is International Left-Handers Day, and to this day groups of left-handed people around the world celebrate their own special day.

Circle the letter of the best answer.

1. From studying works of art, scientists have learned that…

a. left-handed people are better artists c. most people in history were right-handed

b. most artists are left-handed d. cave drawings were drawn using both hand

2. What does the third paragraph describe?

a. why people with certain characteristics are better at certain jobs

b. reasons why left-handed people are better at some jobs

c. links between left-handedness and certain occupations and characteristics

d. why people are left-handed

3. What makes a person right-handed?

a. the person’s parents

b. the person’s birth

c. society

d. The season is uncertain

4. What can be assumed about the children of two left-handed parents?

a. Most of them are left-handed c. Most of them use both hands equally

b. Most of them are right-handed d. Very few of them are right-handed

5. Today, only 6 percent of the elderly are left-handed because left-handed people…

a. can be treated by doctors today

b. are though of as abnormal

c. die younger

d. were often forced to become right-handed

Idioms 习语

Find each idiom in the story.

1. Look down on/up to—think that someone is less/more important

You shouldn’t look down on others. All people should be treated equally.

Tom admired his older brother, and really looked up to him.

2. as well as—and (used to mention another thing connected to the thing you are talking about)

Please write your phone number here, as well as your name and address.

Many foreign web sites, as well as newspapers, are banned in that country.

3. along with—together with, in addition to