题型：阅读理解 题类：模拟题 难易度：普通
广东省韶关市2021届高三英语一模试卷
Growing up in a city has a lifelong negative impact on a person's ability to navigate, according to a vast global survey.
In a new study, scientists led by Antonine Coutrot at Nantes University in France and Hugo Spiers at University College London describe how they used a dataset (数据集) gathered from 4 millions players of a computer game called "Sea Hero Quest", which tests way-finding skills by asking players to memorise a map showing the location of checkpoints and then measuring how well players can steer a boat to find them.
Dr. Spiers found that the strongest indicator of a high score was a player's age——older people performed relatively poorly. But the benefit of rural living was strong enough to offset (抵消) some of that, Data from American players showed that a 70-year-old who grew up in the countryside had the navigational abilities of an average 60-year-old across the dataset.
"The gap between the navigation skills of rural and city people was largest in America, and the researchers think they know why. They found that countries dominated by simple layouts of grid-based (网格式的) cities dragged down navigation skills more than growing up in a city based around more complicated networks of streets, such as Prague.
Dr. Spiers says that the brain's navigational abilities probably weaken in the city environment because they are not being used as much. Although cities may appear more complicated, they also feature more clues to help residents find their way, such as numbered streets. As many city-dwellers on a visit to the countryside can prove, one field tends to look much the same as another, so there are fewer external (外部的) landmarks to help guide the way.
While people who live in cities should not be alarmed, the study does raise some interesting ideas for urban planners: keep their city designs not so simple perhaps. And for everyone else, it might be an idea to turn off Google Maps.
试题篮
