For some time past, it has been widely accepted that babies — and other creatures — learn to do things because certain acts lead to “rewards”(报酬), and there is no reason to doubt that this is true. But it used also to be widely believed that effective rewards, at least in the early time, had to be directly connected to such basic physiological(生理的) “drives” as thirst or hunger. In other words, a baby would learn if he got food or drink or some sort of physical comfort, not otherwise.
It is now clear that this is not so. Babies will learn to behave in ways that produce results in the world with no reward except success in sight.
Papousek began his studies by using milk in the normal way to “reward” the babies and then teach them to carry out some simple movements, such as turning the head to one side or the other. Then he noticed that a baby who had had enough to drink would refuse the milk but would still go on making the learned response(回答) with clear signs of pleasure. So he began to study the children’s responses in situations where no milk was provided. He quickly found that children as young as four months would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “turned on” some lights─and indeed that they were able to learn some more turns to bring about(产生)this result, for example, two left or two right, or even to make as many as three turns to one side.
Papousek’s light experiment was placed directly in front of the babies and he made the interesting observation that sometimes they would not turn back to watch the light closely although they would “smile and speak” when the light was on. Papousek concluded that it was not the sight of the lights which pleased them. It was the success they were achieving in solving the problem, in mastering the skill, and then there is a basic human nature to make sense of the world and bring it under control.
1. According to the writer, babies learn to do things which _______.
A. will satisfy their surprise B. will meet their physical needs
C. are directly connected to pleasure D. will bring them a feeling of success
2. Papousek noticed in his studies that a baby _______.
A. would make learned responses when it saw the milk
B. would continue the simple movements without being given milk
C. would turn its head to right or left when it had enough to drink
D. would carry out learned movements when it had enough to drink
3. In Papousek’s experiment babies make learned movements of the head in order to _______.
A. be praised B. please their parents C. be rewarded with milk D. have the lights turned on
4. The babies would “smile and speak” at the lights because _______.
A. they succeeded in “turning on” the lightsB. the sight of lights was interesting
C. they need not turn back to watch the lights
D. the lights were directly connected to some basic “drives”
【答案与解析】本文说明了婴儿学会做某个动作，并不是因为得到物质激励的原因，而是因为能满足他的成功感。
1. D。细节题。根据 Babies will learn to behave in ways that produce results in the world with no reward except success in sight. 可推知此题答案为D。
2. B。细节题。根据So he began to study the children’s responses in situations where no milk was provided. He quickly found that children as young as four months would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “turned on” some lights可推知答案为B。
3. D。细节题。根据…would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “turned on” some lights可推知答案为D。
4. A。推断题。根据…although they would “smile and speak” when the light was on.可以判定，孩子们笑了，因为他的某个动作能把灯打开，使他有了成就感。
