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Many children’s hospitals already have storytelling programmes that aim to cheer up patients. However, this research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that it also has physiological benefits.
“Until now, the positive evidence for storytelling was based on ‘common sense’ and it can help children reduce psychological suffering,” said Dr Jorge Moll, of D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Brazil, “But there was not enough scientific evidence.”
The team, from IDOR and the Federal University of ABC, Brazil, studied 81 children between the ages of 2 and 7, all of whom were in the health care unit at Luiz Jabaquara Hospital in Sao Paulo. They were divided into two groups. One group of 41 children each had a 25-30 minute session with a storyteller, however, the control group had the same amount of time with the same professionals who told riddles instead.
Before and after the sessions, the team took saliva samples from each child and checked their pain level. The saliva samples allowed the researchers to measure levels of the hormones cortisol—which is related to stress.
Both groups of children benefited from the interventions: they all had less cortisol in their saliva, suggesting they were less stressed, and they reported less pain and discomfort. However, the results were twice as strong for the storytelling group than the control group.
The team reported that while children from the control group responded to the image of a hospital with “this is the place that people go when they are sick”, the storytelling group responded with “this is the place that people go to get better”. Similarly, children from the control group said “this is the bad woman who comes to give me an injection” in response to a doctor or nurse, while the storytelling group said “this is the woman ”.
“As it is a low-cost and highly safe intervention, I consider this study to be one of the most important I have participated in.” said Moll.
26. In the research, how many children are there in the control group?
A. 81. B. 41. C. 40. D. 30.
27. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A. Researchers played some light music to the children of the control group.
B. Researchers noticed less cortisol in the storytelling group than the control group.
C. Researchers discovered only the storytelling group benefited from the interventions.
D. Researchers found the control group had as much pressure as the storytelling group.
28. Which sentence can be probably put in the blank ________ in Paragraph 6?
A. who tell me stories B. who gives me medicine
C. who works in a hospital D. who comes to help me
29. What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Storytelling reduces children’s pain and stress in hospital.
B. We need better doctors and nurses in children’s hospitals.
C. The children who are good at telling stories feel less pain.
D. Storytelling and riddles are important for children’s education.
生词积累：
storytelling programmes 讲故事的节目
aim to 旨在；目的是
cheer up 使振奋
patient 病人
research 研究
publish 发布
journal 杂志
proceeding 进行
National Academy of Sciences 美国国家科学院
suggest 建议
physiological 生理的
benefit 好处
positive 积极的
evidence 证据
based on 基于
common sense 常识
reduce 减少
suffering 痛苦
institute 研究所
enough 足够的
Federal 联邦
divide into 把......分成
riddle 谜题
instead 而不是
session 会话
sample 样本
check 检查
pain 疼痛
stress 压力
report 报告
discomfort 不舒服
result 结果
respond 回应
image 图像;想象
similarly 类似的
control 控制
injection 注射
low-cost 低成本
intervention 干预
consider 考虑
participate 参与
【解析】本文是一篇说明文。文章通过讲述一个实验来告诉我们讲故事可以减轻住院儿童的痛苦和压力。
26. 推理判断题。根据第三段“The team…studied 81 children…They were divided into two groups. One group of 41 children…”可知，研究团队对81名儿童进行研究，他们把这81名儿童分成两组，其中讲故事组有41个儿童，那么对照组应有40个儿童。故选C。
27. 推理判断题。根据倒数第三段“…they all had less cortisol in their saliva…However, the results were twice as strong for the storytelling group than the control group.”可知，实验结果是两组儿童唾液中的皮质醇都更少了，但是讲故事组的儿童唾液中皮质醇少的量是对照组儿童的两倍，也就是说讲故事组的皮质醇比对照组的要更少。故选B。
28. 推理判断题。根据倒数第二段可知，对于医院，对照组儿童的反应是“这是人们生病时去的地方”，而讲故事组儿童的反应是“这是人们为了变得更好而去的地方”，由此可知讲故事组儿童的想法要更加积极一些;由以上可知对于医生或护士，相比起对照组儿童“这就是来给我打针的坏女人”的消极想法，讲故事组儿童的反应应是“这个是来帮助我的女人”。故选D。
29. 主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文通过讲述一个实验来告诉我们讲故事可以减轻住院儿童的痛苦和压力。故选A。
答案
CBDA
