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.

【答案】C BDA

【解析】本文是一篇說明文。文章通過講述一個實驗來告訴我們講故事可以減輕住院兒童的痛苦和壓力。

26. 推理判斷題。根據第三段“The team…studied 81 children…They were divided into two groups. One group of 41 children…”可知，研究團隊對81名兒童進行研究，他們把這81名兒童分成兩組，其中講故事組有41個兒童，那么對照組應有40個兒童。故選C。

27. 推理判斷題。根據倒數第三段“…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，實驗結果是兩組兒童唾液中的皮質醇都更少了，但是講故事組的兒童唾液中皮質醇少的量是對照組兒童的兩倍，也就是說講故事組的皮質醇比對照組的要更少。故選B。

28. 推理判斷題。根據倒數第二段可知，對于醫院，對照組兒童的反應是“這是人們生病時去的地方”，而講故事組兒童的反應是“這是人們為了變得更好而去的地方”，由此可知講故事組兒童的想法要更加積極一些;由以上可知對于醫生或護士，相比起對照組兒童“這就是來給我打針的壞女人”的消極想法，講故事組兒童的反應應是“這個是來幫助我的女人”。故選D。

29. 主旨大意題。通讀全文可知，本文通過講述一個實驗來告訴我們講故事可以減輕住院兒童的痛苦和壓力。故選A。

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