Section B Reading and Matching
Read the following passage with 10 statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once.
Hacking Our Senses to Boost Learning Power
［A］ It might not seem important， but a growing body of research suggests that smells and sounds can have an impact on learning， performance and creativity. Indeed， some head teachers have recently taken to broadcasting noises and pumping smells into their schools to see whether it can boost grades. Is there anything in it？ And if so， what are the implications for the way we all work and study？
［B］ There is certainly some well⁃established research to suggest that some noises can have a harmful effect on learning. Numerous studies over the past 15 years have found that children attending schools under the flight paths of large airports lag behind in their exam results.
［C］ But general noise seems to have an effect too. Bridget Shield，a professor of acoustics at London South Bank University， and Julie Dockrell， now at the Institute of Education，have been conducting studies and advising politicians on the effects of all sorts of noises，such as traffic and sirens， as well as noise generated by the children themselves. When they recreated those particular sounds in an experimental setting whilst children completed various cognitive tasks，they found a significant negative effect on exam scores. “Everything points to a detrimental impact of the noise on children's performance， in numeracy， in literacy，and in spelling，” says Shield. The noise seemed to have an especially detrimental effect on children with special needs.
［D］ Shield says the sound of “babble” （含糊不清的话语）—the chatter of other children， is particularly distracting in the classroom. Architects that fashion open⁃plan classrooms in schools would do well to take this on board. “People are very distracted by speech—particularly if it's understandable， but you're not involved in it.” This phenomenon is also known as the irrelevant speech effect， she says， adding that “it's a very common finding in open⁃plan offices as well.”
［E］ Whether background sounds are beneficial or not seems to depend on what kind of noise it is—and the volume. In a series of studies published last year， Ravi Mehta from the College of Business at Illinois and colleagues tested people's creativity while exposed to a soundtrack made up of background noises—such as coffee⁃shop chatter and construction⁃site drilling—at different volumes. They found that people were more creative when the background noises were played at a medium level than when volume was low. Loud background noise， however， damaged their creativity.
［F］ “This makes sense for a couple of reasons， ”says psychologist Dr. Nick Perham， at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the UK， who studies the effect of sounds on learning but was not involved in the study. “Firstly， ” he says， “sounds that are most distracting tend to be very variable. A general hum in the background suggests a steady⁃state sound with not much acoustical（声音的） variation. So there's not much there to capture your attention—nothing distracting the subjects，” he says. “At the same time， the background noise might cause the subjects to be in a slightly heightened state of stimulation，” says Perham. “You don't want too much or too little stimulation. “Medium stimulation is best for good performance. So it might be that a general hum in the background gives an optimum level of stimulation.” With that in mind， Perham suggests there may be some benefit to playing music or other sounds in an art class or other situations where creativity is key.
［G］ Many teachers all over the world already play music to students in class. Many are inspired by the belief that hearing music can boost IQ in subsequent tasks， the so⁃called Mozart effect. While the evidence actually suggests it's a stretch to say classical music boosts brainpower， researchers do think pleasant sounds before a task can sometimes lift your mood and help you perform well， says Perham， who has done his own studies on the phenomenon.The key appears to be that you enjoy what you're hearing.“If you like the music or you like the sound—even listening to a Stephen King novel—then you did better. It didn't matter about the music，” he says.
［H］ However， it's worth considering that music is not always helpful while you're trying to work. Trying to perform a task which involves serial recall—for instance， doing mental arithmetic—will be worsened by sounds with acoustic variation， which include most types of music， says Perham.（Except a few，like extreme death metal.） Songs with lyrics，on the other hand，are more likely to interfere with tasks that involve semantics（语义学）—such as reading comprehension. “The task and the sound are important， when you have both of them using the same process then you get problems，” he says.
［I］ So， it seems that schools that choose to screen out disturbing noises and create positive soundscapes could enhance the learning of their students， so long as they make careful choices.
［J］ This isn't the only sense being tweaked to affect learning. Special educational needs students at Sydenham high school in London are being encouraged to revise different subjects in the presence of different smells—grapefruit scents for maths， lavender （薰衣草） for French and spearmint （绿薄荷） for history.
［K］ Less research has gone into the idea of whether scents can help with cognitive perfor⁃mance， although there have been fascinating findings. In 2003， psychologist Mark Moss，at Northumbria University， carried out a range of cognitive tests on subjects who were exposed either to lavender or rosemary（迷迭香） scents. “Rosemary in particular caught my attention as it is considered to be arousing and linked to memory，” he says， whereas lavender is considered to be calming. Moss found that those who were smelling lavender performed significantly worse in working memory tests， and had worsened reaction times for both memory and attention⁃based tasks， compared to controls. Those in the rosemary group， on the other hand， did much better than controls overall in the memory tasks， although their reaction times were slower.
［L］ Why might this be？ It's perhaps not surprising that smells affect memory， given that the brain's olfactory bulb （嗅球） is intimately linked to the hippocampus （海马体）， which deals with learning. But Moss suspected there was more to it. To explore the pharmacological（药物学的） effects of rosemary on the body， he drew blood samples from volunteers who had just undergone cognitive tests in a rosemary⁃infused room， and found that they had elevated levels of a compound called 1，8⁃cineole （桉叶素） in their blood. Previous research has shown that this compound increases communication between brain cells， which might explain how it improves brain function.
____1.Tests found that rosemary could increase the level of a compound which has proved to improve memory.
____2. The background noises played at a medium level are good for people's creativity.
____3. Smells and sounds affect students' performance in classes.
____4. Sometimes， music will interfere with your work or learning.
____5. Students' learning power can be boosted if schools choose the sounds wisely.
____6. Tests indicated that the smell of rosemary did much better than that of lavender in improving people's memory.
____7. The noise type and its volume decide greatly whether it is beneficial or not.
____8. The music or sound you like will improve your performance.
____9. The understandable speech which people are not involved in easily distracts them.
____10. The loud noises from the airports have harmful effect on children's learning.