Children do not think the way adults do. For most of the first year of life, if something is out of sight, it’s out of mind. If you cover a baby’s (26)_____ toy with a piece of cloth, the baby thinks the toy has disappeared and stops looking for it. A 4-year-old may (27)_____ that a sister has more fruit juice when it is only the shapes of the glasses that differ, not the (28)_____ of juice.

    Yet children are smart in their own way. Like good little scientists, children are always testing their child-sized (29)_____ about how things work.When your child throws her spoon on the floor for the sixth time as you try to feed her, and you say, “That’s enough! I will not pick up your spoon again!” the child will (30)_____ test your claim. Are you serious? Are you angry? What will happen if she throws the spoon again? She is not doing this to drive you (31)_____; rather, she is learning that her desires and yours can differ, and that sometimes those (32)_____ are important and sometimes they are not.

    How and why does children’s thinking change? In the 1920s, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget proposed that children’s cognitive (认知的) abilities unfold (33)_____, like the blooming of a flower, almost independent of what else is (34)_____ in their lives. Although many of his specific conclusions have been (35)_____ or modified over the years, his ideas inspired thousands of studies by investigators all over the world.

advocate提倡，主张

amount 数量

confirmed确认(-ed)

crazy疯狂的

definite确定的

differences差别

favorite最喜爱的

happening发生(-ing)

immediately马上，立即

naturally自然地

obtaining获取(-ing)

primarily主要地

protest抗议

rejected拒绝(-ed)

theories 理论

26. favorite 形容词辨析题。该空前面是名词所有格baby’s，后面是名词toy，空格处起修饰作用，故应该是形容词。那么备选项中，与上下文衔接最通顺的是favortie，译为孩子最喜欢的玩具。另外两个选项，crazy最疯狂的，以及definite确定的均与句意不符。

27. protest动词辨析题。前半句中，may作为情态动词，后面肯定接动词原形，空格后面的that从句中，姐姐拥有更多的果汁，从4岁孩子的角度来看，表现为不满，所以选择protest，表示抗议，而不是advocate主张提倡。

28. amount名词辨析题。空格前面是冠词the，后面是介词of，空格处应填名词，确定词性以后，再来揣测句意，四岁的孩子抗议姐姐分到了更多的果汁，仅仅是因为玻璃杯形状不同，而不是果汁_____不同，能使句意通顺并且符合逻辑的只有amount，果汁的数量不同。小孩子的认知中觉得形状决定了数量的差别，并不会理会不同形状也会有相同容量。

29. theories名词辨析题。空格前是child-sized，形容词，空格后是介词about，可以推测空格处是名词。根据上下文，孩子的思维方式和大人不一样，他们有自己的智慧，像个小科学家，去掉amount以后，剩余的三个名词中，theories符合题意。

30. immediately副词辨析题。空格前是will，空格后是test动词，修饰动词的只能是副词。联系上下文，孩子反复把勺子扔在地上，父母说不会再给他捡起来，那么孩子听到以后就会有疑问，立刻想去验证父母说的话，因此是immediately。

31. crazy. drive somebody crazy，固定搭配，当然根据上下文也可以看出父母生气了，故此题答案不难得出。

32. differences名词辨析题。首先句子缺少主语，因此我们可以锁定名词。在根据上文，前一句中出现了differ，孩子知道他的心愿可以和你的不同，并且有时这些差异很重要，有时不是。故答案是difference。

33. naturally副词辨析题。unfold是动词，应该用副词来修饰，所以空格处应为副词。联系上下文，孩子的认知能力像花一样绽放，花的绽放是一种自然现象，所以选择naturally。

34. happening空格前是what else is，空格后是介词短语，可以推测空格处是形容词或分词形式，上下文中，自然地像花一样绽放，不取决于正在发生的，所以选happening。

35. rejected 动词辨析题。空格后是or，表并列关系，前后词性一致，前面是have been，故应填过去分词，选择与modified意思相近的，很多年来，结论被否定或修改。