Part III Reading comprehension (40 minutes)

　　Section A

　　Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single through the center. You may not use any of the word in the bank more than once.

　　Let’s all stop judging people who talk to themselves. New research says that those who can’t seem to keep their inner monologues (獨白) in are actually more likely to stay on task, remain 26 better and show improved perception capabilities. Not bad, really, for some extra muttering.

　　According to a series of experiments published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology by professors Gary Lupyan and Daniel Swignley, the act of using verbal clues to 27 mental pictures helps people function quicker.

　　In one experiment, they showed pictures of various objects to twenty 28 and asked them to find just one of those, a banana. Half were 29 to repeat out loud what they were looking for and the other half kept their lips 30 . Those who talked to themselves found the banana slightly faster than those who didn’t, the researchers say. In other experiments, Lupyan and Swignley found that 31 the name of a common product when on the hunt for it helped quicken someone’s pace, but talking about uncommon items showed no advantage and slowed you down.

　　Common research has long held that talking themselves through a task helps children learn, although doing so when you’ve 32 matured is not a great sign of 33 . The two professors hope to refute that idea, 34 that just as when kids walk themselves through a process, adults can benefit from using language not just to communicate, but also to help “augment thinking”.

　　Of course, you are still encouraged to keep the talking at library tones and, whatever you do, keep the information you share simple, like a grocery list. At any 35 , there’s still such a thing as too much information.