中考真题2024年北京市阅读理解C篇-科技助力，解码导航之谜
Sam Hill is really bad at finding his way from place to place. The world is full of people like Hill—and their opposites, who always seem to know exactly where they are and how to get where they want to go. It has proved hard to explain why. However, with the development of technology, there’s new excitement happening in the research world.
An experiment was carried out in 2022 to find out what might influence way finding ability. Researchers developed an online game in which players travel by boat to find where a lot of checkpoints lie. The game asked players to provide basic background information , and nearly four million people worldwide did so. Through the game, the researchers were able to judge navigational (辨识方向的) ability by looking at how far each person traveled to reach all the cheek points. Then they compared players’ performance with their background information.
The researchers found that Northern Europeans seemed to be better navigations, perhaps because they love orienteering (定向越野), a sport which involves cross- country running and navigation. And those from cities with more disorganized street networks (网状系统) did better than those from cities with orderly ones. Perhaps people of planned cities don’t need to build complex (复杂的) maps in their minds.
Research results like these suggest that people’s life experience decides how well they find their way. In fact, experience may even explain a popular belief that men are more likely to perform better than women. It turns out that this difference is more a question of culture and experience than of in born ability. Northern Europeans, for example, show almost no gender (性别) difference in navigation. However, men do much better than women in places where women face cultural limits on exploring their environment on their own.
That finding is also supported by studies on the Tsimane, a community living in a forest in South America. Researchers put GPS units on 305 Tsimane people to check their daily movements over a three-day period, and found no difference between men and women in navigational ability. Even children performed very well—a result, researchers think, of growing up in an environment that encourages children to explore the forest.
1.1. Why was an experiment carried out in 2022?
A To develop an online way finding game.
B To improve the players’ way finding ability.
C To pick out people who are weak in way finding.
D To find out why people are different in way finding ability.
解析：选D。细节理解题D。根据第二段第一句“An experiment was carried out in 2022 to find out what might influence way finding ability.”可知，2022年进行实验的目的是找出人们认路能力不同的原因。故选D。
2.2.According to the passage, who is probably the best at finding their way?
A A woman who often explores nature.
B A girl who studies South American culture.
C A man who runs on a sports ground every morning.
D A boy who lives in a city with an orderly street network.
解析：选A。推理判断题A。根据第四段第一句“Research results like these suggest that people’s life experience decides how well they find their way.”可知，人们的生活经历决定了他们在认路方面的表现，结合最后一段最后一句“Even children performed very well—a result, researchers think, of growing up in an environment that encourages children to explore the forest.”可知，A选项“一个经常探索自然的女性”最为符合。故选A。
3.3. What can we learn from the passage?
A Good navigators are mostly made, not born.
B Navigation skills differ between the genders.
C Navigation skills are passed down, never lost.
D Good navigators bring developments in technology.
解析：选A。推理判断题A。根据第四段“In fact, experience may even explain a popular belief that men are more likely to perform better than women. It turns out that this difference is more a question of culture and experience than of in born ability. ”可知，事实上，经验甚至可以解释一种流行的观点——男性比女性更有可能表现得更好。事实证明，这种差异与其说是天生的能力问题，不如说是文化和经验的问题。由此推知，好的领航员大多是培养出来的，而不是天生的。故选A。