As many as one in five US teenagers have some degree of hearing loss, according to researchers. They say the problem is growing.
“Teenagers really don’t pay attention to how much noise they are exposed to(接觸),” Josef Shargorodsky of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told Reuters. “Often people won’t notice it, but even very little hearing loss may influence language development,” said Shargorodsky, one of the researchers.
The study compared surveys from the early 1990s and the mid-2000s. Each included a few thousand teenagers. In the first survey, about 15 percent of teenagers had some degree of hearing loss. Some 15 years later, that number had risen by a third, to nearly 20 percent.
“This certainly is big news,” said Alison Grimes, an ear doctor. “Hearing loss is very common in old people,” Grimes said, but she added that it was worrying to see it happen in the younger age group.
In babies and young children, hearing problems are known to slow language development. The science is less clear for teenagers, but it is easy to imagine how being hard of hearing could influence learning, said Grimes.
The reasons for the rise are still unclear. When researchers asked teenagers about noise exposure – on the job, at school or from activities, for example – the teenagers didn’t report any change. But Shargorodsky said that might not be true. “We know from before that it is difficult to ask this age group about noise exposure – they underestimate it.” Few people would call it noise when they listen to music on their MP3 player, for example. “There is a difference between what we think is loud and what is harmful to the ear,” said Grimes.
Although it’s not clear that the MP3 players cause teenagers’ hearing loss, Grimes said it was still a good idea to turn down the sound and take short breaks from listening.
小題1:The writer advises teenagers __________.
A．to turn the sound down
B．to stop using MP3 players
C．to be clear about the problem
D．to report the change in hearing loss
小題2:The underlined sentence “they underestimate it” means __________.
A．their love for music prevent them realizing the harm
B．their hearing loss is happening without being noticed
C．they think music can be taken as noise to some degree
D．they think it’s harmful sometimes although it’s not loud
小題3:Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A．Hearing loss may lead to slow language development.
B．Hearing loss in old people is as common as in young people.
C．Researchers have already found some causes of hearing loss.
D．Teenagers know MP3 is harmful, but they can’t stop listening to it.
小題4:What is the best title for the passage?
A．A word short and simpleB．A report by teenagers
C．A message loud and clearD．A letter from MP3 users

小題1:A
小題2:B
小題3:A
小題4:C

小題1:細節(jié)理解題。結合Grimes said it was still a good idea to turn down the sound and take short breaks from listening可知答案。
小題2:句意理解題。結合上文可知：當研究者詢問青少年在工作上，學校里或者活動時的噪音對身體的危害時，有的青少年沒提到什么差別。但是Shargorodsky說那不一定是事實。他說“我們以前就知道問青少年對于噪音的危害是很困難的，因為他們低估了噪音的危害”。由此可知人們習慣了周圍的噪音，所以才覺察不到他們的變化。
小題3:細節(jié)理解題。結合hearing problems are known to slow language development. The science is less clear for teenagers, but it is easy to imagine how being hard of hearing could influence learning可知答案。
小題4:文章標題題。本文主要講述噪音對孩子們的聽力問題的影響的研究，所以C符合。
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①=Paragraph1   ②=Paragraph2  ③=Paragraph3  ④=Paragraph4

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