music of their choice, one listened to 30 minutes of stories of their choice and one listened to 30 minutes of silence via noise canceling headphones.

　　To measure pain, the researchers presented a smiling, frowning (皱眉) and crying face. The children pointed to which picture best showed their level of pain before and after they listened to music, stories and silence. After a 30­minute session, the children who listened to music or stories reduced their pain burden by 1 point on a 10­point scale (级别) compared to the children who listened to silence. That might not sound like much, but Sunitha says it equals to pain medication like Advil or Tylenol.

　　Children don't tolerate such medication as well as adults. They are smaller and are more likely to suffer side effects from pain medication such as trouble breathing and feeling of disgust. So the less pain medication, the better.

　　语篇解读：本文是说明文。听音乐可以让人们感到不太焦虑，从而减轻手术后的痛苦。

　　24．What made Sunitha start the study?

　　A．Her grandmother's desire for music.

　　B．Her majoring in biomedical engineering.

　　C．Her grandmother's listening to music after the operation.

　　D．Her sympathy for patients who suffered from illnesses.

　　解析：选C　细节理解题。根据第二段中的"Sunitha could see the music relaxed her grandmother and made her feel less anxious, but she wondered if she also felt less pain"可知，她祖母在手术后听音乐的经历使她开始做这项研究。

　　25．How did Sunitha and her father draw the conclusion?

　　A．By observing.　　　　 　 　 B．By making comparison.

　　C．By asking questions. D．By analyzing causes.

　　解析：选B　推理判断题。根据倒数第二段可知，研究者主要是通过对比三组实验对象在听了音乐、故事或静音后对疼痛的感知程度来判断他们所采取的方式是否有助于减轻痛苦来得出结论的。

　　26．What do we know about the research?

　　A．It is of greater benefit to children.

　　B．It should also be conducted on adults.

　　C．It shows children suffer more from pain medication.

　　D．It finds more and more children are on pain medication.

解析：选A　推理判断题。根据最后一段可知，孩子们从该研究中受益更多。