例1
Perhaps the most merciless robber of sleep, researchers say, is the complexity of the day. Whenever pressures from work, family, friends and community mount, many people consider sleep the least expensive item on his program. In our society, youre considered dynamic if you say you only need 5.5 hours sleep. If youve got to get 8.5 hours, people think you lack drive and ambition.
To determine the consequences of sleep deficit, researchers have put subjects through a set of psychological and performance tests requiring them, for instance, to add columns of numbers or recall a passage read to them only minutes earlier. Weve found that if youre in sleep deficit, performance suffers, says Dr. David. Short-term memory is weakened, as are abilities to make decisions and to concentrate.
1. The word subjects in line 6 refers to ________.
A. the performance tests used in the study of sleep deficit
B. special branches of knowledge that are being studied
C. people whose behavior or reactions are being studied
D. the psychological consequences of sleep deficit
本題考了一個熟悉的詞subject。它是一個多義詞，可以表示題目、科目等。但這些義項在這裡都不合適。要確定它的意思，最關鍵的是要準確弄清它所在句子前後部分的意思和關係。這句話前一部分說，要確定睡眠不足引起的後果，研究人員讓subjects通過一系列的心理和能力的'測驗，要求them將幾欄數字加起來或回憶幾分鐘前所聽到過的文章。所以，這裡subjects是人，是正在被研究的物件。選項C是正確答案。