Lostwalletswhichcontainapictureofababyaremorelikelytobe...

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Lost wallets which contain a picture of a baby are more likely to be returned to their owners, scientists have discovered.

    Researchers left 240 wallets on the streets of Edinburgh last year to see how many were returned to their owners. Some of the wallets contained one of four photographs—a baby, a cute little dog, a family and a portrait of an elderly couple. Other wallets contained a card suggesting the owner had recently made a charity donation, while a control sample(對照組) contained nothing at all.

    Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist who was in charge of the experiment, said 42 percent of the wallets were posted back in total. Those containing the picture of the infant, or the baby were most likely to bring about an honest reaction from the finder, with 88 percent being returned, followed by those containing pictures of the little dog at 53 percent. Of those featuring the family snapshot, 48 percent were sent to the return address and only 28 percent of those with the picture of the elderly couple. Wallets containing the charity cards and the control sample were least likely to be returned, with rates of 20 and 15 percent.

Prof Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, said, “The baby kicked off a caring feeling in people, which is not surprising from an evolutionary perspective(角度). We were amazed by the high percentage of wallets that came back.”

The wallets were planted at random about a quarter of a mile apart. Snapshots were inserted into a clear plastic window inside the wallets, none of which contained money.

29. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. Researchers left 240 wallets on the streets of Edinburgh last year.

B. Professor Richard Wiseman carried out an experiment with 240 wallets.

C. Lost wallets containing a picture of a baby are more likely to be returned.

D. Wallets with contain nothing are mostly returned to their owners.

30. The passage is made believable by       .

A. telling stories     B. using figures   C. asking questions   D. giving examples

31. The underlined phrase “kicked off” in Paragraph 4 most probably means “       .”

A. caused           B. showed       C. avoided          D. accepted

32. It can be inferred that         .

A. people who returned the wallets are interested in psychology

B. dogs are more respected in western countries than the elderly

C. Professor Wiseman had expected the result before the experiment

D. the result of the experiment can be different if wallets contain money

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