Read the following passage about the article "Can your child be a genius?" and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31
The 21st-century discoveries about the human brain and its functioning have brought to light the astounding fact that human abilities are not fixed at birth. In other words, what you are able to do with your life is not fixed when you are born. It is not all in the genes. It is not just nature: nurture plays a significant part in the molding of what a person is, and what he/she can be.
Brain plasticity or neuroplasticity refers to the amazing ability of the human brain to modify its structure and functions according to the changes within the body and in the external environment. ('Plasticity' comes from the Greek word 'plastos' meaning molded).
In his book "The Brain that Changes Itself psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., offers an introduction to the brilliant scientists advocating neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed. The book describes real life stories of stroke patients learning to speak again and the amazing story of a woman born with half a brain that restructured itself to work as a whole. It is a book that changes the way we think about our brain, its nature, and its potential.
[I]. The genes we inherit from our parents are finite, no doubt about that. However, our brain's ability to develop is infinite. New brain cells are being born all the time. and to keep them alive and growing, we have to stimulate them. [II]. Herein lies the promise of neuroplasticity in the moulding of children into adults who are capable of realizing their potential. [III]. What Mozart, Einstein and da Vinci had was innate potential plus the right environment. [IV].
All geniuses started life in exactly the same way. They had parents who supported the development of their individual gifts and talents. They had the right environment and stimuli that led to the optimal development of themselves.
(Adapted from kidsworldfun.com)
