Question

【題目】 “What's the name of our neighbor? I can't remember right now.”Have you ever heard your grandparents ask questions like this? Usually, we think older people's memories become bad because their brains get weak. But a team of scientists at the University of Tubingen in Germany has a different idea.

“The human brain works slower in old age,” said lead scientist Michael Ramscar, “but only because they have stored more information over time.”

The findings are based on a series of computer simulations（模擬） of learning and memory.

Scientist let the computers read a certain amount of words and learn new things each day. When the computer “reads”only so much, its performance on cognitive（ 認(rèn)知） tests is similar of a young adult. But if the computer learned the experiences we might encounter（經(jīng)歷） over a lifetime, its perfection is similar to that of an older adult.

Often it was slower because increased“experience” had caused the computer 's database（數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)） to grow, giving it more data to process - which takes time. This is similar to old people.

Imagine a person knows two people's birthdays. Another person knows the birthdays of 2,000 people, but can only match the right person to the right birthday nine times out of 10. Can you say the first person has a better memory than the second person? The basic idea is that“The larger the library you have in your head, the longer it usually takes to find a particular word,” Benedict Carey, a science reporter for The New York Times, wrote in an article about the study.

【1】The writer uses a question at the beginning to________.

A.encourage readers to think of their neighbors

B.make readers interested in the topic

C.prove that older people have bad memories

D.explain why older people like asking questions

【2】How did the scientists do their research?

A.They interviewed old people

B.They asked both young and old people the same questions

C.They used computers to simulate human learning and memory

D.They followed the experiences of a group of old people

【3】According to the research, why do old people forget other people's names easily?

A.Because they have a very poor memory

B.Because they are too old to remember things

C.Because their brains become weaker over time

D.Because there is too much information in their brains

【4】What does the underlined word“similar”in the passage mean in Chinese?

A.協(xié)調(diào)的B.相似的C.奇怪的D.迥異的

【5】What would be the best title for the story?

A.Why do old people have poor memories?

B.Why do old people's brains sore more information?

C.What is the human brain's processing ability?

D.Is it better to be old or young?

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】D

【4】B

【5】A

【解析】

本文講述的是有關(guān)老人記憶力的科學(xué)知識(shí)。人們通常認(rèn)為，老人記憶力變壞是因?yàn)榇竽X變?nèi)趿�，其�?shí)經(jīng)過科學(xué)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)：這是因?yàn)槔先舜竽X中存儲(chǔ)的信息太多，讀取變慢了。

【1】推理判斷題。根據(jù)文中What’s the name of our neighbor?以及Have you ever heard your grandparents ask questions like this sometimes?在文章的開頭就用幾個(gè)疑問句，這是一種寫作手法，主要是為了引起讀者的注意力，讓讀者很想知道下文的內(nèi)容，故選B。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文中The findings are based on a series of computer simulations（模擬） of learning and memory.這些發(fā)現(xiàn)是基于一系列學(xué)習(xí)和記憶的計(jì)算機(jī)模擬�？芍�是通過計(jì)算機(jī)模擬人類的學(xué)習(xí)和記憶，故選C。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文中“The human brain works slower in old age,” said lead scientist Michael Ramscar, “but only because they have stored more information over time.”“人腦在老年時(shí)的工作速度較慢，”首席科學(xué)家邁克爾·拉姆斯卡（Michael Ramscar）說(shuō)，“但這只是因?yàn)樗麄冸S著時(shí)間的推移儲(chǔ)存了更多的信息�！笨芍�是因?yàn)樾畔��?chǔ)存的太多了，故選D。

【4】詞義猜測(cè)題。根據(jù)文中When the computer “reads”only so much, its performance on cognitive（ 認(rèn)知） tests is similar of a young adult.當(dāng)計(jì)算機(jī)“閱讀”如此之多時(shí)，它在認(rèn)知（認(rèn)知）測(cè)試中的表現(xiàn)與年輕人相似。可知，similar是指“相似的”，故選B。

【5】最佳標(biāo)題題。根據(jù)文中Usually, we think older people's memories become bad because their brains get weak. But a team of scientists at the University of Tubingen in Germany has a different idea.可知德國(guó)的科學(xué)家們從一個(gè)嶄新的角度，闡釋了老年人記憶力下降的原因，故選A。