Question

“What’s the name of the supermarket? I can’t remember right now.” Have you ever heard your grandparents ask questions like this sometimes? Usually, we think that older people’s memory becomes had because their brains get weak. But now a team of scientists at the University of Tubingen in Germany has a new idea. “The human brain works slower in old age,” says Michael Ramscar, the team’s lead scientist, “only because it has stored more information over time.” The findings are based on a series of computer tests related to learning and memory.

Scientists had the computers read a certain amount of words and learn new things each day. When the computer “read” a small amount of data（數(shù)據(jù)），its performance on cognitive（認(rèn)知）tests was similar to that of a young adult . But if the computer took in larger amounts of data, its performance was similar to that of an older adult. Often it was slower, but not because its processing ability had dropped. Rather, increased “experience” had caused the computer’s database to grow, giving it more data to process-which takes more time. This is similar to how old people process information.

Imagine that one person knows just two people’s birthdays and can get them right each time he or she is asked. Another person knows the birthdays of 2,000 people , but can only match the right person to the right birthday 9 times out of 10. Can you say the first person has a better memory than the second person?

“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.

根據(jù)材料內(nèi)容選擇最佳答案，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。

1.Why is the poor memory of elderly people mentioned at the beginning?

A.To lead in the discussion of memory. B.To describe the way elderly people live.

C.To express his or her care about the elderly. D.To draw the public attention to elderly people

2.How did the scientists prove （論證）the new idea?

A.By telling stories. B.By doing experiments.

C.Be making surveys. D.By listing others’ opinions.

3.What does the underlined word “it” refer to?

A.The data. B.The brain. C.The computer. D.The information.

4.The example in Paragraph 3 shows ___________.

A.Memorizing birthdays is easy B.the first person has a better memory

C.Who has a better memory is uncertain D.the second person can memorize 10% birthdays

5.What does the text mainly tell us ?

A.How computers process data. B.How to improve the memory.

C.Old people can remember things easily. D.Much information makes the brain slower.

Answer 1