It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions, the basis for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory.
Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use. It not only includes “remembering” things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves, memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed (嗅出) something suspicious in the grain pile.
Memory exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines. Computers, for example, contain devices for storing data for later use. It is interesting to compare the memory storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being. The instant access memory of large computer may hold up to 100,000 “words”--- string of alphabetic or numerical characters--- ready for instant use. An average U.S teenager probably recognizes the meaning of about 100,000 words of English. However, this is but a fraction of the total amount of information that the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight.
The use of words is the basis of the advanced problem solving intelligence of human beings. A large part of a person’s memory is in terms of words and combinations of words. But while language greatly expands the number and the king of things a person can remember, it also requires a huge memory capacity. It may well be this capacity that distinguishes humans, setting them apart from other animals.
1.Which of the following is TRUE about memory?
2.According to the passage, memory is helpful in one's life in the following aspects EXCEPT that （ ）.
3.What is the author's view about computers and human beings in terms of intelligence?
4.What is the major characteristic of man’s memory capacity according to the author?
5.Human beings make themselves different from other animals by （ ）.
问题1选项
A.It helps us perceive things happening around us every day
B.It is based on the decisions we made in the past
C.It is rooted in our past habits and skills
D.It connects our past experiences with the present
问题2选项
A.it involves a change in one's behavior
B.it keeps information for later use
C.it warns people not to do things repeatedly
D.it enables one to remember events that happened in the past
问题3选项
A.Computers have better memory than a child does
B.Computers are as intelligent as a teenager is
C.Computers can understand as many as 100,000 words
D.Human beings are far superior to computers
问题4选项
A.It can be expanded by language
B.It can remember all the combined words
C.It may keep all the information in the past
D.It may change what has been stored in it
问题5选项
A.having the ability to perceive danger
B.having a far greater memory capacity
C.having the ability to recognize faces and places on sight
D.having the ability to draw on past experiences
第1题:D
第2题:C
第3题:D
第4题:A
第5题:B
第1题:
推理判断题。文章第一段第二句话提到“大量日常认知的意义、我们做决定的依据和我们的习惯和技能的根源都是我们过去的经历，这些都是被记忆带到现在来的”（The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions, the basis for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory），由此可知，记忆能够将过去与现在联系起来，因此选项D符合题意。
第2题:
细节事实题。文章第二段第二句话提到“记忆不仅仅是记住算数和历史事实这类事情，还包括动物典型行为的改变”（It not only includes “remembering” things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves），可知选项A“它涉及行为的改变”是正确的，排除；文章第二段第一句话提到“记忆被定义为是一种将信息保存留待以后使用的能力”（Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use），由此可知选项B正确，排除；文章第一段提到了依靠记忆，可以把过去的经验与现在联系起来，选项D“记住过去发生的事情”正确，排除。因此，选项C符合题意。
第3题:
推理判断题。文章第三段讲述了计算机强大的存储功能。计算机跟青少年都能记忆十万左右的英语单词，但是单词只是人类记忆中很小的一部分，人类还能记忆很多其他的内容，比如，能一眼就分辨出不同的人脸和地方（However, this is but a fraction of the total amount of information that the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight），可知人类比电脑要强，因此选项D符合题意。
第4题:
细节事实题。文章最后一段提到“当语言极大的扩大人能够记住的事情和事情最重要的部分的能力时，这需要有巨大的记忆存储量”（But while language greatly expands the number and the king of things a person can remember, it also requires a huge memory capacity），因此选项A“能够扩大存储量”符合题意。
第5题:
细节事实题。文章最后一句话提到“可能就是这种记忆存储量将人类与其他动物区分开来”（It may well be this capacity that distinguishes humans, setting them apart from other animals），因此选项B符合题意。
