Question

    “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（模拟） 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（ 认知） tests is similar of a young adult. But if the computer learned the experiences we might encounter（经历） 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（数据库） 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.协调的 B.相似的 C.奇怪的 D.迥异的

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.B

2.C

3.D

4.B

5.A

【解析】

本文讲述的是有关老人记忆力的科学知识。人们通常认为，老人记忆力变坏是因为大脑变弱了，其实经过科学研究发现：这是因为老人大脑中存储的信息太多，读取变慢了。

1.推理判断题。根据文中What’s the name of our neighbor?以及Have you ever heard your grandparents ask questions like this sometimes?在文章的开头就用几个疑问句，这是一种写作手法，主要是为了引起读者的注意力，让读者很想知道下文的内容，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据文中The findings are based on a series of computer simulations（模拟） of learning and memory.这些发现是基于一系列学习和记忆的计算机模拟。可知是通过计算机模拟人类的学习和记忆，故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据文中“The human brain works slower in old age,” said lead scientist Michael Ramscar, “but only because they have stored more information over time.”“人脑在老年时的工作速度较慢，”首席科学家迈克尔·拉姆斯卡（Michael Ramscar）说，“但这只是因为他们随着时间的推移储存了更多的信息。”可知是因为信息储存的太多了，故选D。

4.词义猜测题。根据文中When the computer “reads”only so much, its performance on cognitive（ 认知） tests is similar of a young adult.当计算机“阅读”如此之多时，它在认知（认知）测试中的表现与年轻人相似。可知，similar是指“相似的”，故选B。

5.最佳标题题。根据文中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.可知德国的科学家们从一个崭新的角度，阐释了老年人记忆力下降的原因，故选A。