Question

“Years ago when I was at the Grand Canyon, I remembered someone coming up to the canyon’s edge, taking a shot with a camera and then walking away, like ‘got it – done’, barely even glancing at the magnificent scene in front of him,” Linda Henkel, a scientist at Fairfield University, US told Live Science.

Henkel was surprised by how obsessed (痴迷的) people are with taking pictures these days - before dinner, during friends’ birthday parties, on museum tours and so on.

They keep taking pictures because they think that it helps record the moment, but as Henkel’s latest study has just found out, this obsession may prevent their brains remembering what actually happened, reported The Guardian.

In her study, Henkel led a group of college students around a museum and asked them to simply observe 15 objects and photograph 15 others. The next day the students’ memory of the tour was tested, and the results showed that they were less accurate in recognizing the objects and they remembered fewer details about them if they photographed them.

‘‘When people rely on technology to remember them — counting on the camera to record the event and thus not needing to attend to it fully themselves, it can have a negative impact on how well they remember their experiences,” Henkel explained.

But there is also an exception: if students zoomed in to photograph part of an object, their memory actually improved, and those who focused the lens (镜头) on a specific area could even recall parts that weren’t in the frame.

So basically, this study is saying that constantly taking pictures can harm your memory. But shouldn’t reviewing pictures we have taken help wake up our memories? This is true, but only if we spend enough time doing it.

“In order to remember, we have to access and interact with the photos, rather than just collect them,” Henkel told The Telegraph. However, previous research has shown that most people never take the time to look over their digital pictures simply because there are too many of them and they aren’t usually very organized on their computers.

1.Why did the author mention Henkel’s trip to the Grand Canyon at the beginning?

A. To complain about some tourists’ bad habits.

B. To give suggestions on how to enjoy one’s tour.

C. To point out people’s obsession with taking pictures.

D. To describe the beautiful view of the Grand Canyon.

2.What can we learn from Henkel’s study?

A. Reviewing pictures always helps people bring back memories easily.

B. Taking pictures in a museum tour helps students recognize objects better.

C. People should spend more time taking pictures than studying real objects.

D. Pictures focusing on the details of objects probably improve people’s memories.

3.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 probably refers to “________”.

A. the camera    B. technology

C. the event    D. an object

4.What is the article mainly about?

A. People’s obsession with taking pictures and its influence.

B. Possible ways of using pictures to improve one’s memory.

C. Great harm to memory caused by taking pictures constantly.

D. A believable study into the negative impact of lining cameras often.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】本文为议论文。人们都喜欢拍照，拍照有助于记录某一时刻，但拍照对我们的记忆有影响。如果我们只是简单的记录，而不去关注和欣赏的话，则会有负面的影响，如果我们以后还会欣赏这些照片则会有助于唤醒我们的记忆。如果只拍照不欣赏还不如不拍照只是欣赏的好。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段中的句子“Henkel was surprised by how obsessed (着迷的) people are with taking pictures these days – before dinner, during friends birthday parties, on museum tours and so on.”可知，在文中提到Henkel对人们执迷于拍照的惊讶，以此来说明一种现象：人们执迷于拍照的现象。故答案为C。

2.细节判断题。根据第四段中的“But there is also an exception: if students zoomed (缩放) in to photograph part of an object, their memory actually improved”可知，在拍照时，如果只关注某个细节，可能有助于他们记忆的提高。故选D项。

3.猜测词义题。根据第五段第一句“When people rely on technology to remember them 一 counting on the camera to record the event and thus not needing to attend to it fully themselves” 前面说人们要依靠技术来记住它们时，要依靠照相机来记录事件，那么就完全不需要关注这个事件了。分析前后的关系可知，本句是说如果你要用相机来记录事件，就不需要来关注这个它（事件）。A. the camera相机；B. technology技术；C. the event事件； D. an object物体。故选C项。

4.主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文主要叙述现代人痴迷于拍照，是因为拍照有助于记录某一时刻，但不利于他们的记忆。如果放大拍摄对象或拍下来后再欣赏的话就有助于记忆或回忆。即本文主要介绍痴迷拍照及其影响。分析选项 A. People’s obsession with taking pictures and its influence.人们对拍照的执迷及其影响；B. Possible ways of using pictures to improve one’s memory.用照片来改善记忆的可能方法；C. Great harm to memory caused by taking pictures constantly. 经常拍照造成的记忆伤害；D. A believable study into the negative impact of lining cameras often.对经常拍照的负面影响的一个可信的研究。根据短文大意可知，B/C/D三个选项都是片面的。故答案A最切题。