Who would win in a competition to memorize numbers, a chimp (黑猩猩) or a teenager? The teenager? Think again. Scientists have proved that chimps perform better than human beings when it comes to this kind of problem. We may have to rethink what we believe about human memory.
Memory is our ability to learn something, save it and recall it when needed. Our memories are important to our sense of self, our personalities, and our ability to understand the world.
Scientists say that there are different types of memory. There is short-term memory and long-term memory. Your short-term memory saves information for a few seconds or a few minutes. For example, the time it takes to compare the prices of a few items in a store. Long-term memory involves the information you try hard to keep, because it’s meaningful to you (an example is data 数据 about family and friends. ) And then there is visual memory and sound memory. But these are not hard and fast: scientists argue a lot about the nature of memory.
Scientists have also found that people memorize things in different ways. Some memorize better with the help of pictures. Others are helped more by sounds. One thing’s for sure. If you can combine different kinds of memory together, you will remember a lot! So why not try pictures with English words? At the same time listen to recordings of the same group of words. It may help when it comes to memorizing it.
Imagination and association can be useful too. By imagination scientists mean picturing a word in your mind. Association means relating the word to something you already know.
小题1:What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
| A．Human beings are less clever than chimps. |
| B．Human memory is not as good as before. |
| C．Chimps can memorize numbers better than teenagers. |
| D．Chimps perform better than human beings in many aspects. |
小题2:How many kinds of memory are mentioned in the article?
小题3:According to the article, which of the following is the best way to memorize words?
| A．By watching TV. |
| B．By listening to music. |
| C．By writing them out many times. |
| D．By listening and watching pictures. |
小题4:According to the article, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Memory is the most important ability for human beings. |
| B．Long-term memory usually involves more important things. |
| C．Scientists have made sure of the nature of memory. |
| D．Imagination is better than association in memorizing things. |
小题5:Where do we probably read the passage?
| A．A textbook | B．A science magazine |
| C．An advertisement | D．A news report |