完形填空 What's your earliest childhood memory? Can you remember learning to walk? Or talk? The first time you heard thunder or watched a television program? Adults seldom 1 events much earlier than the year or so before entering school, 2 children younger than three or four 3 retain any specific, personal experiences.
A variety ofexplanations have been 4 by psychologists for this 'childhood amnesia', One argues that the luppocampus, the region ofthe brain which is 5 for forming memories, does not mature until about the age of two. But the most popular theory 6 that, since adults don't think like children, they cannot 7 childhood memories. Adults thinkin words, and their life memories are like stories or 8 —one event follows another as in a novel or film. 9 , when they search through their mental 10 for early childhood memories to add to this verbal life story, they don't find any that fit the 11 . It's like trying to find a Chinese word in an English dictionary.
Now psychologist Annette Simms of the New York State University offers a new 12 for childhood amnesia. She argues that there simply aren't any early childhood memories to recall. According to Dr. Simms, children need to learn to use someone else's spoken 13 oftheir personal 14 in order to turn their own short-term, quickly forgotten 15 of them into long-term memories. 16 , children have to talk about their 17 and hear others talk about them—Mother talking about the afternoon 18 looking for seashells at the beach or Dad asking them about their day at Ocean Park. Without this 19 reinforcement, says Dr. Simms, children cannot form 20 memories oftheir personal experiences.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】词汇辨识题。recall意为“想起”，指把忘记的东西又想起来，其动作含有有意识的努力和意志，常与can，could等词连用。例如：I remember her face but I cannot recall where I met her. 根据上下文，此处需要填入与前面的remember意思相近的动词，意为成年人很少能想起一些事，故选项C recall正确。选项A figure意为“计算；描述；估计”，例如：Can you figure (out) why he did it?选项B interpret意为“解释，说明”，例如：It's difficult to interpret these statistics without knowing how they were obtained. 选项D affirm通常为回答某一问题时“断言，肯定”，例如：He affirmed that he was telling the truth.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】逻辑关系题。just as意为“就像”，例如：Things turned out just as I expected. 根据上下文的意思，成年人与小孩子一样都不记得童年的事，故选项D just as正确。选项A since意为“既然”，常用于完成时态，例如：She is enjoying the job more since she's got more responsibility. 选项B even if意为“即使”，引导让步状语从句，例如：Even if you take a taxi, you'll still miss your train. 选项C as though意为“似乎，好像”，例如：They stared at me as though I was crazy.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】词汇辨识题。rarely是否定副词，意为“很少”，与主句中的seldom(很少)前后照应。选项A largely意为“主要地”，例如：The accident was largely due to his carelessness. 选项C only意为“仅仅”，例如：He is not only a good artist, but a great one. 选项D really意为“真正地”。全句可译为：成年人很少能想起比入学前一年左右更早的事情，就像三四岁以前的孩子很少能记得任何具体的个人经历一样。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】词汇辨识题。propose sth./ doing sth./that (should)...表示“提出意见”，例如：I propose a short rest before we continue the work. 根据文章意思：心理学家提出了多种解释，故选项C proposed正确。选项A refute意为“反驳，驳斥”，例如：We refuted his claim that the world was flat. 选项B defy意为“公然违抗，蔑视”，例如：How long can those criminals continue to defy the law! 选项D witness意为“目击；作证”，例如：He witnessed to having seen the man enter the room. 全句可译为：心理学家已经对这种“儿童失忆症”提出了各种各样的解释。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】固定搭配题。be responsible for意为“有责任的；成为…的原因”，例如：The pilot of an airliner is responsible for the safety of the passengers. 再如：Mechanical defects were responsible for the accident. 根据上下文的意思和结构，此句意指大脑中的一个负责记忆的区域，作为hippocampus的同位语，故选项A responsible正确。选项B suitable意为“合适的”，常用作be suitable to/for；选项C favorable意为“满意的；有利的”，例如：We can sail there in an hour if the wind is favorable to us. 选项D available意为“可用的；有空的”，例如：It's vital that food is made available to the famine area. 全句可译为：有心理学家认为，大脑中的海马体，即大脑中形成记忆的区域，直到大约两岁时才成熟。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】词汇辨识题。maintain意为“坚持认为；维持”，例如：He maintained that he was innocent. =He maintained his innocence. 再如：We should maintain friendly relations with neighboring countries. 根据上下文，前一句讲有人认为儿童失忆症是因为人脑中的海马体不成熟，此句讲别的理论的看法，故选项D maintain正确。选项A decline意为“婉拒；衰落”，例如：I offered him a lift to his house, but he declined with thanks. 再如：The party's popularity has declined in the opinion polls. 选项B assess意为“评估”，例如：They assessed the cost of the flood damage at ￡50,000. 再如：Examinations are not the only means of assessing someone's ability. 选项C estimate意为“估计，评价”，例如：It was difficult to estimate how many trees had been damaged.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】词汇辨识题。access作名词时，意为“接近；入口”；作动词时，意为“(计算机)存取数据、文件”，例如：The system has been designed to give the user quick and easy access to the required information. 再如：Branch officials can access the central data bank. 此处需要一个与memory搭配的动词，故选项C access正确。选项A reflect意为“反映；深思熟虑”，例如：His unhappy face reflected his inner despair. 再如：The manager demanded time to reflect on what to do. 选项B attain意为“获得”，有较强的抱负和渴望的意味，例如：attain one's goal/independence. 选项D acquire尤指通过努力“获得；养成习惯、嗜好等”，例如：acquire a habit(养成一个习惯), acquire a little Spanish(学会了一点西班牙语)。全句可译为：但最流行的理论坚持认为，由于成年人不像儿童那样思考，所以他们不能存取童年的记忆。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】逻辑关系题。narrative意为“叙事”，常指按顺序讲述，例如：She gave a narrative of her strange experience. 根据下文的one event follows another...，可知这里指按顺序来讲述，同时空前的or也暗示该空要选个stories的近义词，故选项A narratives符合题意。选项B forecast意为“预报；预料”，例如：a weather forecast(天气预报)；选项C communication意为“交流；(pl.)通讯设施”；选项D description意为“记述，叙述，描写”，常指用语言来描述，例如：Please give me a brief/full description of the accident.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】词汇辨识题。D项file意为“文件夹”，此处指大脑中的记忆库。选项A deposit意为“沉淀物；押金”，例如：There are rich deposits of gold in those hills. 选项B dream意为“设想”；选项C flash意为“闪光”，现也用于计算机类语言，例如：Last week, Intel Corp. said it had developed a way to double the storage capacity of so-called flash memory chips. (英特尔公司上周称已开发出使所谓的闪存芯片存储量翻倍的方法。)

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】同义词辨析题。pattern意为“模式，方式”，例如：The pattern of family life has been changing over recent years. 根据原句意思，找不到适合描述童年的模式，故选项B pattern正确。选项A model意为“模型”；选项C frame意为“框架”；选项D formula意为“公式，惯例”，例如：a formula for settling a border dispute。全句可译为：但是当他们通过大脑文件库(即记忆)寻找早期的童年记忆，增加到这个口头生活故事里时，他们没有找到适合这种模式的任何记忆。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】固定搭配题。offer explanation for意为“为…提出解释”，儿童失忆症并不是一个假设，而是一个事实，上文提到针对其成因有许多种explanations，所以选项C explanation正确。选项A emphasis意为“强调”，常与介词on搭配；选项B assertion意为“断言”，常用作make an assertion that...；选项D assumption意为“假设”，例如：I was under the assumption that you were coming tomorrow. 全句可译为：现在美国纽约州立大学的心理学家安妮特·西姆斯针对“儿童失忆症”提出了一种新的解释。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】语义搭配题。experience意为“(不可数名词)经验；(可数名词)经历”，此处需要一个由personal修饰的名词，所以选项D experiences正确。同时，正确答案也可以参见本文的最后一句话。选项A instinct意为“本能”；选项B feeling意为“情感”；选项C sensation意为“感觉”。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】语义复现题。impression意为“印象”，与上题的experiences(经历)前后照应，故选项A impressions正确。选项B belief意为“信念”；选项C mind意为“头脑；想法”；选项D insight意为“洞察力；深刻见解”，例如：She has a woman's quick insight into character. 全句可译为：根据西姆斯博士的看法，儿童必须学会利用别人对其个人经历的口头描述，从而把他们自己的短期的、迅速遗忘的印象转变成长期记忆。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】词语搭配题。in other words意为“换句话说”，根据上下文，前一句谈及儿童必须学会利用别人对其经历的口头描述，下一句谈到儿童必须谈论其个人经历，并听他人谈论这些经历，后者是对前面句子的解释，故选项C In other words正确。选项A中sense意为“感觉”，in all senses的意思为“从各方面”；选项B中case意为“事例；情境”，in some cases的意思为“在有些情况下”；选项D中aspect意为“方面”，in all aspects的意思为“在所有方面”。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】词语搭配题。spend...doing sth. 意为“花(多少时间)做某事”，此处需要过去分词修饰the afternoon一词，只有选项D spent符合句意及结构。选项A take表示此意的用法应为It takes/took sb. some time to do sth.；选项B utilize意为“利用”，例如：utilize solar energy；选项C apply意为“应用；申请”，例如：Scientific discoveries are often applied to industrial production methods. 全句可译为：换句话说，孩子们必须谈论他们的个人经历，并且听其他人谈论这些经历——母亲谈论下午在沙滩拾贝壳或父亲询问他们白天在海洋公园玩得怎么样。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】语义复现题。verbal意为“口头的”，与前文的spoken description, talk, ask等词相照应，故选项B verbal正确。选项A habitual意为“习惯性的”；选项C unique意为“独一无二的”；选项D particular意为“特别的”，例如：a matter of particular importance。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】语义搭配题。permanent意为“永久的，长期不变的”，例如：permanent brain damage(永久性脑损伤)。此句指经过口头强化训练，孩子们可以形成关于其个人经历的什么样的记忆。根据西姆斯博士的观点，这样才可形成永久性记忆，从而克服儿童失忆症，故选项A permanent正确。选项B mental意为“精神上的；智力的”；选项C spiritual意为“精神上的，心灵的”，例如：spiritual needs；选项D] conscious意为“有意识的”，常用作be conscious of sth.。全句可译为：西姆斯博士说，没有这种口头的强化训练，孩子们就不能形成对他们个人经历的永久性记忆。