阅读理解
The reason people exist at all is because of two important things, memory and language, which have been vital in the evolution (进化) of humanity. As an example, our ancestors needed language to explain how to light a fire to keep their caves warm, and a memory to remember how to do it So we have a memory because if we didn''t we would never have evolved far enough for you to ask this question in the first place!
So, how does it work? Well the processes involved in human memory are very complex. People sometimes compare the human brain to a computer, and memory to floppy discs, but this is a bit misleading. Despite big advances in recent years memory is still a bit of mystery, and there are disagreements among the experts about exactly what is going on.
Memory is seen as a function of the brain and is defined as the ability to store and retrieve information. But there is no particular bit of the brain which is thought to be where data is stored. Many people think that there are different types of memory, after all there are lots of different types of input, so we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. And we tend not to remember things as single, simple bits, but in a more complex way.
So you may remember the first time you had, say, a very hot chili con carne(红辣椒), but not just that simple fact, you''d find you''d remember it as part of a more complex set of things. So you''d probably remember that the first time you had chili was at a friend''s birthday party, when you wore green jeans. So memory is very complex, and it doesn''t seem to belong in any one part of the brain.
But you couldn''t possibly store all this complex information in your brain. Instead it seems like your brain takes lots of information into your short term memory, but then picks the most important information out of that to go into long term memory. Nobody is quite sure how long term memory works. Because we can remember so much information, some scientists think that it must be stored in very small things. Some think that memories are stored by changing the ways brain cells link together, but it is difficult to study this in the laboratory.
单选题
Why is it that memory has been vital in the evolution of humanity?
单选题
In Paragraph 4, the author uses the example of "chili con came" in order to show that:
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】逻辑判断题。文章的第三段的结尾指出：remember…in a more complex way，第四段用了红辣椒一例，并分析我们的记忆不仅包括红辣椒，还包括当时的其他场景，因此说明记忆是复杂的。第四段的结尾再次出现memory is very complex，说明举例的目的。
单选题
Experts who study how memory works________.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】细节题。文章的第五段提到长期记忆和短期记忆的区别，指出关于记忆的研究有不同观点：有些科学家因此认为信息是储存在很小的单元中，另一些科学家认为人脑通过改变细胞连接的方式储存信息，但是目前在实验室还无法研究这些问题，因此我们推断C和D是错误的。同时，段落中出现Nobody is quite sure how long term memory woks，说明B是正确答案。
单选题
Which of the following is the best title for this passage?