单选题   That experiences influence subsequent behaviour is evidence of an obvious but nevertheless remarkable activity called remembering. Learning could not occur without the function popularly named memory. Constant practice has such an effect on memory as to lead to skilful performance on the piano, to recitation of a poem, and even to reading and understanding these words. So-called intelligent behaviour demands memory, remembering being a primary requirement for reasoning. The ability to solve any problem or even to recognize that a problem exists depends on memory. Typically, the decision to cross a street is based on remembering many earlier experiences.
    Practice (or review)tends to build and maintain memory for a task or for any learned material. Over a period of no practice, what has been learned tends to be forgotten; and the adaptive consequences may not seem obvious. Yet, dramatic instances of sudden forgetting can seem to be adaptive. In this sense, the ability to forget can be interpreted to have survived through a process of natural selection in animals. Indeed, when one's memory of an emotionally painful experience lead to serious anxiety, forgetting may produce relief. Nevertheless, an evolutionary interpretation might make it difficult to understand how the commonly gradual process of forgetting survived natural selection.
    In thinking about the evolution of memory together with all its possible aspects, it is helpful to consider what would happen if memories failed to fade. Forgetting clearly aids orientation in time, since old memories weaken and the .new tend to stand out, providing clues for inferring duration. Without forgetting, adaptive ability would suffer, for example, learned behaviour that might have been corrected a decade ago may no longer be. Cases are recorded of people who (by ordinary standards)forgot so little that their everyday activities were full of confusion. This forgetting seems to serve that survival of the individual and the species.
    Another line of thought assumes a memory storage system of limited capacity that provides adaptive flexibility specifically through forgetting. In this view, continual adjustments are made between learning or memory storage (input) and forgetting (output). Indeed, there is an evidence that the rate at which individuals forget is directly related to how much they have learned. Such data offers gross support of contemporary models of memory that assume an input-output balance.
单选题     The word 'recitation' in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】语义题。原文所在处是Constant practice has such an effect on memory...to recitation of a poem...。即不断的联系对记忆的影响,如诗歌的背诵。“recitation”是背诵的意思,但即便不知道词汇意思,根据memory(记忆力),也可推断出诗歌背诵。选项A,反复;选项B,名誉;选项D,娱乐,均不符合题意。选项C,记忆、背诵为正确答案。
单选题     What should we do in order to remain remembering?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。题干问,为了保证记忆,我们应该做什么?原文定位于第二段第一句Practice (or review) tends to build and maintain memory for a task or for any learned material. 可知,答案应选C,实践与复习。
单选题     Which one of the following is not an advantage of forgetting?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。下列哪一项不属于遗忘的好处?此题应用排除法。选项A,对应第二段第五句;选项B,对应第三段第三句,原文为反义表达,即如果没有遗忘,适应性能力将会受到损害,正面表达即选项B,遗忘可以帮助我们提高适应能力;选项C,对应最后一段第二句。选项D,遗忘让我们懂得珍惜已拥有的,未在文中提到。因此,正确答案是D。
单选题     What can we infer from the last paragraph?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推断题。题干问,从最后一段,能推断出什么?选项A,遗忘与学习之间的关系并不是一成不变的。对应第二句continual adjustments are made between...,即在遗忘与学习之间不断进行调整,可知选项A正确。
单选题     What is the proper title for this passage?
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】主旨题。题干问,适合这篇文章的题目?整篇文章围绕遗忘展开,且在第二、三、四段都讲述了遗忘的作用,所以选项B是正确答案。选项C为干扰项,学习的副作用,文章虽常提及学习,但目的也是为了衬托遗忘,学习并不是这篇文章的主题。选项A与D都在文中出现,但不是文章大意,作为题目则以偏概金。因此,正确答案是B。