单选题 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{{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}events much earlier than the year or so before entering school,{{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}children younger than three or four{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}retain any specific, personal experiences.
A variety of explanations have been{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}by psychologists for this "childhood amnesia". One argues that the hippo-campus, the region of the brain which is{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}for forming memories, does not mature until about the age of two. But the most popular theory{{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}that, since adults don't think like children, they cannot{{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}childhood memories. Adults think in words, and their life memories are like stories or{{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}one event follows{{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}as in a novel or film. But when they search through their mental{{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}for early childhood memories to add to this verbal life story. they don't find any that fit the{{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}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{{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}for childhood amnesia. She argues that there simply aren't any early childhood memories to (13) . According to Dr. Simms, children need to learn to use someone else's spoken description of their personal{{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}in order to turn their own short-term, quickly forgotten {{U}}{{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}of them into long-term memories. In other{{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}, children have to talk about their experiences and hear others talk about{{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}—Mother talking about the afternoon {{U}}{{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}looking for seashells at the beach or Dad asking them about their day at Ocean Park. Without this{{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}reinforcement, says Dr. Simms, children cannot form{{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}memories of their personal experiences.
{{B}}Notes:{{/B}} childhood amnesia 儿童失忆症。

单选题

A. figure
B. interpret
C. recall
D. affirm

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 词义搭配。recall vt．想起。例如：recall old faces(想起老朋友的面貌)；又如：I remember her face but I cannot recall where I met her.(我记得她的面貌，但想不起在什么地方见过她。)figure vt．图示，塑造(形象)；想象。如:figure something to oneself(心中描绘某物。)interpret vt．解释，说明；affirm vt.断言，肯定。

单选题

A. largely
B. rarely
C. merely
D. really

单选题

A. refuted
B. defied
C. proposed
D. witnessed

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 词义搭配。propose vt．提出；refute vt．反驳；defy vt．(公然)对抗，蔑视，如：defy the law(目无法纪)；witness vt．目睹；(for)(签名)作证支持……，(against)(签名)作证反对……。例如：1)Your brother Will witness for you in this charge．(在这次控告中你兄弟将为你作证辩护。)2)He will witness against you if only out of spite．(假如出于恶意，他将作证说明你有罪。)