考研英语阅读命题思路透析和真题揭秘(39)

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 as effect on memory as to lead to skillful 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 intffpreted 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 correct 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 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.

69. From the last paragraph we know that__.
[A] forgetfulness is a response to learning
[B] the memory storage system is an exactly balanced input-output system
[C] memory is a compensation for forgetting
[D] the capacity of a memory storage system is limited because forgetting occurs

[答案] A

[解题思路]

本题对应于文章最后一段。B选项对应于该段最后一句话"In this view, continual adjustments are made between learning or memory storage (input) and forgetting (output)"（这些数据为当代的这种记忆输入--输出平衡模型提供了有力的支持），但选项中exactly这个词并不符合原文意思，因此B为错误选项。C选项对应于该段第一句话"Another line of thought assumes a memory storage system of limited capacity that provides adaptive flexibility specifically through forgetting"（另一种思路认为，容量有限的记忆储存系统通过遗忘来提供适应的灵活性），但选项的内容正好与原文相反，而D选项则颠倒了这句的因果关系，因此两个选项都可以排除。A选项的表述则正好反映了第一句话的内容，因而是正确答案。

[题目译文]

从最后一段中我们可以了解到             。
[A] 遗忘是对学习的一种反应
[B] 记忆存储系统是一个精确平衡的输入-输出系统
[C] 记忆是对于遗忘的补偿
[D] 记忆存储系统由于遗忘的发生而功能有限