单选题Does brain power ______ as we get older? Scientists now have some surprising answers.A descend B decline C reduceD collapse

共用题干
Women's minds work differently from men's.At least,that is what most men are convinced of. Psychologists view the subject either as a matter of frustration or a joke.Now the biologists have moved into this minefield,and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women.But being different,they point out hurriedly,is not the same as being better or worse.
There is,however,a definite structural variation between the male and female brain.The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes一the link between the two halves of the brain.
The two halves are linked by a trunk line of between 200 and 300 million nerves,the corpus callosum.Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibres than it is in men.This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance.The question is"What?",and,if this difference exists,are there others?Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men.Are some of these differences biological and inborn,a result of evolution?We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences.But could we be wrong?
Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions,and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together. For most people,the left half is used for word-handling, analytical and logical activities;the right half works on pictures,patterns and forms.We need both halves working together. And the better the connections,the more harmoniously the two halves work.And,according to research findings,women have the better connections.
But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis.In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at"language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics.If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunk line,there is an unalterable distinction between the sexes.
We shan't know for a while,partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subjects and the functioning of the two halves of the brain,and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum.But this striking difference must have some effect and,because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect,we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.

Schoolgirls everywhere tend to be better at language subjects than boys?
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Exercising Your Memory
1. Aging does not mean a dramatic decline in memory power,unless you help it happen by letting your mind go.
2. That's not to say that memory doesn't change throughout life.Researchers divide memory into categories based on the length of time when memories are stored.One system divides it up as short-term(less than one minute;remembering a telephone number while you dial,for in-stance),long-term(over a period of years)and very long-term memory(over a lifetime).
3. Short-term memory isn't mastered until about age 7,but after that you never lose it. Long-term memory,however,involves more effort and skill and changes more through life.It's not until the early teens（十几岁）that most people develop a mature long-term memory.
4. First,we must get information into our heads through learning.Learning strategies can get rusty（生锈）without constant use. High school and college students,who are forced to repeated-ly exercise their long-term memory abilities(at least long enough to get them through a final ex- am),usually do well on memory tests.The longer you stay in school,the more chance you get to polish your learning skills.It's no wonder that more highly educated people have more effective memory skills throughout life.
5. Although older people in general learn somewhat more slowly than they did when younger,a dramatic difference exists between those who stay intellectually active—reading,discussing,tak- ing classes, thinking—and those who do not. Giving the brain daily workout（锻炼）is just as important as exercising your muscles.Brainwork keeps your learning strategies in shape,and this helps your memory to function at full capacity.
6.The next part of a healthy long-term memory is retention(记忆力）,the ability to store what you have learned.Memory researchers still do not know whether memories are los—whether they still exist in the brain but our mental searching cannot turn them up,or have disappeared entirely as our brain ages.
7. The third necessity for memory is recall,the ability to bring to mind the memories we have stored .Again,while aging has widely different effects on the recall abilities of different people, research indicates that the older we get,the longer it takes to recall facts.But slower recall is still recall.In fact,aging does not seem to have any effect on forgetting at all,which takes place at the same rate in younger and older people.

The rate of forgetting is the same_________.
A: for younger and older people
B:to the proper function of your memory
C: is called long-term memory
D:the capacity to store what you have learned
E:belongs to very long-term memory
F:the ability to remain mentally healthy

共用题干
Exercising Your Memory
1. Aging does not mean a dramatic decline in memory power,unless you help it happen by letting your mind go.
2. That's not to say that memory doesn't change throughout life.Researchers divide memory into categories based on the length of time when memories are stored.One system divides it up as short-term(less than one minute;remembering a telephone number while you dial,for in-stance),long-term(over a period of years)and very long-term memory(over a lifetime).
3. Short-term memory isn't mastered until about age 7,but after that you never lose it. Long-term memory,however,involves more effort and skill and changes more through life.It's not until the early teens（十几岁）that most people develop a mature long-term memory.
4. First,we must get information into our heads through learning.Learning strategies can get rusty（生锈）without constant use. High school and college students,who are forced to repeated-ly exercise their long-term memory abilities(at least long enough to get them through a final ex- am),usually do well on memory tests.The longer you stay in school,the more chance you get to polish your learning skills.It's no wonder that more highly educated people have more effective memory skills throughout life.
5. Although older people in general learn somewhat more slowly than they did when younger,a dramatic difference exists between those who stay intellectually active—reading,discussing,tak- ing classes, thinking—and those who do not. Giving the brain daily workout（锻炼）is just as important as exercising your muscles.Brainwork keeps your learning strategies in shape,and this helps your memory to function at full capacity.
6.The next part of a healthy long-term memory is retention(记忆力）,the ability to store what you have learned.Memory researchers still do not know whether memories are los—whether they still exist in the brain but our mental searching cannot turn them up,or have disappeared entirely as our brain ages.
7. The third necessity for memory is recall,the ability to bring to mind the memories we have stored .Again,while aging has widely different effects on the recall abilities of different people, research indicates that the older we get,the longer it takes to recall facts.But slower recall is still recall.In fact,aging does not seem to have any effect on forgetting at all,which takes place at the same rate in younger and older people.

Paragraph 6________
A: Importance of staying intellectually active
B: Effects of aging on a person's recall ability
C: Short-term memory versus long-term memory
D: Retention as the second necessity for memory
E: Link between learning strategies and effective memory skills
F: Significance of exercising your muscles

共用题干
第三篇

Smart Exercise

Doctors are starting to find more and more information that suggests a connection
between exercise and brain development.Judy Cameron,a scientist at Oregon Health and
Science University,studies brain development.According to her research,it seems that
exercise can make blood vessels,including those in the brain,stronger and more fully
developed.Dr. Cameron claims this allows people who exercise to concentrate better. As
she says:"While we already know that exercise is good for the heart,exercise can literally
cause physical changes in the brain."
The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies.Babies who
do activities that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain
development than babies who are less physically active.With babies,even a{ittle
movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes , a pediatrician（儿科医师）,believes in
the importance of exercise.She thinks that many learning disabilities that children have in
elementary school or high school can be traced back to a lack of movement as babies.
"Babies need movement that stimulates their five senses.They need to establish a
connection between motion and memory.In this way,as they get older,children will begin
to associate physical activity with higher learning,"says Margaret.
Older people can beef up their brains as well.Cornell University studied a group of
seniors ranging in age from seventy to seventy-nine. Their study showed a short-term
memory increase of up to 40 percent after exercising just three hours a week.The exercise
does not have to be very difficult,but it does have to increase the heart rate.Also,just like
the motion for infants,exercise for older people should involve some complexity.Learning
some new skills or motions helps to open up memory paths in the brain that may not have
been used for a long time.
For most people,any type of physical activity that increases the heart rate is helpful.
The main goal is to increase the brain's flow of blood.And your brain can benefit from as
little as two to three hours of exercise a week.

The expression"beef up"in paragraph 3 means
A:control.
B: strengthen.
C:operate.
D: encourage.

共用题干
Exercising Your Memory
1. Aging does not mean a dramatic decline in memory power,unless you help it happen by letting your mind go.
2. That's not to say that memory doesn't change throughout life.Researchers divide memory into categories based on the length of time when memories are stored.One system divides it up as short-term(less than one minute;remembering a telephone number while you dial,for in-stance),long-term(over a period of years)and very long-term memory(over a lifetime).
3. Short-term memory isn't mastered until about age 7,but after that you never lose it. Long-term memory,however,involves more effort and skill and changes more through life.It's not until the early teens（十几岁）that most people develop a mature long-term memory.
4. First,we must get information into our heads through learning.Learning strategies can get rusty（生锈）without constant use. High school and college students,who are forced to repeated-ly exercise their long-term memory abilities(at least long enough to get them through a final ex- am),usually do well on memory tests.The longer you stay in school,the more chance you get to polish your learning skills.It's no wonder that more highly educated people have more effective memory skills throughout life.
5. Although older people in general learn somewhat more slowly than they did when younger,a dramatic difference exists between those who stay intellectually active—reading,discussing,tak- ing classes, thinking—and those who do not. Giving the brain daily workout（锻炼）is just as important as exercising your muscles.Brainwork keeps your learning strategies in shape,and this helps your memory to function at full capacity.
6.The next part of a healthy long-term memory is retention(记忆力）,the ability to store what you have learned.Memory researchers still do not know whether memories are los—whether they still exist in the brain but our mental searching cannot turn them up,or have disappeared entirely as our brain ages.
7. The third necessity for memory is recall,the ability to bring to mind the memories we have stored .Again,while aging has widely different effects on the recall abilities of different people, research indicates that the older we get,the longer it takes to recall facts.But slower recall is still recall.In fact,aging does not seem to have any effect on forgetting at all,which takes place at the same rate in younger and older people.

Exercising your brain every day is beneficial_________.
A: for younger and older people
B:to the proper function of your memory
C: is called long-term memory
D:the capacity to store what you have learned
E:belongs to very long-term memory
F:the ability to remain mentally healthy

共用题干
Improve Your Memory

To many people advancing age means losing your hair,your waistline and your memory.But is it an inescapable fact that the older you get,the less you remember? Well,as time goes by,we tend to blame age for problems that are not necessarily age-related.
When a teenager can't find her keys,she thinks it's because she's distracted or disorganized, but a 70-year-old blames her memory. In fact,the 70-year-old may have been misplacing things for decades一like we all do from time to time.
In healthy people,memory doesn't deteriorate as quickly as many of us think. According to psychologists,as we age,our memory mechanism isn't broken,it's just different.The brain's processing time slows down over the years,though no one knows exactly why.Recent research suggests that nerve cells lose efficiency and that there's less activity in the part of the brain that decides whether to store information or not.But it's not clear that less activity is worse.A beginning athlete is winded. more easily than a trained athlete.In the same way,as the brain gets more skilled at a task,it spends less energy on it.
There are steps you can take to improve your memory,though you have to work to keep your brain in shape.It's like having a good body. You can't go to the gym once a year and expect to stay in top form.
Some memory enhancement experts suggest using the AM principle.Pay attention to what you want to remember. Then give some meaning to it. We remember things when we focus on them, whether we intend to or not. That helps explain why jingles stick in our minds.They are played on loud,flashy TV commercials.They also use rhyme and music to help us remember better.
Basic organization helps us remember the boring stuff. For example,rather than trying to recall a random list of groceries,we can divide them into categories,such as dairy,meat and produce. For important things like keys and money,we can set up a"forget-me-not"spot where we always keep them.
We can also eat to aid our memory power. Whole grains,fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of glucose,the brain's preferred fuel. Another low-tech way to improve memory is to get adequate rest. Sleep may allow our brain time to encode memories.
Interest in friends,family and hobbies does wonders for our memory.A sense of passion or purpose helps us remember. Memory requires us to pay attention to our lives,allowing us to discover in them everything worth remembering.

It is not always true that the older you get,the less you remember.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Women's minds work differently from men's.At least,that is what most men are convinced of. Psychologists view the subject either as a matter of frustration or a joke.Now the biologists have moved into this minefield,and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women.But being different,they point out hurriedly,is not the same as being better or worse.
There is,however,a definite structural variation between the male and female brain.The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes一the link between the two halves of the brain.
The two halves are linked by a trunk line of between 200 and 300 million nerves,the corpus callosum.Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibres than it is in men.This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance.The question is"What?",and,if this difference exists,are there others?Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men.Are some of these differences biological and inborn,a result of evolution?We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences.But could we be wrong?
Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions,and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together. For most people,the left half is used for word-handling, analytical and logical activities;the right half works on pictures,patterns and forms.We need both halves working together. And the better the connections,the more harmoniously the two halves work.And,according to research findings,women have the better connections.
But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis.In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at"language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics.If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunk line,there is an unalterable distinction between the sexes.
We shan't know for a while,partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subjects and the functioning of the two halves of the brain,and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum.But this striking difference must have some effect and,because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect,we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.

The structural difference in the brain between the sexes has long been known.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Women's minds work differently from men's.At least,that is what most men are convinced of. Psychologists view the subject either as a matter of frustration or a joke.Now the biologists have moved into this minefield,and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women.But being different,they point out hurriedly,is not the same as being better or worse.
There is,however,a definite structural variation between the male and female brain.The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes一the link between the two halves of the brain.
The two halves are linked by a trunk line of between 200 and 300 million nerves,the corpus callosum.Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibres than it is in men.This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance.The question is"What?",and,if this difference exists,are there others?Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men.Are some of these differences biological and inborn,a result of evolution?We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences.But could we be wrong?
Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions,and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together. For most people,the left half is used for word-handling, analytical and logical activities;the right half works on pictures,patterns and forms.We need both halves working together. And the better the connections,the more harmoniously the two halves work.And,according to research findings,women have the better connections.
But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis.In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at"language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics.If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunk line,there is an unalterable distinction between the sexes.
We shan't know for a while,partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subjects and the functioning of the two halves of the brain,and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum.But this striking difference must have some effect and,because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect,we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.

Biologists are conducting research where psychologists have given up.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Pain
All of us have felt pain.We have cut ourselves.We have been burned.Or we have had headaches. Some of us suffer pain rarely.______(46)
Pain can take complete control of our body and mind,making it impossible to move and even to think. Yet we need pain.Without it,we would not know if we have hurt ourselves.It is our body's warning system.______(47) Pain is the most common reason we go to a doctor.It is the most common reason we take medicines.
Until recently,however,most doctors knew of only a few drugs that stopped some pains.______(48)But new knowledge about the process of pain is helping them to control pain better.
Scientists have learned that the sense of pain is made up of both chemical and electrical signals.______(49)Scientists also have learned that the nervous system sends two different kinds of pain messages to the brain:one very fast,the other slow.The first message is the warning signal.It moves at a speed of 30 meters a second.In less than a second,the brain understands that part of the body is hurt and
how badly it is injured.______(50)It tells us not to use the injured part until it heals.

______(48)
A:And others have painful attacks all the time.
B:These signals travel from nerve cells in the injured area , up the spinal cord（脊髓）to the brain , and back down again.
C:It tells us that we are injured and should do something about it.
D:They knew little about the process of pain itself.
E:The other message moves at a g peed of only one meter a second.
F:And they send the second,slower message of pain to the brain.

共用题干
第三篇

Smart Exercise

Doctors are starting to find more and more information that suggests a connection
between exercise and brain development.Judy Cameron,a scientist at Oregon Health and
Science University,studies brain development.According to her research,it seems that
exercise can make blood vessels,including those in the brain,stronger and more fully
developed.Dr. Cameron claims this allows people who exercise to concentrate better. As
she says:"While we already know that exercise is good for the heart,exercise can literally
cause physical changes in the brain."
The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies.Babies who
do activities that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain
development than babies who are less physically active.With babies,even a{ittle
movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes , a pediatrician（儿科医师）,believes in
the importance of exercise.She thinks that many learning disabilities that children have in
elementary school or high school can be traced back to a lack of movement as babies.
"Babies need movement that stimulates their five senses.They need to establish a
connection between motion and memory.In this way,as they get older,children will begin
to associate physical activity with higher learning,"says Margaret.
Older people can beef up their brains as well.Cornell University studied a group of
seniors ranging in age from seventy to seventy-nine. Their study showed a short-term
memory increase of up to 40 percent after exercising just three hours a week.The exercise
does not have to be very difficult,but it does have to increase the heart rate.Also,just like
the motion for infants,exercise for older people should involve some complexity.Learning
some new skills or motions helps to open up memory paths in the brain that may not have
been used for a long time.
For most people,any type of physical activity that increases the heart rate is helpful.
The main goal is to increase the brain's flow of blood.And your brain can benefit from as
little as two to three hours of exercise a week.

To be beneficial,exercise for older people should
A:be done in a group.
B: be done on a daily basis.
C: involve great difficulty.
D:increase the heart rate.

共用题干
第三篇

Smart Exercise

Doctors are starting to find more and more information that suggests a connection
between exercise and brain development.Judy Cameron,a scientist at Oregon Health and
Science University,studies brain development.According to her research,it seems that
exercise can make blood vessels,including those in the brain,stronger and more fully
developed.Dr. Cameron claims this allows people who exercise to concentrate better. As
she says:"While we already know that exercise is good for the heart,exercise can literally
cause physical changes in the brain."
The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies.Babies who
do activities that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain
development than babies who are less physically active.With babies,even a{ittle
movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes , a pediatrician（儿科医师）,believes in
the importance of exercise.She thinks that many learning disabilities that children have in
elementary school or high school can be traced back to a lack of movement as babies.
"Babies need movement that stimulates their five senses.They need to establish a
connection between motion and memory.In this way,as they get older,children will begin
to associate physical activity with higher learning,"says Margaret.
Older people can beef up their brains as well.Cornell University studied a group of
seniors ranging in age from seventy to seventy-nine. Their study showed a short-term
memory increase of up to 40 percent after exercising just three hours a week.The exercise
does not have to be very difficult,but it does have to increase the heart rate.Also,just like
the motion for infants,exercise for older people should involve some complexity.Learning
some new skills or motions helps to open up memory paths in the brain that may not have
been used for a long time.
For most people,any type of physical activity that increases the heart rate is helpful.
The main goal is to increase the brain's flow of blood.And your brain can benefit from as
little as two to three hours of exercise a week.

Research by Dr.Cameron seems to suggest that exercise can
A: generate new blood vessels.
B:change the way a person thinks.
C: promote brain development.
D: divert one's attention.

共用题干
Improve Your Memory

To many people advancing age means losing your hair,your waistline and your memory.But is it an inescapable fact that the older you get,the less you remember? Well,as time goes by,we tend to blame age for problems that are not necessarily age-related.
When a teenager can't find her keys,she thinks it's because she's distracted or disorganized, but a 70-year-old blames her memory. In fact,the 70-year-old may have been misplacing things for decades一like we all do from time to time.
In healthy people,memory doesn't deteriorate as quickly as many of us think. According to psychologists,as we age,our memory mechanism isn't broken,it's just different.The brain's processing time slows down over the years,though no one knows exactly why.Recent research suggests that nerve cells lose efficiency and that there's less activity in the part of the brain that decides whether to store information or not.But it's not clear that less activity is worse.A beginning athlete is winded. more easily than a trained athlete.In the same way,as the brain gets more skilled at a task,it spends less energy on it.
There are steps you can take to improve your memory,though you have to work to keep your brain in shape.It's like having a good body. You can't go to the gym once a year and expect to stay in top form.
Some memory enhancement experts suggest using the AM principle.Pay attention to what you want to remember. Then give some meaning to it. We remember things when we focus on them, whether we intend to or not. That helps explain why jingles stick in our minds.They are played on loud,flashy TV commercials.They also use rhyme and music to help us remember better.
Basic organization helps us remember the boring stuff. For example,rather than trying to recall a random list of groceries,we can divide them into categories,such as dairy,meat and produce. For important things like keys and money,we can set up a"forget-me-not"spot where we always keep them.
We can also eat to aid our memory power. Whole grains,fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of glucose,the brain's preferred fuel. Another low-tech way to improve memory is to get adequate rest. Sleep may allow our brain time to encode memories.
Interest in friends,family and hobbies does wonders for our memory.A sense of passion or purpose helps us remember. Memory requires us to pay attention to our lives,allowing us to discover in them everything worth remembering.

As we get older, our memory mechanism is broken,and so cannot be the same as it was before.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
Improve Your Memory

To many people advancing age means losing your hair,your waistline and your memory.But is it an inescapable fact that the older you get,the less you remember? Well,as time goes by,we tend to blame age for problems that are not necessarily age-related.
When a teenager can't find her keys,she thinks it's because she's distracted or disorganized, but a 70-year-old blames her memory. In fact,the 70-year-old may have been misplacing things for decades一like we all do from time to time.
In healthy people,memory doesn't deteriorate as quickly as many of us think. According to psychologists,as we age,our memory mechanism isn't broken,it's just different.The brain's processing time slows down over the years,though no one knows exactly why.Recent research suggests that nerve cells lose efficiency and that there's less activity in the part of the brain that decides whether to store information or not.But it's not clear that less activity is worse.A beginning athlete is winded. more easily than a trained athlete.In the same way,as the brain gets more skilled at a task,it spends less energy on it.
There are steps you can take to improve your memory,though you have to work to keep your brain in shape.It's like having a good body. You can't go to the gym once a year and expect to stay in top form.
Some memory enhancement experts suggest using the AM principle.Pay attention to what you want to remember. Then give some meaning to it. We remember things when we focus on them, whether we intend to or not. That helps explain why jingles stick in our minds.They are played on loud,flashy TV commercials.They also use rhyme and music to help us remember better.
Basic organization helps us remember the boring stuff. For example,rather than trying to recall a random list of groceries,we can divide them into categories,such as dairy,meat and produce. For important things like keys and money,we can set up a"forget-me-not"spot where we always keep them.
We can also eat to aid our memory power. Whole grains,fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of glucose,the brain's preferred fuel. Another low-tech way to improve memory is to get adequate rest. Sleep may allow our brain time to encode memories.
Interest in friends,family and hobbies does wonders for our memory.A sense of passion or purpose helps us remember. Memory requires us to pay attention to our lives,allowing us to discover in them everything worth remembering.

Some people tend to have better memories than the rest of us.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned