Memory
It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions, the basis for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory.
Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use. It includes not only " remembering" things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves. Memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed something suspicious in the grain pile.
Memory exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines. Computers, for example, contain devices for storing data for late use. It is interesting to compare the memory storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being. The instant-access memory of a large computer may hold up to 100,000 "words"—— strings of alphabetic or numerical characters——ready for instant use. An average U.S. teenager probably recognizes the meaning of about 100,000 words of English. However, this is but a fraction of the total amount of information which the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight.
The use of words is the basis of the advanced problem-solving intelligence of human beings. A large part of a person's memory is in terms of words and combinations of words. But while language greatly expands the number and kind of things a person can remember, it also requires a huge memory capacity. It may well be this capacity that distinguishes humans, setting them apart from other animals.
31.What do the sentences at the beginning of the passage suggest?
A. Memory is useful.
B. Memory is important.
C. There is a relationship between memory and habits.
D. The past is connected with the present by memory.
32. According to the passage, memory is helpful in our daily life in the following aspects except
A. involving the change in the behavior.
B. keeping information for later use.
C. warning people not to do things repeatedly.
D. remembering events that happened in history.
33. With respect to the memory storage capacity, what is the author's idea about the comparison between human beings and computers?
A. Computers have no memory at all.
B. Computers are more powerful than adults.
C. Teenagers are inferior to computers.
D. Human beings are far superior to computers.
34. What is the major characteristic of a human being's memory capacity according to the text?
A. It can be expanded by language.
B. It can remember all the combined words.
C. It may keep all the information in the past.
D. It may change what has been stored in it.
35. According to the passage, human beings make themselves different from other animals by
A. having the ability to realize danger.
B. having a special memory capacity.
C. having a distinguished memory capacity.
D. having the ability to control himself.
参考答案：BCDAC
