IT’S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE MANY THINGS that people would welcome more than a memory-enhancing drug. ____1____ Furthermore, such a drug could help people remember past experiences more clearly and help us acquire new information more easily for school and at work. As scientists learn more about memory, we are closing in on this tantalizing goal.1

　　Some of the most exciting evidence comes from research that has built on earlier findings linking LTP2 and memory to identify a gene that improves memory in mice. ____2____ Mice bred to have extra copies of this gene showed more activity in their NMDA receptors，more LTP，and improved performance on several different memory tasks — learning a spatial layout3, recognizing familiar objects，and recalling a fear-inducing shock.

　　If these basic insights about genes, LTP, and the synaptic basis of memory can be translated to people — and that remains to be seen — they could pave the way for memory-enhancing treatments. ____3____ As exciting as this may sound, it also raises troubling issues. Consider the potential educational implications of memory-enhancing drugs. If memory enhancers were available, children who used them might be able to acquire and retain extraordinary amounts of information, allowing them to progress far more rapidly in school than they could otherwise. How well could the brain handle such an onslaught of information? What happens to children who don’t have access to the latest memory enhancers? Are they left behind in school — and as a result handicapped later in life?

　　____4____ Imagine that you are applying for a job that requires a good memory，such as a manager at a technology company or a sales position that requires remembering customers’ names as well as the attributes of different products and services. Would you take a memory-enhancing drug to increase your chances of landing the position? Would people who felt uncomfortable taking such a drug find themselves cut out of lucrative career opportunities?

　　Memory drugs might also help take the sting out of disturbing memories that we wish we could forget but can’t.4 The 2004 hit movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind told the story of a young man seeking just such freedom from the painful memories of a romantic breakup. As you will see in the section on persistence later in the chapter, emotionally arousing events often create intrusive memories, and researchers have already muted emotional memories with drugs that block the action of key hormones. Should emergency workers who must confront horrifying accident scenes that can burden them with persisting memories be provided with such drugs? Should such drugs be given to rape victims who can’t forget the trauma? Memory drugs might provide some relief to such individuals. But could they also interfere with an individual’s ability to assimilate and come to terms with a difficult experience?5 ____5____

　　练习：

　　A　Like steroids for bulking up the muscles, these drugs would bulk up memory.

　　B　A memory enhancer could help eliminate forgetting associated with aging and disease.

　　C　What are the potential implications of memory-enhancing drugs for the workplace?

　　D　We may find ourselves struggling with these kinds of questions in the not-too-distant future.

　　E　There is a pill that you could take every day to allow you to remember everything.

　　F　The gene makes a protein that assists the NMDA2 receptor，which plays an important role in long-term memory by helping to initiate LTP.

　　答案与题解：

　　1.B　依据上一句的“很难想象一种提高人们记忆力的药会受到人们吹捧”;下面应该对这一现象做出解释，即这种药物有什么疗效;而后一句的Furthermore这一指示词起到了递进的作用，进一步说明这种药物的益处。More than ：非常，极其，十分

　　2.F　前一句的关键词是gene、LTP和mice，它讲的是有些令人兴奋的证据是从研究中得出的;该研究基于早期连接LTP和记忆的发现，该结果确定了提髙老鼠记忆的基因;而后一句进一步阐述这一发现，开头的mice可以是一个连接词。

　　3.A　前一句讲：如果这种结果用于人类的话，人们就有可能把提高人的记忆力用于临床。这一句讲：就像类固醇用于提髙人的肌肉能力，这种药物也可以提高人的记忆力。

　　4.C　一般情况下，每一段的第一句都是本段的主题句。而该句是一个问句：这种提高记忆力的药物用于职场有什么潜在的启示呢?紧接着本段其余几句都提出关于这种药物是否会对职场的提升有什么影响的问题。

　　5.D　本句是全文的最后一句。应该是总结性的。鉴于前面都列举了这种提高记忆力的药所面临的一系列问题，所以，我们在不久的将来要面临这些问题。