Unit 56
You hop into your car, but, wait, where are the keys? You meet someone new, but her name is gone before the handshake's over. Those are failures of your short-term, or "working," memory——the place you file information for immediate, everyday retrieval. It isn't perfect. But researchers are increasingly convinced that the hormone estrogen could play a key role in maintaining and perhaps even improving memory. Last week a team of Yale scientists provided dramatic new evidence that bolsters the theory. Using MRIs——detailed snapshots of the brain——researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo. "This is very exciting," says Yale's Dr. Sally Shaywitz. "It means that the brain circuitry for memory had altered."
After menopause, when estrogen levels plummet, some women become forgetful. Past research has demonstrated that those who take estrogen do better on memory tests than their nonmedicated peers do. The hormone may even reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. The new study, published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to visually compare the neurocircuitry of memory both on and off estrogen. The drug made a big difference to participant Bernadette Settelmeyer: "All of a sudden I was remembering things."
The women （whose average age was 51） lay down in a brain-imaging machine where they were shown two types of information: nonsense words （"BAZ" or "DOB"） to test verbal memory and geometric patterns to assess visual memory. After a 20-second "storage" period, participants saw a mix of old and new and were asked if anything looked familiar. During each stage of the test——as the women encoded, stored and retrieved data——researchers took pictures of their brains. The 46 women underwent the test twice——once while taking a standard daily dose of estrogen and again while taking a placebo. Beyond the power of estrogen, the difference in MRIs suggests that the adult brain maintains "plasticity"——the ability to rewire itself——even as it ages.
There is still plenty of research to be done. Scientists can't yet be sure estrogen is directly responsible for better memory performance. Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change. Researchers say that is probably because the tasks were so simple （the women got more than 90 percent correct overall）. Other studies on estrogen and cognition are short term——and their findings have been inconsistent. And scientists still can't answer the question facing millions of women: should I take hormone-replacement therapy? The new study may make estrogen more appealing, but it should be just "one part of the equation," says Shaywitz. Still, it's a memorable one.
注（1）：本文選自Newsweek; 04/19/99, p50；
注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象2002年真題Text 3；
1. The following are the examples of the failures of short-term memory, except that ___________.
[A]you are not sure whether you've locked the door or not
[B]you cannot recall all your previous experience
[C]you cannot find the key to your car when starting it
[D]you forget the name of a stranger before the greeting is over
2.It can be inferred from the text that women's working memory could probably be improved if _________.
[A]they overuse estrogen
[B]they participate in the experiment
[C]their minds are kept active
[D]the estrogen level is raised
3.The experiment involving 46 ladies shows that _______.
[A]the women should take a normal dose of estrogen
[B]the women's brains still have the ability of creation
[C]the estrogen level determines their memory bad or good
[D]the estrogen makes the brain work more actively
4.We can draw a conclusion from the text that ________.
[A]the connection between estrogen and memory is still an open study
[B]the hormone estrogen plays a key role in improving memory.
[C]the low level estrogen makes a woman forgetful
[D]raising the estrogen level can improve the women's short-term memory
5.From the text we can see the writer seems ________.
[A]objective
[B]optimistic
[C]sensitive
[D]gloomy
答案：BDDAA
篇章剖析
本文就雌激素療法是否有助于改善女性記憶力展開了論述。第一段指出一項新研究進一步證實了雌激素有助于改善婦女的記憶力這一觀點；第二段指出雌激素對婦女記憶力的作用；第三段指出這一研究的具體實施情況；第四段指出這一領(lǐng)域仍然需要進一步研究，并且還存在著一些問題。
詞匯注釋
hormone[5hC:mEJn]n.荷爾蒙, 激素
estrogen[5i:strEdV（E）n]n.[生化]雌激素
therapy[5WerEpI]n.治療
hop[hRp]v.單腳跳, （鳥, 蛙等）跳躍
retrieval n.取回, 恢復(fù), 修補，重獲，挽救，拯救
bolster[`bEJlstE（r） ] v.支持
snapshot[5snApFRt]n.快照, 急射, 簡單印象
placebo[plE5si:bEJ]n.為死者所誦的晚禱詞, 安慰劑
circuitry[5s\:kItrI]n.電路, 線路
menopause[5menEpC:s]n.[生理]絕經(jīng)期, 更年期, 活動終止期
plummet[5plQmIt]vi.垂直落下
peer[pIE（r）]n.同等的人, 貴族
medicate[5medikeit]vt.用藥治療; 摻入藥品
Alzheimer's阿爾茨海默病，AD，又稱早老性癡呆（Alzheimer's dementia）。它是一 種神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的進行性蛻變性疾病，臨床上表現(xiàn)為智力水平的慢性削弱及記憶的慢性丟失。
brain imaging n.腦顯象
verbal memory 非文字記憶
geometric[dVi:E5metrIk]adj.幾何的, 幾何學(xué)的
assess[E5ses]vt.估定, 評定
visual memory 視覺記憶
encode[In5kEJd]vt.把（電文.情報等）譯成電碼（或密碼）；編碼
undergo[QndE5^EJ]vt.經(jīng)歷, 遭受, 忍受
plasticity[plA`stIsEtI]n.可塑性, 塑性
cognition[kR^5nIF（E）n]n.認識
equation[I5kweIF（E）n]n.相等, 平衡, 綜合體, 因素, 方程式, 等式,
難句突破
Using MRIs——detailed snapshots of the brain——researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo.
主體句式：researchers found that …
結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句是一個賓語從句?！皍sing MRIs”做伴隨狀語，“detailed snapshots of the brain”是“MRIs”的同位語；賓語從句中“taking estrogen”做定語修飾主語“women”：“associated with”修飾“brain areas”。
句子譯文：利用磁共振成像波譜（MRIs）——能夠拍到大腦各細節(jié)部位的快照——研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)在跟記憶相關(guān)的大腦活動區(qū)域，服用雌激素的婦女明顯比服用安慰劑的婦女活躍。
題目分析
1.答案為B，屬事實細節(jié)題。文中對“short-term memory”所做的定義是“the place you file information for immediate, everyday retrieval”，并且給出兩個例子“You meet someone new, but her name is gone before the handshake's over.”使人更容易理解這一定義。根據(jù)給出的定義和例子，我們判斷選項A也屬于“短期記憶”，而選項B跟它們不是一類。
2.答案為D，屬事實細節(jié)題。原文對應(yīng)信息是“But researchers are increasingly convinced that the hormone estrogen could play a key role in maintaining and perhaps even improving memory.”，并且句子“Last week a team of Yale scientists provided dramatic new evidence that bolsters the theory.”又進一步肯定了這一點。選項A的錯誤在于參與實驗的對象使用的常規(guī)劑量的雌激素；選項B闡述的是參與實驗這一事實；選項C在文中對應(yīng)的正確信息應(yīng)該是：研究發(fā)現(xiàn)服用雌激素婦女的大腦比較活躍。
3.答案為D，屬事實細節(jié)題。原文對應(yīng)信息是“Using MRIs——detailed snapshots of the brain——researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo.”，后來在文章中又加以重復(fù)“Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change.”，因此不難做出判斷。
4.答案為A，屬推理判斷題。原文對應(yīng)信息是“There is still plenty of research to be done. Scientists can't yet be sure estrogen is directly responsible for better memory performance. Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change.”，而且“Other studies on estrogen and cognition are short term——and their findings have been inconsistent.”。從文中我們可看出進行的實驗是對一種假設(shè)的驗證，驗證的結(jié)果雖然有利于這一假設(shè)，但還不能說明這一假設(shè)就是完全成立的。
5.答案為A，屬情感態(tài)度題。作者非?？陀^地闡述了荷爾蒙與改善婦女記憶力之間的關(guān)系。
參考譯文
你已坐進車里準(zhǔn)備開車，等會兒，鑰匙擱哪兒了？你遇到一個生人，招呼還沒打完就已忘記了對方的姓名。這些都是你的短期記憶，或是“工作”記憶——這是你把直接的并且每天都可重新獲取的信息進行歸檔的地方——衰退的表現(xiàn)。這種記憶并不完美。研究人員越來越確信荷爾蒙雌激素在維持、甚至可能在改善記憶方面所起的重要作用。上周，耶魯大學(xué)的一組科學(xué)家提供了一項引人注目的新證據(jù)。新證據(jù)能夠支持這個理論。利用磁共振成像波譜（MRIs）——能夠拍到大腦各細節(jié)部位的快照——研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)在跟記憶相關(guān)的大腦活動區(qū)域，服用雌激素的婦女明顯比服用安慰劑的婦女活躍?！斑@太令人振奮了?！币敶髮W(xué)的薩莉·施威茨說，“這意味著用于記憶的大腦線路改變了?！?BR> 絕經(jīng)期后，當(dāng)雌激素水平驟然下降，一些女性開始變得健忘。以前的研究已經(jīng)證明了服用雌激素的婦女在記憶測驗中比沒有介入藥物治療的同齡人表現(xiàn)得出色。荷爾蒙甚至還可能降低人們得阿爾茨海默病的危險。上周在《美國醫(yī)學(xué)會雜志》上登載的一項新研究，第一次形象地比較了使用雌激素和不使用雌激素記憶神經(jīng)線路的異同。這種藥物對于參與者伯納黛特·塞特邁耶來說產(chǎn)生了很大的影響：“突然間我能記住東西了?！?BR> 參與實驗的女士（平均年齡為51歲）躺在腦顯象機器上，測試者向她們出示兩類信息：無意義的單詞（"BAZ" 或 "DOB"）用來測試她們的非文字記憶；幾何模型來估量她們的視覺記憶。二十秒鐘的“儲存”時間過后，參與者看到混合在一起的新、老信息，測試者詢問她們熟悉哪些信息。在測試的每一個階段——這些女士們對數(shù)據(jù)進行編碼、存儲、糾錯的階段——研究人員都對她們的大腦進行拍攝。46位女士先后進行了兩次實驗—— 一次服用日常標(biāo)準(zhǔn)劑量的雌激素；一次服用安慰劑。遠超過雌激素作用的是，磁共振成像波譜的不同顯示出成人大腦還保持著“可塑性”——大腦自身再接線路的能力——盡管大腦已老化。
還有大量研究有待進行?？茖W(xué)家們至今還無法肯定雌激素是獲得較好的記憶功能的直接原因。雖然在有無雌激素的條件下，大腦的活動有所差別，但是參與者的得分沒有改變。研究人員認為其原因可能是所給的任務(wù)過于簡單（女士們答題正確率高達90%以上）。其它有關(guān)雌激素和認知方面的研究都是短期的——而且研究成果前后矛盾?？茖W(xué)家們?nèi)匀换卮鸩涣松习偃f婦女面臨的問題：我應(yīng)該接受荷爾蒙替換療法嗎？這項新研究可能使雌激素的作用更吸引人，但它應(yīng)該只是“這個綜合問題的其中一個因素”，施威茨是這樣說的。但它仍然是值得注意的因素。
You hop into your car, but, wait, where are the keys? You meet someone new, but her name is gone before the handshake's over. Those are failures of your short-term, or "working," memory——the place you file information for immediate, everyday retrieval. It isn't perfect. But researchers are increasingly convinced that the hormone estrogen could play a key role in maintaining and perhaps even improving memory. Last week a team of Yale scientists provided dramatic new evidence that bolsters the theory. Using MRIs——detailed snapshots of the brain——researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo. "This is very exciting," says Yale's Dr. Sally Shaywitz. "It means that the brain circuitry for memory had altered."
After menopause, when estrogen levels plummet, some women become forgetful. Past research has demonstrated that those who take estrogen do better on memory tests than their nonmedicated peers do. The hormone may even reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. The new study, published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to visually compare the neurocircuitry of memory both on and off estrogen. The drug made a big difference to participant Bernadette Settelmeyer: "All of a sudden I was remembering things."
The women （whose average age was 51） lay down in a brain-imaging machine where they were shown two types of information: nonsense words （"BAZ" or "DOB"） to test verbal memory and geometric patterns to assess visual memory. After a 20-second "storage" period, participants saw a mix of old and new and were asked if anything looked familiar. During each stage of the test——as the women encoded, stored and retrieved data——researchers took pictures of their brains. The 46 women underwent the test twice——once while taking a standard daily dose of estrogen and again while taking a placebo. Beyond the power of estrogen, the difference in MRIs suggests that the adult brain maintains "plasticity"——the ability to rewire itself——even as it ages.
There is still plenty of research to be done. Scientists can't yet be sure estrogen is directly responsible for better memory performance. Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change. Researchers say that is probably because the tasks were so simple （the women got more than 90 percent correct overall）. Other studies on estrogen and cognition are short term——and their findings have been inconsistent. And scientists still can't answer the question facing millions of women: should I take hormone-replacement therapy? The new study may make estrogen more appealing, but it should be just "one part of the equation," says Shaywitz. Still, it's a memorable one.
注（1）：本文選自Newsweek; 04/19/99, p50；
注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象2002年真題Text 3；
1. The following are the examples of the failures of short-term memory, except that ___________.
[A]you are not sure whether you've locked the door or not
[B]you cannot recall all your previous experience
[C]you cannot find the key to your car when starting it
[D]you forget the name of a stranger before the greeting is over
2.It can be inferred from the text that women's working memory could probably be improved if _________.
[A]they overuse estrogen
[B]they participate in the experiment
[C]their minds are kept active
[D]the estrogen level is raised
3.The experiment involving 46 ladies shows that _______.
[A]the women should take a normal dose of estrogen
[B]the women's brains still have the ability of creation
[C]the estrogen level determines their memory bad or good
[D]the estrogen makes the brain work more actively
4.We can draw a conclusion from the text that ________.
[A]the connection between estrogen and memory is still an open study
[B]the hormone estrogen plays a key role in improving memory.
[C]the low level estrogen makes a woman forgetful
[D]raising the estrogen level can improve the women's short-term memory
5.From the text we can see the writer seems ________.
[A]objective
[B]optimistic
[C]sensitive
[D]gloomy
答案：BDDAA
篇章剖析
本文就雌激素療法是否有助于改善女性記憶力展開了論述。第一段指出一項新研究進一步證實了雌激素有助于改善婦女的記憶力這一觀點；第二段指出雌激素對婦女記憶力的作用；第三段指出這一研究的具體實施情況；第四段指出這一領(lǐng)域仍然需要進一步研究，并且還存在著一些問題。
詞匯注釋
hormone[5hC:mEJn]n.荷爾蒙, 激素
estrogen[5i:strEdV（E）n]n.[生化]雌激素
therapy[5WerEpI]n.治療
hop[hRp]v.單腳跳, （鳥, 蛙等）跳躍
retrieval n.取回, 恢復(fù), 修補，重獲，挽救，拯救
bolster[`bEJlstE（r） ] v.支持
snapshot[5snApFRt]n.快照, 急射, 簡單印象
placebo[plE5si:bEJ]n.為死者所誦的晚禱詞, 安慰劑
circuitry[5s\:kItrI]n.電路, 線路
menopause[5menEpC:s]n.[生理]絕經(jīng)期, 更年期, 活動終止期
plummet[5plQmIt]vi.垂直落下
peer[pIE（r）]n.同等的人, 貴族
medicate[5medikeit]vt.用藥治療; 摻入藥品
Alzheimer's阿爾茨海默病，AD，又稱早老性癡呆（Alzheimer's dementia）。它是一 種神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的進行性蛻變性疾病，臨床上表現(xiàn)為智力水平的慢性削弱及記憶的慢性丟失。
brain imaging n.腦顯象
verbal memory 非文字記憶
geometric[dVi:E5metrIk]adj.幾何的, 幾何學(xué)的
assess[E5ses]vt.估定, 評定
visual memory 視覺記憶
encode[In5kEJd]vt.把（電文.情報等）譯成電碼（或密碼）；編碼
undergo[QndE5^EJ]vt.經(jīng)歷, 遭受, 忍受
plasticity[plA`stIsEtI]n.可塑性, 塑性
cognition[kR^5nIF（E）n]n.認識
equation[I5kweIF（E）n]n.相等, 平衡, 綜合體, 因素, 方程式, 等式,
難句突破
Using MRIs——detailed snapshots of the brain——researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo.
主體句式：researchers found that …
結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句是一個賓語從句?！皍sing MRIs”做伴隨狀語，“detailed snapshots of the brain”是“MRIs”的同位語；賓語從句中“taking estrogen”做定語修飾主語“women”：“associated with”修飾“brain areas”。
句子譯文：利用磁共振成像波譜（MRIs）——能夠拍到大腦各細節(jié)部位的快照——研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)在跟記憶相關(guān)的大腦活動區(qū)域，服用雌激素的婦女明顯比服用安慰劑的婦女活躍。
題目分析
1.答案為B，屬事實細節(jié)題。文中對“short-term memory”所做的定義是“the place you file information for immediate, everyday retrieval”，并且給出兩個例子“You meet someone new, but her name is gone before the handshake's over.”使人更容易理解這一定義。根據(jù)給出的定義和例子，我們判斷選項A也屬于“短期記憶”，而選項B跟它們不是一類。
2.答案為D，屬事實細節(jié)題。原文對應(yīng)信息是“But researchers are increasingly convinced that the hormone estrogen could play a key role in maintaining and perhaps even improving memory.”，并且句子“Last week a team of Yale scientists provided dramatic new evidence that bolsters the theory.”又進一步肯定了這一點。選項A的錯誤在于參與實驗的對象使用的常規(guī)劑量的雌激素；選項B闡述的是參與實驗這一事實；選項C在文中對應(yīng)的正確信息應(yīng)該是：研究發(fā)現(xiàn)服用雌激素婦女的大腦比較活躍。
3.答案為D，屬事實細節(jié)題。原文對應(yīng)信息是“Using MRIs——detailed snapshots of the brain——researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo.”，后來在文章中又加以重復(fù)“Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change.”，因此不難做出判斷。
4.答案為A，屬推理判斷題。原文對應(yīng)信息是“There is still plenty of research to be done. Scientists can't yet be sure estrogen is directly responsible for better memory performance. Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change.”，而且“Other studies on estrogen and cognition are short term——and their findings have been inconsistent.”。從文中我們可看出進行的實驗是對一種假設(shè)的驗證，驗證的結(jié)果雖然有利于這一假設(shè)，但還不能說明這一假設(shè)就是完全成立的。
5.答案為A，屬情感態(tài)度題。作者非?？陀^地闡述了荷爾蒙與改善婦女記憶力之間的關(guān)系。
參考譯文
你已坐進車里準(zhǔn)備開車，等會兒，鑰匙擱哪兒了？你遇到一個生人，招呼還沒打完就已忘記了對方的姓名。這些都是你的短期記憶，或是“工作”記憶——這是你把直接的并且每天都可重新獲取的信息進行歸檔的地方——衰退的表現(xiàn)。這種記憶并不完美。研究人員越來越確信荷爾蒙雌激素在維持、甚至可能在改善記憶方面所起的重要作用。上周，耶魯大學(xué)的一組科學(xué)家提供了一項引人注目的新證據(jù)。新證據(jù)能夠支持這個理論。利用磁共振成像波譜（MRIs）——能夠拍到大腦各細節(jié)部位的快照——研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)在跟記憶相關(guān)的大腦活動區(qū)域，服用雌激素的婦女明顯比服用安慰劑的婦女活躍?！斑@太令人振奮了?！币敶髮W(xué)的薩莉·施威茨說，“這意味著用于記憶的大腦線路改變了?！?BR> 絕經(jīng)期后，當(dāng)雌激素水平驟然下降，一些女性開始變得健忘。以前的研究已經(jīng)證明了服用雌激素的婦女在記憶測驗中比沒有介入藥物治療的同齡人表現(xiàn)得出色。荷爾蒙甚至還可能降低人們得阿爾茨海默病的危險。上周在《美國醫(yī)學(xué)會雜志》上登載的一項新研究，第一次形象地比較了使用雌激素和不使用雌激素記憶神經(jīng)線路的異同。這種藥物對于參與者伯納黛特·塞特邁耶來說產(chǎn)生了很大的影響：“突然間我能記住東西了?！?BR> 參與實驗的女士（平均年齡為51歲）躺在腦顯象機器上，測試者向她們出示兩類信息：無意義的單詞（"BAZ" 或 "DOB"）用來測試她們的非文字記憶；幾何模型來估量她們的視覺記憶。二十秒鐘的“儲存”時間過后，參與者看到混合在一起的新、老信息，測試者詢問她們熟悉哪些信息。在測試的每一個階段——這些女士們對數(shù)據(jù)進行編碼、存儲、糾錯的階段——研究人員都對她們的大腦進行拍攝。46位女士先后進行了兩次實驗—— 一次服用日常標(biāo)準(zhǔn)劑量的雌激素；一次服用安慰劑。遠超過雌激素作用的是，磁共振成像波譜的不同顯示出成人大腦還保持著“可塑性”——大腦自身再接線路的能力——盡管大腦已老化。
還有大量研究有待進行?？茖W(xué)家們至今還無法肯定雌激素是獲得較好的記憶功能的直接原因。雖然在有無雌激素的條件下，大腦的活動有所差別，但是參與者的得分沒有改變。研究人員認為其原因可能是所給的任務(wù)過于簡單（女士們答題正確率高達90%以上）。其它有關(guān)雌激素和認知方面的研究都是短期的——而且研究成果前后矛盾?？茖W(xué)家們?nèi)匀换卮鸩涣松习偃f婦女面臨的問題：我應(yīng)該接受荷爾蒙替換療法嗎？這項新研究可能使雌激素的作用更吸引人，但它應(yīng)該只是“這個綜合問題的其中一個因素”，施威茨是這樣說的。但它仍然是值得注意的因素。