Autobiographical Memory
Paragraph 1：Think back to your childhood and try to identify your earliest memory. How old were you? Most people are not able to recount memories for experiences prior to the age of three years, a phenomenon called infantile amnesia. The question of why infantile amnesia occurs has intrigued psychologists for decades, especially in light of ample evidence that infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities. Many find that understanding the general nature of autobiographical memory, that is, memory for events that have occurred in one's own life, can provide some important clues to this mystery. Between ages three and four, children begin to give fairly lengthy and cohesive descriptions of events in their past. What factors are responsible for this developmental turning point?
1. The word “ample” in the passage is closest in meaning to
○Surprising
○Convincing
○Plentiful
○Questionable
题型：词汇题
解题思路： 根据句义，这句句子说的是“婴儿失忆症为什么会出现几十年来一直吸引着心理学家，特别是有充分的证据表明，婴幼儿可以显示令人印象深刻的记忆能力”。 “ample”是一个形容词，意思是“充足的，足够的”。
重点句子翻译：
The question of why infantile amnesia occurs has intrigued psychologists for decades, especially in light of ample evidence that infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities.
婴儿失忆症为什么会出现几十年来一直吸引着心理学家，特别是有充分的证据表明，婴幼儿可以显示令人印象深刻的记忆能力。
2. According to paragraph 1, infantile amnesia has intrigued psychologists because
O the ability to recount memories prior to three years of age seems to be connected to intelligence in adulthood
O psychologists do not understand why some people are able to recount memories from before the age of three years, while others are not able do so
O psychologists do not understand the connection between infantile amnesia and autobiographical memory
O although psychologists have evidence that infants have memory abilities, most people cannot remember life events that happened before the age of three years
题型：细节题
定位词： infantile amnesia has intrigued psychologists because
解 题思路：根据定位词回原文定位， “especially in light of ample evidence that”提示了答案的出现，即“infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities”，选项D为这句话的同义改写，为正确选项。
重点句子翻译：
The question of why infantile amnesia occurs has intrigued psychologists for decades, especially in light of ample evidence that infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities.
婴儿失忆症为什么会出现几十年来一直吸引着心理学家，特别是有充分的证据表明，婴幼儿可以显示令人印象深刻的记忆能力。
3. According to paragraph 1, what is the evidence that a child has developed autobiographical memory?
O The child is able to remember past events from before the age of three years.
O The child is able to describe past events in a sufficiently lengthy and cohesive manner.
O The child is aware that he or she does not remember experiences from before the age of three years.
O The child is able to give a basic description of the nature of autobiographical memory.
题型：细节题
定位词： a child has developed autobiographical memory
解 题思路：根据定位词回原文，提到 autobiographical memory的后面一句话是答案的所在之处，即 “children begin to give fairly lengthy and cohesive descriptions of events in their past”, 选项B是这句话的同义改写，为正确选项。
重点句子翻译：
Between ages three and four, children begin to give fairly lengthy and cohesive descriptions of events in their past.
Paragraph 2：Perhaps the explanation goes back to some ideas raised by influential Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget—namely, that children under age two years represent events in a qualitatively different form than older children do. According to this line of thought, the verbal abilities that blossom in the two year old allow events to be coded in a form radically different from the action-based codes of the infant. Verbal abilities of one year olds are, in fact, related to their memories for events one year later. When researchers had one year olds imitate an action sequence one year after they first saw it, there was correlation between the children's verbal skills at the time they first saw the event and their success on the later memory task. However, even children with low verbal skills showed evidence of remembering the event; thus, memories may be facilitated by but are not dependent on those verbal skills.
4. In paragraph 2, why does the author provide the information that children with low verbal skills showed evidence of remembering a past event?
O To provide evidence that memories do not depend only upon verbal skills
O To challenge the idea that one year olds are too young to form memories
O To argue that the memory of one year olds depends only on action-based codes
O To suggest that Piaget later revised his findings on the correlation between memory and verbal ability
题型：修辞目的题
定位词： children with low verbal skills showed evidence of remembering a past event
解题思路：最后一句出现定位词，答案在后半句“memories may be facilitated by but are not dependent on those verbal skills”，所以A项正确。
重点句子翻译：
However, even children with low verbal skills showed evidence of remembering the event; thus, memories may be facilitated by but are not dependent on those verbal skills.
然而，口头表达能力低的儿童表明有记得事件的证据，因此，回忆也许是便利而不是依赖于那些口头表达能力。
Paragraph 3：Another suggestion is that before children can talk about past events in their lives, they need to have a reasonable understanding of the self as a psychological entity. The development of an understanding of the self becomes evident between the first and second years of life and shows rapid elaboration in subsequent years. The realization that the physical self has continuity in time, according to this hypothesis, lays the foundation for the emergence of autobiographical memory.
5. The word "reasonable" in the passage is closest in meaning to
O consistent
O sufficient
O apparent
O deep
题型：词汇题
解题思路： “reasonable”是一个简单词，意思为“合理的；过得去的”， 利用排除法可以得出正确答案为B。
重点句子翻译：
Another suggestion is that before children can talk about past events in their lives, they need to have a reasonable understanding of the self as a psychological entity.
另一个建议是，在孩子们可以谈论他们的生活往事之前，他们需要有一个作为心理实体的充分的自我认识。
