Clara Daly was sitting on an Alaska Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles when she heard a worried voice over the loudspeaker: "Does anyone on board know American Sign Language?"

Clara, 15 at the time, pressed the call button. An air hostess came by and explained the situation. "We have a passenger on the plane who's blind and deaf," she said. The passenger seemed to want something, but he was traveling alone and the air hostesses couldn't understand what he needed.

Clara had been studying ASL for the past year to help blind and deaf people and she knew she'd be able to finger spell into the man's palm. So she rose from her seat, walked toward the front of the plane, and knelt by the seat of Tim Cook, then 64. Gently taking his hand, she signed, "How are you? Are you OK?" Cook asked for some water.

When it arrived, Clara returned to her seat. She came by again a bit later because he wanted to know the time. On her third visit, she stopped and stayed for a while.

"He didn't need anything. He was lonely and wanted to talk," Clara said.

So for the next hour, she talked about her family and her plans for the future. Cook told Clara how he had become blind over time and shared stories of his days as a traveling salesman. "Even though he couldn't see her, she looked attentively at his face with such kindness," a passenger reported.

"Clara was amazing," an air hostess told Alaska Airlines in an interview. "You could tell Cook was very excited to have someone he could speak to, and she was such an angel."

Cook's reply: "Best trip I've ever had."

1.What was the air hostesses' problem?

A.They had a very difficult passenger. B.They couldn't understand the passenger.

C.They didn't know the passenger's name. D.They didn't have what the passenger wanted.

2.Why did Clara Daly believe she could help?

A.Because she happened to learn some ASL. B.Because she had helped people like Cook.

C.Because she thought she might know Cook. D.Because her grandfather had the same problem.

3.Why did Tim Cook keep asking for service?

A.Because he was hungry and thirsty. B.Because he needed someone to talk to.

C.Because he was afraid of taking planes. D.Because he was interested in Clara's story.

4.Which of the following words best describe Clara Daly?

A.Brave and clever. B.Beautiful and lovely.

C.Patient and caring. D.Outgoing and friendly.

"What's the name of our neighbour? 1 can't remember right now." Have you ever heard your grandparents ask questions like this? Usually, we think older people's memories become bad because their brains get weak, but a team of scientists at the University of Tubingen in Germany has a different idea.

"The human brain works slower in old age," said lead scientist Michael Ramscar, "but only because they have stored more information over time."

The findings are based on a series of computer simulations(模拟)of learning and memory. Scientists let the computers read a certain amount of words and learn new things each day. When the computer "reads" only so much, its performance on cognitive(认知)tests is similar to that of a young adult. But if the computer learned the experiences we might have over a lifetime, its performance is similar to that of an older adult.

Often it was slower because increased "experience" had caused the computer's database(数据库)to grow, giving it more data to process-which takes time. This is similar to old people. Imagine a person knows two people's birthdays. Another person knows the birthdays of 2,000 people, but can only match the right person to the right birthday nine times out of 10. Can you say the first person has a better memory than the second person?

The basic idea is that "The larger the library you have in your head, the longer it usually takes to find a particular word." Benedict Carey, a science reporter, wrote in an article about the study.

1.Why did the writer use a question at the beginning?

A.To attract readers' attention to the topic.

B.To invite the readers to answer the question.

C.To prove that older people have bad memories.

D.To encourage readers to think of their neighbours.

2.How did the scientists do their research?

A.They interviewed all the old people of their neighbours.

B.They followed the experiences of a group of old people.

C.They asked both young and old people the same questions.

D.They used computers to simulate human learning and memory.

3.According to the research, why do old people forget other people's names easily?

A.Because they have a very poor memory.

B.Because they are too old to remember things.

C.Because their brains become weaker than before.

D.Because they have too much information in their brains.

4.What would be the best title for the story?

A.Is it Better to Be Old or Young B.Human Brain's Processing Ability.

C.Do Old People Have Poor Memories? D.Scientists' New Findings on Brains.

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