84. What does the author imply about DeWitt Clinton Haskin’s background?

a.　　　 It did not qualify him to handle explosives.

b.　　　 It was not something people knew much about.

c.　　　 It included diverse work experiences.　

d.　　　 It included many inferior projects.　　　　　　　　　

83. In this passage the writer means to tell you _______.

a.　　　 forgetting things is serious and dangerous

b.　　　 always forgetting things is understandable

c.　　　 forgetting things at times is natural

d.　　　 the ways to protect yourself from memory “tricks”

D.

　 By the late nineteenth century, the focus for the engineers and builders of tunnels was beginning to shift from Europe to the United States and especially New York, where the rivers encircling Manhattan captured the imagination of tunnelers and challenged their ingenuity. The first to accept the challenge was a somewhat mysterious Californian named DeWitt Clinton Haskin, who turned up in New York in the 1870’s with a proposal to tunnel through the silt (淤泥)under the Hudson River between Manhattan and Jersey City.

　 Haskin eventually abandoned (放弃)the risky project. But a company organized by William McAdoo resumed the attack in 1902, working from both directions. McAdoo’s men were forced to blast when they ran into an unexpected ledge of rock, but with this obstacle surmounted(克服), the two headings met in 1904 and McAdoo donned oilskins (穿上油布衣裤) to become the Hudson’s first underwater bank-to-bank pedestrian. World’s Work magazines proudly reported in 1906 that New York could now be described as “ a body of land surrounded by tunnels”. Three one-way shafts beneath the Hudson and two under the Harlem River were already holed through; three more Hudson tubes were being built. Eight separate tunnels were under construction beneath the East River.

82. From the sentence “We never get tired of hearing new ones.” We can infer that _________.

a.　　　 we enjoy hearing new stories about absentmindedness

b.　　　 we don’t want to know anything more about absent-mindedness

c.　　　 we will never get tired of listening to new stories about absent-mindedness

d.　　　 Absent-mindedness happens not only to professors but to many other people

81. which of the statements is true to the passage?

a.　　　 One night the writer forgot to lock the front door.

b.　　　 One night the writer forgot having locked the front door.

c.　　　 The wrier remembered to lock the door.

d.　　　 The writer remembered unlocking the front door.

80. If you want to have a good memory, _______.

a.　　　 you should force yourself to remember things

b.　　　 you should make a conscious effort of practice and exercise

c.　　　 you should never stop learning

d.　　　 you should try hard to remember things

79. According to the passage, the information” storage failures” refer to ______.

a.　　　 the destruction of information collecting system

b.　　　 the elimination of one’s total memory

c.　　　 the temporary loss of part of one’s memory

d.　　　 the separation of one’s action from consciousness

C.

Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a conscious effort (自觉的努力), then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.

Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found out that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.

Memory “tricks” work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.

We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people’s forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absentminded professors have been told for years, and we never get tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when “tricks” of our memory can cause us great trouble.

78. The word “ verifying” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by ________.

a.　 improving　　 b. changing　 c. checking　 d. stopping

77. Which of the following might be grouped under “programme assembly failures”?

a.　　　 A woman went into a shop and forgot what to buy.

b.　　　 A man returning home after work left his key in the lock.

c.　　　 A lady fell as she was concentrating on each step her feet were taking.

d.　　　 An old man, with his shoes on, was trying to put on his socks.

76. The purpose of Professor Reason’s research is___________.

a.　　　 to show the difference between men and women in their reasoning

b.　　　 to classify and explain some errors in human actions

c.　　　 to find the causes which lead to computer failures

d.　　　 to compare computer functions with brain workings

75.The Israeli scientist is now studying layers of ancient rock ______.

a.　　　 to look for evidence of star collisions

b.　　　 to search for minerals of valuable metals

c.　　　 to work out the structure of the earth’s crust

d.　　　 to find the remains of dinosaurs

B.

　　 Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyse their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups.

　　 One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog her ear-rings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her ear-rings. But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒) in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.”

　　 Twenty per cent of all errors were “test failures”----primarily due to not verifying the progress of what the body was doing. A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on---- much to his surprise. A woman victim reported: “I got into the bath with my socks on.”

　　 The commonest problem was information “storage failures”,. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.

　　 The research so far suggests that while the “central processor” of the brain is liberated from second-to second control of a well-practised routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be “captured” by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.