Question

【题目】 When we are children, the holidays seem to last forever. But later, we may find that the time just seems to fly by. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

According to the Daily Mail, our brains degrade as we get older. That decreases the amount of information we can deal with in a single day. “The human mind senses time changing when the perceived (被感知的) images change,” Adrian Bejan from Duke University, US, told the Daily Mail. “The present is different from the past because the mental viewing has changed, not because somebody’s clock rings.”

Infants (幼儿), for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they’re processing (处理) images at a faster rate. They deal with a large amount of information and do many things in a single day. This makes them feel like a single day lasts for a long time. However, as people get older, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as though they’re happening more quickly.

Apart from the degradation of our brains, some psychological reasons also make us experience time differently.

People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled (回忆) within a certain period. When we think about our youth, we may remember a life packed with first—time activities, for example, our first time traveling without our parents, or our first date. We experienced these events so vividly that time then seems to us to have passed very slowly. According to David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the US, recalling these memories makes us feel like they took forever.

Many adults find life is routine and sometimes dull. For this reason, when they look back, they might feel like there are not many exciting things to remember. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.

【1】What does the underlined word “degrade” mean?

A.become betterB.become worse

C.remain the sameD.become smaller

【2】How do people sense time changing according to Adrian Bejan?

A.It depends on how their clocks change.B.It depends on how the views around them change.

C.It depends on how often they move their eyes.D.It depends on how they process images.

【3】What is the purpose of the fifth paragraph?

A.To tell us that first—time activities are vivid and memorable.

B.To tell us that first—time events can make time pass slowly.

C.To tell us that psychological reasons make people sense time differently.

D.To tell us that people should measure time by the number of memorable events.

【4】Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

A.Because our life will become routine and dull when we grow older.

B.Because the degradation of our brains will make it slower to recall memories.

C.Because we’ll deal with less information in the same amount of time.

D.Because we won’t have first—time activities.

【5】In which part of the magazine can you probably read the text?

A.NewsB.SportsC.HealthD.Science

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】D

【3】B

【4】C

【5】D

【解析】

小时候，我们总觉得假期似乎永远都不会结束，但后来，我们或许会觉得光阴似箭，日子匆匆从模糊不清的日历上溜走。为什么随着我们长大，时间却似乎变得更快了呢？本文针对这个问题进行了科学的解释。

【1】词义猜测题。become better变得更好；become worse变得更差；remain the same保持一样；become smaller变得更小；根据“That decreases the amount of information we can deal with in a single day.”可知我们的大脑是变差了才会每天处理的信息会减少。故选B。

【2】细节理解题。根据“The human mind senses time changing when the perceived (被感知的) images change”可知人类对时间的感知来源于他们思维对图像的处理。故选D。

【3】推理判断题。第五段讲述了人们用难忘的事情来衡量时间，而这些难忘的事情一般是第一次发生的事情，这让人们觉得时间过得很慢。故选B。

【4】细节理解题。根据“as people get older, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time.”可知人越大，同一时间内处理的图像越少。故选C。

【5】题材来源题。本文针对人为什么越大，觉得时间越快做出了科学的解释，因此很有可能是杂志中的科学板块。故选D。

本文由于生词较多，对于学生有一定难度。因此，在做细节理解题时，要读懂题目并找出关键词，再回到文中把关键词部分的句子找出来，再分析判断答案。在做推理判断题时，需要将文章细读并理解，最后做出判断。如第三小题，问第五段的目的，这时候我们就需要读懂第五段，分析他主要讲了什么再推断它的目的。