Question

【题目】 How long does a year last? Children might say that a year lasts forever. But your parents might say that a whole year can pass "in the blink of an eye". Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

According to scientists from Duke University, US, our brains degrade（退化）and change over time. This physical change causes the rate at which we take in and deal with new information to fall down.

Babies, for example, move their eyes much more often than grown-ups because they're dealing with images at a faster rate, Adrian Bejan from the university told the Daily Mail. They take in a lot 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's brains degrade over time, fewer images are dealt with in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as it they're happening more quickly.

What's more, people may also "feel" time differently due to psychological（心理的）reasons. People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled（回忆）within a certain period.

Have you ever noticed that when you recall your firsts (first day of school. first family vacation, first birthday party, etc.), they seem to be in slow motion! That's because when something is a "first", there are many exciting things to remember. Recalling these memories makes you feel like they took forever, according to David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the US.

For many grown-ups, life is made up of daily things. When they look hack they might feel like there are not many interesting things to remember. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.

【1】The phrase "in the blink of an eye" has the similar meaning to "____________".

A.carefullyB.directlyC.slowlyD.quickly

【2】Time seems to pass faster as we get older because _____________.

A.human brains become smaller and smaller over time

B.grown-ups often forget things easily and quickly

C.grown-ups don't deal with information as quickly as babies

D.babies are able to do a lot of things in a single day

【3】What can we know according to David Eagleman?

A.Babies move their eyes much more often than grown-ups.

B.Psychological factors can affect how a person feels about time.

C.Recalling memories makes people feel like time is going faster.

D.Memorable events can slow down the pace of brain degradation.

【4】The author writes this article to ___________________________.

A.explain why people feel time differently as they get old

B.explain why babies learn things faster than grown-ups

C.encourage people to make better use of their time

D.encourage people to create more memorable memories

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】C

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

这篇短文讲述的是相比孩子们来说，成年人或者老人总是觉得时间过得更快，这是为什么呢？短文中给我们介绍了美国杜克大学和贝勒医学院的科学家们的研究发现。

【1】词义猜测题。根据语境 “Children might say that a year lasts forever. But your parents might say that a whole year can pass "in the blink of an eye".”可知，句中But表示转折，因此But后面这句话的意思与前面应该是相反的。前面说“孩子们说一年很长”，那么后面这句话的意思就应该是“父母们可能会说一年过得很快”。由此可猜测出in the blink of an eye的意思是“快速地”。故选D。

【2】细节理解题。根据短文第二段 “According to scientists from Duke University, US, our brains degrade（退化）and change over time. This physical change causes the rate at which we take in and deal with new information to fall down.”可知，根据杜克大学科学家们的发现，我们的大脑会随着时间退化，这种物理变化导致我们吸收和处理新信息的速度下降。C选项“成年人处理信息的速度不如婴儿快”符合文意。故选C。

【3】推理判断题。根据短文第六段 “Have you ever noticed that when you recall your firsts (first day of school. first family vacation, first birthday party, etc.), they seem to be in slow motion! That's because when something is a "first", there are many exciting things to remember. Recalling these memories makes you feel like they took forever, according to David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the US.”可知，贝勒医学院的David Eagleman说当我们回想很多“第一次”的时候，它们好像都是慢动作，因为回忆这些记忆会让你觉得它们花了很长时间。这说明了心理因素影响人们对时间的感觉。故选B。

【4】主旨大意题。根据文意以及第一段的最后 “Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?”可知，这篇短文给我们介绍了为什么随着我们年龄的增长，我们对时间的感觉不一样了。故选A。