英语四级阅读训练附答案和精讲
A startling finding of the research is that the absent-minded activity is a hazard of doingthings in which we are skilled. Normally, you would expect that skill reduces the number oferrors we make. But trying to avoid silly slips by concentrating more could make things a lotworse m even dangerous.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. In his study Professor Smith asked the subjects ________
A. to keep track of people who tend too forget things
B. to report their embarrassing lapses at random
C. to analyse their awkward experiences scientifically
D. to keep a record of what they did unintentionally
2. Professor Smith discovered that ________
A. certain patterns can be identified in the recorded incidents
B. many people were too embarrassed to admit their absent-mindedness
C. men tend to be more absent-minded than women
D. absent-mindedness is an excusable human weakness
3. "Programme assembly failures" (Line 6, Para. 2) refers to the phenomenon thatpeople ______
A. often fail to programme their routines beforehand
B. tend to make mistakes when they are in a hurry
C. unconsciously change the sequence of doing things
D. are likely to mess things up if they are too tired
4. We learn from the third paragraph that _______
A. absent-mindedness tends to occur during certain hours of the day
B. women are very careful to perform actions during peak periods
C. women experience more peak periods of absent-mindedness
D. men’s absent-mindedness often results in funny situations
5.It can be concluded from the passage that _____
A. people should avoid doing important things during peak periods of lapses
B. hazards can be avoided when people do things they are good at
C. people should be careful when programming their actions
D. lapses cannot always be attributed to lack of concentration
1.[D] 事实细节题。本文第1句中的to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions就是指to keep arecord of what they did unintentionally,题目中的subjects指实验对象，被测试者。
2.[A] 事实细节题。根据第2句中nearly all of them fell into a few groupings可以找到本题答案，题目中的discover是该句中find的同义词,A的patterns与原文中的groupings意义相同。
3.[C] 语义题。根据第2段最后两句提到,但是不知怎么的这种行为在程序中颠倒了。这些被测试者报告的事件中二十个中有一个属于这种“流水线程序错误”。C的unconsciously与somehow对应,change thesequence of doing things与the action got reversed对应，故本题选C。
4.[A] 事实细节题。根据第3段的第2、3句“一天之中似乎存在一些人们易犯荒谬可笑错误的高峰时段”,之后到举了几个高峰时间，可知A与之相符。
5.[D] 推理判断题。根据文章最后两句“一般来说，我们会以为技术娴熟可以减少错误。但是为了避免出现愚蠢的失误而更加专注，只会把事情弄得更糟糕，甚至会导致危险。”可知D“差错并不总是注意力不集中导致的” 正确。
Most episodes of absent-mindedness forgetting where you left something or wondering whyyou just entered aroom-are caused by a simple lack of attention,says Schacter. “You’resupposed to remember something, butyou haven’t encoded it deeply.”
Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a majorimpact on recalling it later. Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations. If youput your mobile phonein a pocket, for example, and don’t pay attention to what you didbecause you’re involved in a conversation, you’ll probably forget that the phone is in thejacket now hanging in you wardrobe (衣柜). “Your memory itself isn’t failing you,” saysSchacter. “Rather, you didn’t give your memory system the information it needed.”
Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness. “A man who can recite sports statisticsfrom 30 years ago,” says Zelinski, “may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox.” Womenhave slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to theirenvironment, and memory relies on justthat.
Visual cues can help prevent absent-mindedness, says Schacter. “But be sure the cue is clearand available,” he cautions. If you want to remember to take a medication (药物) with lunch,put the pill bottle on the kitchen table—don’t leave it in the medicine chest and write yourself anote that you keep in a pocket.
Another common episode of absent-mindedness: walking into a room and wondering whyyou’re there. Most likely, you were thinking about something else. “Everyone does this fromtime to time,” says Zelinski. The best thing to do is to return to where you were before enteringthe room, and you’ll likely remember.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. Why does the author think that encoding properly is very important?
A. It helps us understand our memory system better.
B. It enables us to recall something form our memory.
C. It expands our memory capacity considerably.
D. It slows down the process of losing our memory.
2. One possible reason why women have better memories than men is that ________.
A. they have a wider range of interests
B. they are more reliant on the environment
C. they have an unusual power of focusing their attention
D. they are more interested in what’s happening around them
3. A note in the pocket can hardly serve as a reminder because ________.
A. it will easily get lost
B. it’s not clear enough for you to read
C. it’s out of your sight
D. it might get mixed up with other things
4. What do we learn from the last paragraph?
A. If we focus our attention on one thing, we might forget another.
B. Memory depends to a certain extent on the environment.
C. Repetition helps improve our memory.
D. If we keep forgetting things, we’d better return to where we were.
5. What is the passage mainly about?
A. The process of gradual memory loss.
B. The causes of absent-mindedness.
C. The impact of the environment on memory.
D. A way if encoding and recalling.
1.[B] 事实细节题。根据第2段第1句可知，encoding是关注某事的一种特殊方式，这影响到以后是否能回忆起这件事来，因此B正确。
2.[D] 事实细节题。根据第3段第3句，“女性比男性的记忆力稍强，这也许是因为她们对周围的环境更加注意，而记忆正是依靠这个”，故选D “她们对于周围发生的事更感兴趣”。
3.[C] 事实细节题。根据第4段首句中说到的“视觉线索可以防止遗忘某事”可知破折号之后的警告“不要把药瓶放在药箱里，然后写一张纸条装进口袋”正是为了防止药瓶、提示性信条离开了视线，故选C。
4.[A] 推断题。根据最后一段的前两句“心不在焉的另一个常见的情景是:走进房间,却不知为什么要进来。你很有可能是在想别的事”,可知本题答案为A。
5.[B] 主旨题。根据第1、3、5段的首句可以得出，本文主要讲的是精神不集中的原因，故选B。