首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Is the Internet Making Us Forgetful? A)A tourist takes a picture of the Empire State Building on his iPhone, deletes it, then ta
Is the Internet Making Us Forgetful? A)A tourist takes a picture of the Empire State Building on his iPhone, deletes it, then ta
admin
2014-05-30
24
问题
Is the Internet Making Us Forgetful?
A)A tourist takes a picture of the Empire State Building on his iPhone, deletes it, then takes another one from a different angle. But what happened to that first image? The delete button on our cameras, phones, and computers is a function we use often without thinking, yet it remains a fantastic concept. Most things in the world don’t just disappear. Not our thrown away plastic water bottles. Not the keys to the apartment. Not our earliest childhood memories.
B)"It is possible that every memory you have ever experienced that made its way into your long-term memory is still buried somewhere in your head," Michael S. Malone writes in his new book The Guardian of All Things: The Epic Story of Human Memory. It is both a blessing and a curse that we cannot voluntarily erase our memories. Like it or not, we are stuck with our experiences. It’s just one of the many ways that human beings differ from digital cameras.
C)Yet, humans are relying more and more on digital cameras and less on our own minds. Malone tells the story of how, over time, humans have externalized(外化)their internal memories, departing themselves from the experiences they own. The book is a history in time order—from the development of paper, libraries, cameras, to microchips—about how we place increasing trust in technology.
D)Is it a good thing for electronic devices and the Internet to store our memories for us? When we allow that to happen, who do we become? Will our brains atrophy(萎缩)if we chose not to exercise them? Malone, who is a Silicon Valley reporter, shows us the technological progress, but backs away from deeper philosophical questions. His love for breaking news—the very idea of breakthrough—is apparent, but he fails to address the more distressing implications.
E)The biology of human memory is largely mysterious. It is one of the remaining brain functions whose location neuroscientists can’t place. Memory nerve cells are distributed all over the brain, hidden in its gray wrinkles like money behind couch cushions. " What a plunge," opens Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Dalloway, as Clarissa tosses open her French windows and is transported into her remembered past. " Live in the moment" is a directive we often hear these days in yoga class, but our ability to weave in and out of the past is what makes life interesting and also difficult for humans.
F)The Neanderthal(穴居人的)brain was powerful, but lacking a high-capacity memory, "forever trapped in the now," according to Malone. The stories, images, and phrases that we turn over in our minds while lying awake in bed were different for them. Neanderthals could receive the stimuli of the world—colors, sounds, smells—but had limited ways to organize or access that information. Even the term Homo sapiens(晚期智人)reveals how our brains work differently from our ancestors. Translated from the Latin, it means knowing man. Not only do we know, but we know that we know. Our self-consciousness, that ability not only to make memories but to recall them, is what defines us.
G)Short-term memories are created by the compound of certain proteins in a cell and long-term memories are created by released magnesium(镁). Each memory is then inserted like handprints in concrete. This is what we know about the physical process of memory making. Why a person might remember the meal they ate before their parents announced a divorce, but not the announcement itself, remains a scientific mystery.
H)The appearance of language is linked to memory, and many early languages were simply devices that aid memory. They served as a method for sharing memories, an early form of fact-checking that also expands the lifetime of a memory. The Library of Alexandria is an example of a population’s desire to catalog a common memory and situate it safely outside their own short-lived bodies.
I)The ancient Romans even had a discipline called Ars Memorativa, or the art of memory. They honored extraordinary acts of memorization, just as they honored extraordinary feats in battle, and Cicero excelled at this. Memorization was an art that could be polished using patterns, imaginary structures and landscapes. Without training, the human brain can hold only about seven items in short-term memory.
J)The invention of computer memory changes everything. We now have "Moore’s Law" , the notion that memory chips will double in performance every 18 months. Memory plug base continues to decrease in size while our memories accumulate daily. Because of growing access to the Internet, Malone argues that individualized memory matters less and less. Schoolchildren today take open-book tests or with a calculator. "What matters now is not one’s ownership of knowledge, but one’s skill at accessing it and analyzing it," he writes. However, something is lost. We have unlimited access to a wealth of information, yet little of it belongs to us.
K)Human beings have a notion of self, a subjective world particular to us, thanks to our highly complicated and individualized brains that Malone compares to "the roots and branches of a tree". We own our own hardware, and we all remember differently. The Internet offers us access to information, but it is really a part of the external world of colors and sounds that even Neanderthals could receive. A world in which all our memories are stored on electronic devices and all our answers can be found by Googling is a world closer to the Neanderthal’s than to a high-tech, idealized future. I don’t remember when I first learned the word deja vu but I do remember the shirt I wore on the first day of 9th grade. Memory is a tool, but it can also teach us about what we think is important. Human memory is a way for us to learn about ourselves.
Compared with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, human beings have the particular feature of being able to make memories and recall them.
选项
答案
F
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/xEv7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Althoughthestigma(耻辱)onceassociatedwithmentalillnesshasgraduallygoneawayinrecentyears,mostoftheAmericanswhoha
Americanshavelongpridedthemselvesasbeingpartofanoptimisticsociety.ButanewresearchdescribesAmericansaspessimis
Americanshavelongpridedthemselvesasbeingpartofanoptimisticsociety.ButanewresearchdescribesAmericansaspessimis
Americanshavelongpridedthemselvesasbeingpartofanoptimisticsociety.ButanewresearchdescribesAmericansaspessimis
A、Puttingyourhandsonthetableallthetime.B、Makingnoisewhileeatinganykindoffood.C、Eatingyourmealsquicklyandcl
A、Writingcanbringawriterwealthandfame.B、Beingawriterisverydifferentfromwriting.C、Persistenceisveryimportanti
A、Womenthinkmorewhenmakingadecision.B、Womenknowmoreaboutrelaxationandplay.C、Womenaremoreawareoftheenvironmen
A、Itislinedwithtalltrees.B、Itwaswidenedrecently.C、Ithashighbuildingsonbothsides.D、Itusedtobedirtyanddisor
Inthecenterofabigcitythereareusuallydozensoflargeofficebuildingsthathousebigbanks,corporationheadquarters,a
随机试题
4只小猴吃桃,第1只猴吃的是其他猴吃的1/3,第2只猴吃的是其他猴吃的1/4,第3只猴吃的是其他猴吃的1/5,第4只猴将剩下的46个桃全吃了,则4只猴子共吃了()桃。
某日13时10分,罗某驾驶一辆中型客车从高速公路0公里处出发,下午14时10分行至该高速公路125公里加200米处时,发生追尾碰撞,机动车驶出西南侧路外边坡,造成11人死亡、2人受伤。罗某的主要违法行为是什么?
以滋阴养血、补心安神为主要功效,最宜选用的方剂是
女婴,出生6天,其母换尿片时发现其阴道流出少量血性分泌物而向护士咨询。护士正确的解释是
装修公司甲在完成一项工程后,将剩余的木地板、厨卫用具等卖给了物业管理公司乙。但甲营业执照上的核准经营范围并无销售木地板、厨卫用具等业务。甲、乙的买卖行为法律效力如何?
根据《德国民法典》规定,下列说法中正确的是()。
根据《旅行社条例》规定,旅行社委派的导游人员和领队人员未持有国家规定的导游证或者领队证的,由旅游行政管理部门责令改正,对旅行社处()的罚:款。
下列关于壮族的描述,正确的有()。
辨认
WhatmakesAmericansspendnearlyhalftheirfooddollarsonmealsawayfromhome?TheanswerslieinthewayAmericanslivetod
最新回复
(
0
)