Question

Burning the midnight oil before an exam or interview has an opposite effect according to a research which found that sleep is necessary for memories to be “downloaded” into the brain.

“A good night's sleep within 30 hours of trying to remember a new task is a necessary condition of having good recall in the weeks ahead，” scientists have found.

“We think that getting that first night's sleep starts the process of memory consolidation(加强)，” said Robert Stickgold, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School who conducted the latest study.

“It seems that memories are normally washed out of the brain unless some process nails them down. I feel uncertain that sleep is one of those things that do the nailing down，” Professor Stickgold said.

Professor Stickgold's team trained the 24 people to tell the direction of three diagonal bars (斜线) shown for a sixtieth of a second on a computer screen full of horizontal stripes(水平线)．

Half the subjects were kept awake that night, while the others slept. Both groups were allowed to sleep for the second and third nights to make up for any differences in tiredness between the volunteers.

Those who slept the first night were much better at remembering the task while the second group showed no improvement in spite of enjoying two nights of catch－up sleep.

A further study by scientists at the Medical University at Lubeck in Germany showed that memories are laid down in two stages during the night. The first is during the deep, so－called “slow wave” sleep, which usually takes place in the first half of the night. The second, and less important stage happens during the periods of dreaming or “rapid eye movement (REM)”. When people don't sleep well in the first half of the night, their memory consolidation is almost the same as having no sleep at all.

1. Which of the following statements is CORRECT according to the first paragraph?

A. It is necessary to burn the midnight oil before an exam or interview.

B. Sleep speeds up the loss of memory.

C. Man should have a good sleep if he wants to keep a good memory.

D. Staying up late will make you better prepared for an exam or interview.

2. It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that________.

A. some process helps memories to be washed out of the brain

B. Professor Stickgold is doubtful about whether sleep can make memories worse

C. some memories normally influence the function of the brain

D. sleep may can improve the condition of memories

3. How was the research conducted by Professor Stickgold?

A. The subjects were divided into two groups.

B. All the subjects were kept awake for 3 nights.

C. One group slept at the first night but was kept awake the next two nights.

D. One group was kept awake for 3 nights but the other slept for the second and third nights.

4. What was the study result of the scientists' at the Medical University at Lubeck?

A. REM sleep is not important at all for the consolidation for memory.

B. Intellectual performance mainly depends on the slow wave sleep period.

C. When people sleep poorly in the first half of the night, it is almost the same as having no sleep at all.

D. REM sleep is as important as slow wave sleep in terms of memory recall.

5. The BEST title of this passage is “________”．

A. Sleep Necessary for Memories

B. The Importance of the First Stage of Sleep

C. Studies Made by Scientists About Sleep

D. The Scientists' Achievement in Sleep Research

Answer 1

 1. 解析：选C。推理判断题。本文通过实验说明好的睡眠对记忆力至关重要。文章第一段就交代了整篇文章的中心。

2. 解析：选D。推理判断题。Professor Stickgold的话说明：睡眠也许是不让记忆力衰退的关键之一。

3. 解析：选A。细节理解题。文章第六、七段介绍了参与实验者被分成两组，一组第一天晚上睡觉，另一组第一天晚上不睡觉。

4. 解析：选B。细节理解题。文章最后一段说明了slow wave睡眠阶段对记忆的重要性。

5. 解析：选A。标题概括题。归纳文章第一段的内容可知答案。