CHAPTER SIX READING Pages 80 and 81
[00:08.20]MEMORY
[00:10.84]Joyce wanted to have a feature about memory.
[00:16.30]She and her editors all agreed to write short articles on this topic.
[00:25.26]I read in a book that we have a short-term memory and long-term memory.
[00:33.12]When people get older,their short-term memory becomes worse,
[00:39.97]but we can still remember things that happened a long time ago.
[00:46.21]My Grandad told me a joke about memory.
[00:51.77]He said,'When you get old,three things start to go wrong.
[00:58.62]First,you start to lose your memory.
[01:03.09]And I can't remember what the other things are!'
[01:07.81]Memory is essential for life.
[01:13.14]I saw a programme on television about a man.
[01:19.62]who had had an accident and injured his brain.
[01:25.79]Afterwards,he could not remember any thing for longer than a few minutes.
[01:33.96]His wife visited him in hospital every day,
[01:39.81]but he forgot her visits a few minutes after she left.
[01:46.58]He was often angry with her because he thought that she never visited him.
[01:53.84]It was very sad.
[01:57.50]One basic way of improving your memory is to use the link method.
[02:04.87]If you want to memorize something, you must make a picture in your mind
[02:11.53]If the picture is silly,strange and colourful,you will remember it better.
[02:18.29]For example,I am trying to remember the word 'smiles'.
[02:24.25]An easy way to do this is to imagine there is a 'mile'
[02:29.89]between the first letter and the last letter.
[02:34.75]This makes it the longest word in the world!
[02:40.31]In the Guinness Book of Records,
[02:44.18]we can find some amazing stories about memory.
[02:49.51]For example,Gong Yangling from Harbin in China
[02:55.86]has memorized more than 15,000 telephone numbers.
[03:02.70]And Dominic O'Brien from Britain remembered the correct order
[03:09.26]of 1,820 playing cards,after seeing them just once.
[03:17.62]Memory is connected with our feelings.
[03:22.89]For example,if someone says 'This is a spider,'
[03:29.95]and then puts a large spider on your hand,
[03:35.28]you will probable remember the word 'spider'!
[03:40.45]When something dramatic happens,we usually remember it well,
[03:47.29]and we also remember where we were and what we were doing .
[03:53.17]For example,98% of older people in the USA
[03:59.93]can remember where they were
[04:04.09]when they heard about the death of President John F Kennedy in 1963.
[04:11.85]LISTENING Page 83
[04:16.39]Testing your memory
[04:20.15]These exercises will test your memory.
[04:25.22]Listen,but do not take notes.
[04:30.37]Write short answers to the questions.
[04:35.23]The first one is done for you.
[04:39.67]Part A
[04:42.59]1.a dog a cake
[04:48.97]a lion a book
[04:53.83]a cat
[04:56.78]Question 1:
[04:59.81]How many animals were in that list?
[05:05.37]2.a telephone
[05:10.23]a fax-machine
[05:13.57]a boat
[05:16.32]a policeman
[05:19.48]a television set
[05:22.95]Question 2:
[05:26.11]What was the first item in that list?
[05:31.68]3.a banana
[05:36.12]a hamburger
[05:39.15]an apple
[05:42.18]a coconut
[05:45.21]a Pisa
[05:48.06]Question 3:
[05:51.22]How many fruits were in that list?
[05:56.28]4.a policeman
[06:00.72]a postman
[06:03.68]a teacher
[06:07.12]a headmaster
[06:10.29]a waitress
[06:13.21]Question 4:
[06:16.45]How many of those words ended in 'man'?
[06:23.61]5.oxygen
[06:28.34]water carbon
[06:32.99]nitrogen pollution
[06:37.84]Question 5:
[06:41.01]In that list,what was the word after the word 'water'?
[06:48.87]6.a car a ferry
[06:55.40]a bicycle a ship
[06:59.97]an aeroplane
[07:03.21]Question 6:
[07:06.45]How many of these vehicles have wheels?
[07:12.69]7.blue sky
[07:18.86]bird rainbow
[07:23.61]building
[07:27.27]Question 7:
[07:30.43]How many of the words in that list begin with the letter B?
[07:38.29]8.bread rice
[07:44.35]trousers green
[07:49.21]elephant blue
[07:53.76]Question 8:
[07:56.92]What was the fourth word in that list?
[08:01.88]9.a bridge a tunnel
[08:08.83]mountain a river
[08:13.40]a highway
[08:16.27]Question 9:
[08:19.44]How many of the things in that list are not made by people?
[08:27.48]10.Peter Ann Steven
[08:35.84]Katy Elen
[08:40.39]Question 10:
[08:43.55]What was the second name in that list?
[08:48.20]Part B
[08:51.36]Yesterday afternoon, Grandma,that's my mother,lost her glasses.
[08:59.61]We were not surprised,she is 83 and she often loses things and forgets things.
[09:08.57]So everyone in the family had to help her to find them.
[09:14.92]'They cost over 2,000 yuan',she said,
[09:20.77]'we must find them.' My son James said,
[09:27.33]'Grandma,you're wearing them.' But she said,
[09:34.49]'No, these are my old glasses.
[09:40.05]Look,these glasses have a gray frame.
[09:46.01]My new glasses are pink.'
[09:50.45]Grandma had been doing some cooking, so I looked all around the kitchen.
[09:58.31]But I could not find them.
[10:02.38]Grandma looked in her bedroom.
[10:06.75]James looked all around the sittingroom.
[10:12.31]No one could find the glasses.
[10:17.17]About half an hour later my husband Sam returned home,
[10:24.14]'Here are your glasses,Grandma,' he said.
[10:29.39]'Oh,where were they?' she asked,
[10:35.25]'Did I leave them in the car?'
[10:39.32]'No,you broke them on Friday,and you asked me to get them repaired.
[10:48.07]I've just been to the shop to get them,' he said.
[10:53.74]'Oh,yes.I forgot,' she said.
[10:59.38]'Thanks very much.'
[11:03.33]Question 1 How old is Grandma?
[11:09.78]Question 2 How much did Grandma's new glasses cost?
[11:18.32]Question 3 What is the name of the woman's son?
[11:24.70]Question 4 Was Grandma wearing her new glasses?
[11:32.45]Question 5 What colour were Grandma's new glasses?
[11:40.60]Question 6 Where did the woman look for the glasses?
[11:48.65]Question 7 Where did Grandma look for her glasses?
[11:57.19]Question 8 Who looked all around the sitting room?
[12:05.13]Question 9 Who was Sam?
[12:11.09]Question 10 Where had the glasses been?
[12:18.14]SPEAKING Page 88
[12:23.11]A Talk time Apologies and excuses
[12:31.44]Exercise A1
[12:35.20]Arthur:Sorry I'm late,Tony, but the minibus broke down,and there were no taxis.
[12:44.26]Tony:That's all right,Arthur.
[12:47.92]I've just got here myself,so I wasn't waiting for long.
[12:55.78]Arthur:And,Tony, I'm terribly sorry,
[12:59.23]but I've forgotten to bring the tickets with me.
[13:04.30]Tony:Oh,don't say that.How could you do that?
[13:10.15]Arthur:It's my memory.It's so bad these days.
[13:16.63]I can't remember anything any more.
[13:20.99]Tony:Then you'd better do something about it,hadn't you?
[13:26.06]MORE PRACTICE Page 93
[13:31.21]How to Improve Your Memory
[13:35.96]There are many things you can do to improve your memory.
[13:42.13]Among them are various memorizing methods
[13:48.08]as well as taking special care of your health.
[13:53.36]It is important that you regularly stimulate your brain
[13:59.42]to make your memory more efficient.
[14:04.07]You can do this by doing activities that you do not normally do
[14:10.94]and by changing your daily habits.
[14:15.59]Learning a new skill helps your brain to develop.
[14:21.36]When trying to memorize something,you should focus your attention
[14:28.13]and concentrate on the most important things about it.
[14:34.37]Do not allow other thoughts to enter your mind
[14:40.33]because this will lower your chances of making accurate memories.
[14:47.41]An excellent way to help memory is to link information with pictures.
[14:56.16]These are referred to as mnemonic techniques.
[15:01.83]Try to see the images in your mind.
[15:06.87]Taking notes,being organized and keeping a diary will also be useful tools.
[15:15.51]Healthy food and plenty of vitamins
[15:20.56]are essential for your memory to work properly.
[15:25.91]Drinking a lot of water also helps maintain your memory.
[15:33.46]You must allow your brain to have enough sleep and rest.
[15:39.83]When you are asleep, your brain stores memory.
[15:46.00]Not enough sleep can,therefore,cause problems with storing information.
[15:53.76]In addition,being tired will stop you from being able to concentrate well.
[16:01.31]Caffeine in tea and coffee
[16:05.75]are very good at preventing sleepines helping concentration,
[16:12.80]but they can also cause problems with memory.
[16:18.86]In order to concentrate well, you must be relaxed.
[16:24.82]Generally keeping fit and regular health checks are both important as well
[16:32.26]not just for improving your memory.
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