You hop into your car, but, wait, where are the keys You meet someone new, but her name is gone before the handshake's over. Those are failures of your short-term, or "working," memory--the place you file information for immediate, everyday retrieval. It isn't perfect. But researchers are increasingly convinced that the hormone estrogen could play a key role in maintaining and perhaps even improving memory. Last week a team of Yale scientists provided dramatic new evidence that bolsters the theory. Using MRIs--detailed snapshots of the brain--researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo. "This is very exciting," says Yale's Dr. Sally Shaywitz. "It means that the brain circuitry for memory had altered."

　　After menopause, when estrogen levels plummet, some women become forgetful. Past research has demonstrated that those who take estrogen do better on memory tests than their nonmedicated peers do. The hormone may even reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. The new study, published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to visually compare the neurocircuitry of memory both on and off estrogen. The drug made a big difference to participant Bernadette Settelmeyer: "All of a sudden I was remembering things."

　　The women (whose average age was 51) lay down in a brain-imaging machine where they were shown two types of information: nonsense words ("BAZ" or "DOB") to test verbal memory and geometric patterns to assess visual memory. After a 20-second "storage" period, participants saw a mix of old and new and were asked if anything looked familiar. During each stage of the test--as the women encoded, stored and retrieved data--researchers took pictures of their brains. The 46 women underwent the test twice--once while taking a standard daily dose of estrogen and again while taking a placebo. Beyond the power of estrogen, the difference in MRIs suggests that the adult brain maintains "plasticity"--the ability to rewire itself--even as it ages.

　　There is still plenty of research to be done. Scientists can't yet be sure estrogen is directly responsible for better memory performance. Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change. Researchers say that is probably because the tasks were so simple (the women got more than 90 percent correct overall). Other studies on estrogen and cognition are short term--and their findings have been inconsistent. And scientists still can't answer the question facing millions of women: should I take hormone-replacement therapy The new study may make estrogen more appealing, but it should be just "one part of the equation," says Shaywitz. Still, it's a memorable one.

　　1.The following are the examples of the failures of short-term memory, except that ___________.
　　[A]you are not sure whether you’ve locked the door or not
　　[B]you cannot recall all your previous experience
　　[C]you cannot find the key to your car when starting it
　　[D]you forget the name of a stranger before the greeting is over

　　2.It can be inferred from the text that women’s working memory could probably be improved if _________.
　　[A]they overuse estrogen
　　[B]they participate in the experiment
　　[C]their minds are kept active
　　[D]the estrogen level is raised

　　3.The experiment involving 46 ladies shows that _______.
　　[A]the women should take a normal dose of estrogen
　　[B]the women’s brains still have the ability of creation
　　[C]the estrogen level determines their memory bad or good
　　[D]the estrogen makes the brain work more actively

　　4.We can draw a conclusion from the text that ________.
　　[A]the connection between estrogen and memory is still an open study
　　[B]the hormone estrogen plays a key role in improving memory.
　　[C]the low level estrogen makes a woman forgetful
　　[D]raising the estrogen level can improve the women’s short-term memory

　　5.From the text we can see the writer seems ________.
　　[A]objective
　　[B]optimistic
　　[C]sensitive
　　[D]gloomy

　　答案：BDDAA

　　篇章剖析

　　本文就雌激素疗法是否有助于改善女性记忆力展开了论述。第一段指出一项新研究进一步证实了雌激素有助于改善妇女的记忆力这一观点；第二段指出雌激素对妇女记忆力的作用；第三段指出这一研究的具体实施情况；第四段指出这一领域仍然需要进一步研究，并且还存在着一些问题。

　　词汇注释

　　hormone[5hC:mEJn]n.荷尔蒙, 激素

　　estrogen[5i:strEdV(E)n]n.[生化]雌激素

　　therapy[5WerEpI]n.治疗

　　hop[hRp]v.单脚跳, (鸟, 蛙等)跳跃

　　retrieval n.取回, 恢复, 修补，重获，挽救，拯救

　　bolster[`bEJlstE(r) ] v.支持

　　snapshot[5snApFRt]n.快照, 急射, 简单印象

　　placebo[plE5si:bEJ]n.为死者所诵的晚祷词, 安慰剂

　　circuitry[5s\:kItrI]n.电路, 线路

　　menopause[5menEpC:s]n.[生理]绝经期, 更年期, 活动终止期

　　plummet[5plQmIt]vi.垂直落下

　　peer[pIE(r)]n.同等的人, 贵族

　　medicate[5medikeit]vt.用药治疗; 掺入药品

　　Alzheimer's阿尔茨海默病，AD，又称早老性痴呆（Alzheimer's dementia）。它是一 种神经系统的进行性蜕变性疾病，临床上表现为智力水平的慢性削弱及记忆的慢性丢失。

　　brain imaging n.脑显象

　　verbal memory 非文字记忆

　　geometric[dVi:E5metrIk]adj.几何的, 几何学的

　　assess[E5ses]vt.估定, 评定

　　visual memory 视觉记忆

　　encode[In5kEJd]vt.把(电文.情报等)译成电码(或密码)；编码

　　undergo[QndE5^EJ]vt.经历, 遭受, 忍受

　　plasticity[plA`stIsEtI]n.可塑性, 塑性

　　cognition[kR^5nIF(E)n]n.认识

　　equation[I5kweIF(E)n]n.相等, 平衡, 综合体, 因素, 方程式, 等式,

　　难句突破

　　Using MRIs--detailed snapshots of the brain--researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo.

　　主体句式：researchers found that …

　　结构分析：本句是一个宾语从句。“using MRIs”做伴随状语，“detailed snapshots of the brain”是“MRIs”的同位语；宾语从句中“taking estrogen”做定语修饰主语“women”；“associated with”修饰“brain areas”。

　　句子译文：利用磁共振成像波谱（MRIs）——能够拍到大脑各细节部位的快照——研究人员发现在跟记忆相关的大脑活动区域，服用雌激素的妇女明显比服用安慰剂的妇女活跃。

　　题目分析

　　1.答案为B，属事实细节题。文中对“short-term memory”所做的定义是“the place you file information for immediate, everyday retrieval”，并且给出两个例子“You meet someone new, but her name is gone before the handshake's over.”使人更容易理解这一定义。根据给出的定义和例子，我们判断选项A也属于“短期记忆”，而选项B跟它们不是一类。

　　2.答案为D，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“But researchers are increasingly convinced that the hormone estrogen could play a key role in maintaining and perhaps even improving memory.”，并且句子“Last week a team of Yale scientists provided dramatic new evidence that bolsters the theory.”又进一步肯定了这一点。选项A的错误在于参与实验的对象使用的常规剂量的雌激素；选项B阐述的是参与实验这一事实；选项C在文中对应的正确信息应该是：研究发现服用雌激素妇女的大脑比较活跃。

　　3.答案为D，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“Using MRIs--detailed snapshots of the brain--researchers found that women taking estrogen show significantly more activity in brain areas associated with memory than women on a placebo.”，后来在文章中又加以重复“Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change.”，因此不难做出判断。

　　4.答案为A，属推理判断题。原文对应信息是“There is still plenty of research to be done. Scientists can't yet be sure estrogen is directly responsible for better memory performance. Despite the difference in brain activity on and off estrogen, participants' scores did not change.”，而且“Other studies on estrogen and cognition are short term--and their findings have been inconsistent.”。从文中我们可看出进行的实验是对一种假设的验证，验证的结果虽然有利于这一假设，但还不能说明这一假设就是完全成立的。

　　5.答案为A，属情感态度题。作者非常客观地阐述了荷尔蒙与改善妇女记忆力之间的关系。

　　参考译文

　　你已坐进车里准备开车，等会儿，钥匙搁哪儿了？你遇到一个生人，招呼还没打完就已忘记了对方的姓名。这些都是你的短期记忆，或是“工作”记忆——这是你把直接的并且每天都可重新获取的信息进行归档的地方——衰退的表现。这种记忆并不完美。研究人员越来越确信荷尔蒙雌激素在维持、甚至可能在改善记忆方面所起的重要作用。上周，耶鲁大学的一组科学家提供了一项引人注目的新证据。新证据能够支持这个理论。利用磁共振成像波谱（MRIs）——能够拍到大脑各细节部位的快照——研究人员发现在跟记忆相关的大脑活动区域，服用雌激素的妇女明显比服用安慰剂的妇女活跃。“这太令人振奋了。”耶鲁大学的萨莉·施威茨说，“这意味着用于记忆的大脑线路改变了。”

　　绝经期后，当雌激素水平骤然下降，一些女性开始变得健忘。以前的研究已经证明了服用雌激素的妇女在记忆测验中比没有介入药物治疗的同龄人表现得出色。荷尔蒙甚至还可能降低人们得阿尔茨海默病的危险。上周在《美国医学会杂志》上登载的一项新研究，第一次形象地比较了使用雌激素和不使用雌激素记忆神经线路的异同。这种药物对于参与者伯纳黛特·塞特迈耶来说产生了很大的影响：“突然间我能记住东西了。”

　　参与实验的女士（平均年龄为51岁）躺在脑显象机器上，测试者向她们出示两类信息：无意义的单词（"BAZ" 或 "DOB"）用来测试她们的非文字记忆；几何模型来估量她们的视觉记忆。二十秒钟的“储存”时间过后，参与者看到混合在一起的新、老信息，测试者询问她们熟悉哪些信息。在测试的每一个阶段——这些女士们对数据进行编码、存储、纠错的阶段——研究人员都对她们的大脑进行拍摄。46位女士先后进行了两次实验—— 一次服用日常标准剂量的雌激素；一次服用安慰剂。远超过雌激素作用的是，磁共振成像波谱的不同显示出成人大脑还保持着“可塑性”——大脑自身再接线路的能力——尽管大脑已老化。

　　还有大量研究有待进行。科学家们至今还无法肯定雌激素是获得较好的记忆功能的直接原因。虽然在有无雌激素的条件下，大脑的活动有所差别，但是参与者的得分没有改变。研究人员认为其原因可能是所给的任务过于简单（女士们答题正确率高达90%以上）。其它有关雌激素和认知方面的研究都是短期的——而且研究成果前后矛盾。科学家们仍然回答不了上百万妇女面临的问题：我应该接受荷尔蒙替换疗法吗？这项新研究可能使雌激素的作用更吸引人，但它应该只是“这个综合问题的其中一个因素”，施威茨是这样说的。但它仍然是值得注意的因素。