1 . Tiny, black-capped chickadees (北美山雀) have big memories. They store food in hundreds to thousands of different locations in the wild — and then comeback to these places when other food sources are low.
Scientists have known that chickadees have incredible memory skills. That memory can be a matter of life or death for these birds when there are no enough food resources in colder months.
Some researchers thought that neurons called place cells (细胞) would explain these birds’ ability to remember where their food is stored. These cells are known to include information about where things are in space. But recently，Selmaan Chettih and his team found that each time a chickadee hides a seed (种子) in a specific location, a unique brain pattern appears — separate from place cells
To observe this, Chettih and his team created special areas with lots of feeders filled with sunflower seeds. They put small flaps (片状下垂物) where birds could hide seeds.
The scientists tracked the activity in their brains. Each time a bird hid a seed under a flap, researchers saw a brief unique brain pattern appear—what they called the barcode. Different patterns appeared even if the birds hid many seeds in the same location. When the birds revisited these sites and retrieved the hidden seeds, the same barcode-like pattern appeared again, as though all the information about each location and seed were related to a unique brain pattern.
The researchers compared these memories to episodic memories in humans, which are memories of specific events or personal experiences. They’re important to how humans connect time, people, places and sensory information together.
Chettih says that this see chiding behavior has a clear pattern of activity, which may help researchers build a structure for how the brain creates and stores memories
1. Why are memory skills necessary for chickadees?| A．Memory skills can help them survive in colder months. |
| B．Memory skills show their intelligence and learning abilities. |
| C．They need memory skills to identify different types of food. |
| D．They use memory skills to avoid being attacked by other animals. |
| A．Chickadees’ memories were controlled by place cells. |
| B．Chickadees preferred hiding sunflower seeds. |
| C．Unique brain patterns appeared when chickadees hid seeds. |
| D．Chickadees often hid many seeds in the same location. |
| A．Repaired. | B．Regained. | C．Decorated. | D．Designed. |
| A．To introduce a study on chickadees’ memory. |
| B．To present a detailed description of chickadees. |
| C．To compare chickadees and human memory skills. |
| D．To provide readers with a way to improve memory skills. |
2 . I have begun every conversation with the usual opening line, “Entschuldigung, mein Deutsch ist noch nicht so gut” since I moved to Hermsdorf, a little village in east Germany in 2015. The purpose was to let the Germans know that they shouldn’t expect me to express more ideas or respond quickly and accurately, so I escape too much conversation with them.
Learning to speak German was not funny for meat all. Even if I could technically write academic (学术的) articles in German, the thought of calling a doctor to make an appointment (约定) would still bring me anxiety. I would stammer (口吃) during small talk with a mother I had never met before, while dressing my one-year-old at kindergarten.
This went on for almost ten years until a month ago. I was at home, telling my husband about a meeting I’d had. As usual, I started the meeting by apologizing (道歉) for my poor German. The lady behind the desk looked at me somewhat confused, “But your German is great.” “She is right, you know,” my husband said. “I don’t know why you still think you speak poor German. OK, it is not perfect, but who cares?” After living in Germany for nearly ten years, why did I still worry so much? I finally saw the light. It was because I was trying to protect my feelings.
Lately, when I sat across from a woman who could be my future boss, I felt anxious about the interview, especially the unavoidable question, “Tell me about yourself.” I really wanted to use my usual opening line, but I didn’t and thought I should trust myself and my German. That afternoon, l was called back to meet the CEO who told me that I was hired, and when we shook hands, she didn’t mention anything about my German skills.
1. Why did the author begin conversations with the usual opening line?| A．She pretended to be polite. |
| B．She hoped to impress people with her language skills. |
| C．She wished form or c opportunities to practice German. |
| D．She wanted to avoid further conversation with Germans |
| A．Excited and inspired. | B．Anxious and bored. |
| C．Confident and relaxed. | D．Pleased and satisfied. |
| A．Not having confidence in speaking German. |
| B．Writing academic articles in German. |
| C．The basic rules of German grammar. |
| D．Small talks with her friends. |
| A．To stress the author’s language skills were praised. |
| B．To illustrate the mental challenges of job interviews. |
| C．To prove good relationship between the author and the CEO. |
| D．To show the author’s changes and growth in speaking German. |
Music in its many forms is a powerful force. For centuries, people all over the world have created or listened to music in its
In many cultures, music making
The power of music is this―it will touch all our lives in some way. It could be we a e interested in the popular music of today and the classical music of yesterday, or have a fascination with creating wonderful instruments. It could be we join
Although the music today may be different
我发现我在做别人已经完成了的工作，换句话说，我是在浪费时间。
