When we are children, the holidays seem to last forever. But later, we may find that the time just seems to fly by. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?
According to the Daily Mail, our brainsdegradeas we get older. That decreases the amount of information we can deal with in a single day. “The human mind senses time changing when the perceived (被感知的) images change,” Adrian Bejan from Duke University, US, told the Daily Mail. “The present is different from the past because the mental viewing has changed, not because somebody’s clock rings.”
Infants (幼儿), for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they’re processing (处理) images at a faster rate. They deal with a large amount of information and do many things in a single day. This makes them feel like a single day lasts for a long time. However, as people get older, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as though they’re happening more quickly.
Apart from the degradation of our brains, some psychological reasons also make us experience time differently.
People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled (回忆) within a certain period. When we think about our youth, we may remember a life packed with first—time activities, for example, our first time traveling without our parents, or our first date. We experienced these events so vividly that time then seems to us to have passed very slowly. According to David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the US, recalling these memories makes us feel like they took forever.
Many adults find life is routine and sometimes dull. For this reason, when they look back, they might feel like there are not many exciting things to remember. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.
11. What does the underlined word “degrade” mean?
A.become better | B.become worse |
C.remain the same | D.become smaller |
12. How do people sense time changing according to Adrian Bejan?
A.It depends on how their clocks change. | B.It depends on how the views around them change. |
C.It depends on how often they move their eyes. | D.It depends on how they process images. |
13. What is the purpose of the fifth paragraph?
A.To tell us that first—time activities are vivid and memorable. |
B.To tell us that first—time events can make time pass slowly. |
C.To tell us that psychological reasons make people sense time differently. |
D.To tell us that people should measure time by the number of memorable events. |
14. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?
A.Because our life will become routine and dull when we grow older. |
B.Because the degradation of our brains will make it slower to recall memories. |
C.Because we’ll deal with less information in the same amount of time. |
D.Because we won’t have first—time activities. |
15. In which part of the magazine can you probably read the text?
A.News | B.Sports | C.Health | D.Science |