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 ha