Question

【題目】

Some people claim they “never forget a face”. But what does that saying mean? Is there really no limit to the number of faces a person can remember? A new study at the University of York in England has found that, on average, people can remember as many as 5,000 faces.

The study is the first time that scientists have been able to put a number to the abilities of humans to recognize faces. The research team tested people on how many faces they could remember from their personal lives and in the media. They also tested them to see how many famous faces they recognized. Rob Jenkins works in the psychology department at the University of York. He said the researchers’ study centered on the number of faces people actually know. He said the researchers were not able to discover whether there is a limit on how many faces the brain can handle.

In the study, people spent one hour writing down as many faces from their personal lives as possible. At first, they found it easy to come up with many faces. But by the end of the hour, they found it harder to think of new ones. Their change in speed let the researchers estimate when they would have run out of faces completely.

The results showed that these people knew between 1,000 and 10,000 faces. Jenkins explained that some people may have a natural ability for remembering faces. “There are differences in how much attention people pay to faces and how well they process the information,” he said. Jenkins also said it could be because of different social environments. Some people may have grown up in more populated places. Therefore, they may have had more social contact throughout their lives.

The people in the study included 25 men and women between 18 and 61 years old. Researchers think age may be an interesting area for further research. “It would be interesting to see whether there is a peak age for the number of faces we know”, Jenkins said. He said it is possible that we gather more faces throughout our lifetime. But, he added, there also may he an age at which we start to find it harder to remember all of those faces.

The study suggests our facial recognition abilities enable us to deal with the many different faces we see on the screens, as well as those we know, like family and friends. Today, facial recognition technology is used in many ways, including by law enforcement agencies to prevent crime and violence. Governments use it to keep secret areas secure and, in extreme cases, control populations. Even Facebook uses facial recognition. For example, when you “tag” or name a friend, Facebook technology may recognize the person’s face from a different picture you had shared before.

【1】The study at the University of York centers on ________.

A.how different people’s faces are

B.how important knowing faces is

C.how many faces people actually know

D.how much attention people pay to faces

【2】What can you learn from the passage?

A.It’s possible for anyone to remember 5000 faces.

B.The number of faces that people can remember is unlimited.

C.There is a change in the speed of people’s coming up with faces.

D.Facial recognition technology can improve social contact greatly.

【3】What does Rob Jenkins probably agree?

A.Remembering faces is not a natural ability for people.

B.People should gather more faces throughout their lifetime.

C.There is an age at which people can no longer know more faces.

D.People from a place with a large population may know more faces.

【4】What does the writer want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A.To present people’s abilities to recognize faces.

B.To tell us how facial recognition helps humans.

C.To explain the meaning of facial recognition technology.

D.To introduce the development of facial recognition technology.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】C

【3】D

【4】D

【解析】

文章大意：文章主要講了人可以記住多少張臉以及未來面部識別可以怎樣幫助人們。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題，根據(jù)文章第二段第五行. He said the researchers’ study centered on the number of faces people actually know可知，是關(guān)于人們認(rèn)識多少張臉的，故答案選C。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題，根據(jù)文章第三段第二三句話At first, they found it easy to come up with many faces. But by the end of the hour, they found it harder to think of new ones. “剛開始的時(shí)候，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)很容易想起很多面孔，但是到一個(gè)小時(shí)快結(jié)束的時(shí)候，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)很難想起新的面孔”，說明人們在想面孔的時(shí)候速度是不一樣的。故答案選C。

【3】作者態(tài)度題，根據(jù)文章第四段最后一句話Some people may have grown up in more populated places. Therefore, they may have had more social contact throughout their lives. “有的人可能在一個(gè)人口眾多的地方長大，因此，他們在一生中有更多的社會接觸”，所以，有更多社會接觸的人能記得更多的面孔。故答案選D。

【4】主旨大意題，根據(jù)最后一段第二句話Today, facial recognition technology is used in many ways,。本段主要講解的是面部識別技術(shù)的發(fā)展，包括政府用來維持安全和Face book公司在網(wǎng)站上的使用。故答案選D。