IELTS Reading 練習記憶的科學（含題目+詳解）

The Science of Memory

IELTS · 雅思備考 · 12 min read · 2026-04-25

📖 引導閱讀 Guided Mode 📝 完整考試模式 Full IELTS Mode

閱讀前先看 Before you read

主題: The science of human memory
文章重點: Memory is not a single faculty but a family of related systems — sensory, short-term and long-term — each with its own time-scale, capacity and brain circuitry.
難度: 中等偏難 · Upper-Intermediate
建議時間: 18 分鐘

重要單字

faculty — a natural mental ability or power / 能力、官能
sensory — relating to the physical senses / 感官的
capacity — the maximum amount that can be held / 容量
declarative — consciously recallable, fact-based / 陳述性的
procedural — related to skills performed without verbal description / 程序性的
hippocampus — a curved brain structure central to forming memories / 海馬迴

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

Modern psychology divides memory into three stages — sensory, short-term and long-term — each lasting a different amount of time and holding different kinds of information. Long-term memory itself splits into declarative (facts) and procedural (skills). The hippocampus is essential for forming new conscious memories but is not the permanent store.

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — Memory as a family of systems

Although we speak of "memory" as if it were a single faculty, modern psychology treats it as a family of related but distinct systems. Each system has its own time-scale, its own preferred kind of information and, in many cases, its own distinct neural circuitry. The most influential framework, proposed in the 1960s by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, divides memory into three stages — sensory, short-term and long-term — that information must pass through in sequence.

本段重要單字 (3)

faculty — a natural mental ability / 能力
circuitry — a system of connected pathways / 線路、神經迴路
framework — a basic structure of ideas / 框架、架構

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What is the main point of this paragraph?

Memory is a single, unified mental ability.
Memory is a set of distinct systems that work in sequence.
Atkinson and Shiffrin disproved earlier memory theories.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — Memory is a set of distinct systems that work in sequence.

The paragraph says memory is "a family of related but distinct systems" and that information passes through three stages "in sequence" — multiple systems, not one.

2 段落 2 — Sensory memory and filtering

Sensory memory is by far the briefest. The visual trace of a passing scene fades within roughly half a second; an echo of a sound persists for two or three seconds at most. Most of this information is discarded entirely, never reaching conscious awareness. Only the small fraction that is selectively attended to is passed forward. This filtering, far from being a defect, is what allows the brain to function at all in a world of overwhelming sensory input.

本段重要單字 (3)

trace — a tiny remaining mark or impression / 痕跡
discarded — thrown away, not kept / 丟棄
filtering — removing what is not wanted / 過濾

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

According to the writer, the brain's filtering of sensory input is:

a defect that limits human awareness
a useful process that lets the brain cope with too much input
something only certain people can do

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — a useful process that lets the brain cope with too much input

The text states filtering is "far from being a defect" and is "what allows the brain to function" in an overwhelming world — clearly framed as useful, not a flaw.

3 段落 3 — Short-term (working) memory

Short-term memory, often called working memory in modern accounts, holds attended information for seconds to a minute and is sharply limited in capacity. The classic estimate by George Miller in 1956 was "seven, plus or minus two" items, although later researchers have argued that the true figure for unrelated items is closer to four. Information here is fragile: a brief distraction can erase a phone number that has not yet been written down.

本段重要單字 (3)

capacity — the maximum amount that can be held / 容量
fragile — easily broken or disrupted / 脆弱的
distraction — something that takes attention away / 分心

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What do later researchers suggest about working memory capacity?

It can hold many more than seven items.
For unrelated items, the real figure is closer to four.
Capacity does not vary by type of item.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — For unrelated items, the real figure is closer to four.

The paragraph says later researchers argue "the true figure for unrelated items is closer to four" — fewer, not more, than Miller's seven.

4 段落 4 — Long-term memory: two forms

Long-term memory, by contrast, can store enormous quantities of information for decades. It is also itself subdivided. Declarative memory holds facts and personal events that can be consciously recalled, while procedural memory holds skills — riding a bicycle, typing a familiar password — that the body performs without verbal description. Brain-injury studies have shown that these subsystems can be damaged independently: a patient unable to form new conscious memories may still learn motor skills perfectly well.

本段重要單字 (3)

subdivided — split into smaller parts / 細分
declarative — consciously stated as fact / 陳述性的
procedural — concerned with how to do something / 程序性的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What does brain-injury evidence suggest about declarative and procedural memory?

They always fail together when the brain is damaged.
They can be lost or kept independently of each other.
Procedural memory disappears before declarative memory.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — They can be lost or kept independently of each other.

The text says the subsystems "can be damaged independently" — one patient may lose conscious memory but still acquire motor skills, showing the two forms are separable.

5 段落 5 — The hippocampus as binder

Central to the formation of new declarative memories is a structure called the hippocampus, a curved region buried within the temporal lobe. Damage here, as in the famous case of Henry Molaison, leaves earlier memories largely intact but prevents the encoding of new ones. The hippocampus does not seem to be the permanent storage site itself; rather, it appears to bind together the scattered cortical traces that, over weeks and years, become a stable memory.

本段重要單字 (3)

encoding — turning information into a stored form / 編碼
intact — undamaged, complete / 完整、未受損
cortical — relating to the cortex of the brain / 大腦皮質的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What role does the writer give to the hippocampus?

It is the permanent storehouse for all long-term memories.
It binds scattered cortical traces so they can become stable memories.
It only stores procedural skills, not facts.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — It binds scattered cortical traces so they can become stable memories.

The passage explicitly denies that the hippocampus is "the permanent storage site" and says it "appears to bind together the scattered cortical traces" — its role is integrative.

練完了？換成完整版做題試試。

→ 切換完整考試模式

每天 5 分鐘的系統練習

付費版本把這些策略轉成每天一個句子的練習——老師親自批改作文。

看付費版本 →

閱讀前先看 Before you read

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — Memory as a family of systems

2 段落 2 — Sensory memory and filtering

3 段落 3 — Short-term (working) memory

4 段落 4 — Long-term memory: two forms

5 段落 5 — The hippocampus as binder

每天 5 分鐘的系統練習

更多 IELTS · 雅思備考