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大学英语精读：第一册 UNIT 9
The Most Powerful Computer in the Univer
Man still has a lot to learn about the most powerful and complex part of his body —— the brain.
In ancient times men did not think that the brain was the centre of mental activity. Aristotle the philosopher of ancient Greece thought that the mind was bad in the heart. It was not until the 18th century that man realid that the whole of the brain was involved in the workings of the mind.
During the 19th century scientists found that when certain parts of the brain were damaged men lost the ability to do certain things. And so, people thought that each part of the brain controlled a different activity. But modern rearch has found that this is not so. It is not easy to say exactly what each part of the brain does.
In the past 50 years there has been a great increa in the amount of rearch being done on the brain. Chemists and biologists have found that the way the brain works is far more complicated that they had thought. In fact many people believe that we are only now
really starting to learn the truth about how the human brain works. The more scientists find out, the mor
考试百科e questions they are unable to answer. For instance, chemists have found that over 100,000 chemical reactions take place in the brain every cond. Mathematicians who have tried to u computers to copy the way the brain works have found that even using the latest electronic equipment they would have to build a computer which weighed over 10,000 kilos. Some recent rearch also suggests that we remember everything that happens to us. We may not be able to recall this information, but it is all stored in our brains.曹培英
Scientists hope that if we can discover how the brain works, the better u we will be able to put it to. For example, how do we learn language? Man differs most from all the other animals in his ability to learn and u language but we still do not know exactly how this is dine. Some children learn to speak and read and write when they are very young compared to average children. But scientists are not sure why this happens. They are trying to find out whether there is something about the way we teach language to children which in fact prevents children from learning sooner. Earlier scientists thought that during a man”s lifetime the
power of his brain decread. But it is now thought that this is not so. As long as the brain is given plenty of exerci it keeps its power. It has been found that an old person who has always been mentally active has a quicker mind than a young person who has done only physical work. It is now t
hought that the more work we give our brains, the more work they are able to do.
Other people now believe that we u only 1% of our brains”full potential. They say that the only limit on the power of the brain is the limit of what we think is possible. This is probably becau of the way we are taught as children. When we first start learning to u our minds we are told what to do, for example, to remember certain facts, but we are not taught how our memory works and how to make that best u of it. We are told to make noted hut we are not taught how our brains accept information and which is the best way to organi the information we want our brains to accept. This century man has made many discoveries about the univer —— the world outside himlf. But he has also started to look into the workings of that other univer which is inside himlf ——the human brain.
NEW WORDS
computer
n. machine that stores information and works out answers 计算机
univer
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n. 宇宙
complex
a. difficult to understand or explain 错综简单的，难懂的
ancient
a. in or of times long ago 古代的；古老的
英语动物单词philosopher
n. 哲学家
philosophy
n. 哲学
involve
vt. cau to become connected or concerned 使卷入凤凰岭海拔
working
n. （usu. pl.） operation; action 运转，运行，活动
ability
ui面试题n. 力量
exactly
ad. with complete connected or concerned 准确地；准确地 amount
n. 数量，数额
chemist
n. one who studies and understands chemistry 化学家
biologist
n. one who studies the life of animals and plants 生物学家 biology
n. 生物学
complicated
n. difficult to understand, complex 难懂的；简单的
chemical
a. of chemistry
unable
a. not able
reaction
额头痤疮怎么办n. 反响
mathematician
n. one who studies and understands mathematics 数学家
equip
