The Blessing and Curse of the People Who Never Forget
A handful of people can recall almost every day of their lives in enormous detail—and after years of research, neuroscientists (神经科学专家) are finally beginning to understand how they do it.
[A] For most of us, memory is a mess of blurred and faded pictures of our lives. As much as we would like to cling on to our past, even the saddest moments can be washed away with time.
[B] Ask Nima Veiseh what he was doing for any day in the past 15 years, however, and he will give you the details of the weather, what he was wearing, or even what side of the train he was sitting on his journey to work. “My memory is like a library of video tapes, walk-throughs of every day of my life from waking to sleeping,” he explains.
[C] Veiseh can even put a date on when those tapes started recording: 15 December 2000, when he met his first girlfriend at his best friend&39;s 16th birthday party. He had always had a good memory, but the thrill of young love seems to have shifted a gear in his mind: from now on, he would start recording his whole life in detail. “I could tell you everything about every day after that.”
[D] Needless to say, people like Veiseh are of great interest to neuroscientists hoping to understand the way the brain records our lives. A couple of recent papers have finally opened a window on these people’s extraordinary minds. And such research might even suggest ways for us all to relive our past with greater clarity.
[E] ‘Highly superior autobiographical memory’(or HSAM for short) first came to light in the early 2000s, with a young woman named Jill Price. Emailing the neuroscientist and memory researcher Jim McGaugh one day, she claimed that she could recall every day of her life since the age of 12. Could he help explain her experiences？
[F] McGaugh invited her to his lab, and began to test her: he would give her a date and ask her to tell him about the world events on that day. True to her word, she was correct almost every time.
[G] It didn’t take long for magazines and documentary film-makers to come to understand her “total recall”，and thank to the subsequent media interest, a few dozen other subjects (including Veiseh) have since come forward and contacted the team at the University of California, Irvine.
[H] Interestingly, their memories are highly self-centred: although they can remember “autobiographical” life events in extraordinary detail, they seem to be no better than average at recalling impersonal information, such as random (任意选取的)lists of words. Nor are they necessarily better at remembering a round of drinks, say. And although their memories are vast, they are still likely to suffer from “false memories”.Clearly, there is no such thing as a “perfect” memory—their extraordinary minds are still using the same flawed tools that the rest of us rely on. The question is, how？
[I] Lawrence Patihis at the University of Southern Mississippi recently studied around 20 people with HSAM and found that they scored particularly high on two measures: fantasy proneness (倾向)and absorption. Fantasy proneness could be considered a tendency to imagine and daydream, whereas absorption is the tendency to allow your mind to become fully absorbed in an activity to pay complete attention to the sensations (感受)and the experiences. “I’m extremely sensitive to sounds, smells and visual detail,” explains Nicole Donohue, who has taken part in many of these studies. “I definitely feel things more strongly than the average person.”
[J] The absorption helps them to establish strong foundations for recollection, says Patihis, and the fantasy proneness means that they revisit those memories again and again in the coming weeks and months. Each time this initial memory trace is “replayed”, it becomes even stronger. In some ways, you probably go through that process after a big event like your wedding day,but the difference is that thanks to their other psychological tendencies, the HSAM subjects are doing it day in, day out, for the whole of their lives.
[K] Not everyone with a tendency to fantasise will develop HSAM, though, so Patihis suggests that something must have caused them to think so much about their past. “Maybe some experience in their childhood meant that they became obsessed (着迷)with calendars and what happened to them,”says Patihis.
[L] The people with HSAM I？ve interviewed would certainly agree that it can be a mixed blessing. On the plus side, it allows you to relive the most transformative and enriching experiences. Veiseh, for instance, travelled a lot in his youth. In his spare time,he visited the local art galleries, and the paintings are now lodged deep in his autobiographical memories.
[M] “Imagine being able to remember every painting, on every wall, in every gallery space, between nearly 40 countries，” he says. “That’s a big education in art by itself.” With this comprehensive knowledge of the history of art, he has since become a professional painter.
[N] Donohue, now a history teacher, agrees that it helped during certain parts of her education. “I can definitely remember what I learned on certain days at school. I could imagine what the teacher was saying or what it looked like in the book.”
[O] Not everyone with HSAM has experienced these benefits, however. Viewing the past in high definition can make it very difficult to get over pain and regret. “It can be very hard to forget embarrassing moments,” says Donohue. “You feel the same emotions—it is just as raw, just as fresh... You can’t turn off that stream of memories, no matter how hard you try.” Veiseh agrees. “It is like having these open wounds—they are just a part of you,” he says.
[P] This means they often have to make a special effort to lay the past to rest. Bill, for instance, often gets painful “flashbacks”,in which unwanted memories intrude into his consciousness, but overall he has chosen to see it as the best way of avoiding repeating the same mistakes. “Some people are absorbed in the past but not open to new memories, but that’s not the case for me. I look forward to each day and experiencing something new.”
36.People with HSAM have the same memory as ordinary people when it comes to impersonal information.
37.Fantasy proneness will not necessarily cause people to develop HSAM.
38.Veiseh began to remember the details of his everyday experiences after he met his first young love.
39.Many more people with HSAM started to contact researchers due to the mass media.
40.People with HSAM often have to make efforts to avoid focusing on the past.
41.Most people do not have clear memories of past events.
42.HSAM can be both a curse and a blessing.
43.A young woman sought explanation from a brain scientist when she noticed her unusual memory.
44.Some people with HSAM find it very hard to get rid of unpleasant memories.
45.A recent study of people with HSAM reveals that they are liable to fantasy and full absorption in an activity.
I have closely watched my generation, known as The Millennials, for 29 years now. Joel Stein wrote an extensive piece on Millennials and he remains rather optimistic about our potential.
I hesitate to share his optimism because of a paradox (矛盾的现象) we seem to exhibit, namely, that there are more avenues for us to entertain ourselves than ever before, yet we are more bored than ever before.
Entertainment has never been more varied. We have more cable channels, television shows, and movies than ever before. Internet providers allow instant viewing of almost any movie or television program ever created. Social drinking and partying are also widely available for Millennials. Every generation develops these habits at a certain age, but Millennials seem to be extending this phase of life as they postpone marriage.
Some of this is undoubtedly due to The Great Recession. Millennials are having a difficult time finding jobs; only 47 percent of 16-to-24-year-olds are employed, the smallest share since government started recording data in 1948.
But do Millennials respond to these economic troubles by doing whatever it takes to make ends meet？ Hardly. In fact, of the four generations Pew Research has data for, the Millennial generation does not cite work ethic (勤奋工作) as distinctive of itself. Millennials want to save the world, but they sit and wait for that world-changing opportunity to be handed to them. Instead of working 2-3 jobs, launching a business, or doing what it takes to succeed, they retreat. Millennials may be the first generation to have a lower standard of living than their parents, but with this response to adversity (逆境), perhaps deservingly so.
Much ink has been spilled in management books discussing how to get the most out of these youths in the workplace. Largely, they come to the same conclusion: Millennials are entitled, over-confident, and expect too much too quickly. We should not be surprised. Today’s young adults were raised by parents who made sure to boost their self-esteem at every turn, telling them they could achieve whatever they set their minds to, and handing out prizes for the sixth place.
61. What does the author of the passage think of Millennials？
A. They show little interest in entertainment.
B. They are not confident about their ability.
C. They enjoy an easy life due to high technology.
D. They may not have bright prospects for success.
62. How do Millennials feel about their life？
A. They can hardly do anything about it.
B. There is little in it to get excited about.
C. It is not as good as their parents’.
D. It is full of opportunities for success.
63. In what way are Millennials different from previous generations according to Pew Research？
A. They spend less time socializing.
B. They are indifferent to others.
C. They do not value hard work.
D. They are more independent.
64. What should Millennials do according to the author？
A. Remain optimistic in face of adversity.
B. Start a business as early as possible.
C. Make full use of new opportunities.
D. Take action to change their situation.
65. Why are Millennials over-confident about themselves？
A. They have been spoiled by their parents.
B. They can always get whatever they expect.
C. They are misguided by management books.
D. They think they are young and energetic.
