Mostepisodesofabsent-mindednessforgettingwhereyouleftsomethingorwonderingwhyyoujustenteredaroom-arecausedbyasimplelackofattention,saysSchacter.“You’resupposedtoremembersomething,butyouhaven’tencodeditdeeply.”
Encoding,Schacterexplains,isaspecialwayofpayingattentiontoaneventthathasamajorimpactonrecallingitlater.Failuretoencodeproperlycancreateannoyingsituations.Ifyouputyourmobilephoneinapocket,forexample,anddon’tpayattentiontowhatyoudidbecauseyou’reinvolvedinaconversation,you’llprobablyforgetthatthephoneisinthejacketnowhanginginyouwardrobe(衣柜).“Yourmemoryitselfisn’tfailingyou,”saysSchacter.“Rather,youdidn’tgiveyourmemorysystemtheinformationitneeded.”
Lackofinterestcanalsoleadtoabsent-mindedness.“Amanwhocanrecitesportsstatisticsfrom30yearsago,”saysZelinski,“maynotremembertodropaletterinthemailbox.”Womenhaveslightlybettermemoriesthanmen,possiblybecausetheypaymoreattentiontotheirenvironment,andmemoryreliesonjustthat.
Visualcuescanhelppreventabsent-mindedness,saysSchacter.“Butbesurethecueisclearandavailable,”hecautions.Ifyouwanttoremembertotakeamedication(药物)withlunch,putthepillbottleonthekitchentable—don’tleaveitinthemedicinechestandwriteyourselfanotethatyoukeepinapocket.
Anothercommonepisodeofabsent-mindedness:walkingintoaroomandwonderingwhyyou’rethere.Mostlikely,youwerethinkingaboutsomethingelse.“Everyonedoesthisfromtimetotime,”saysZelinski.Thebestthingtodoistoreturntowhereyouwerebeforeenteringtheroom,andyou’lllikelyremember.
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.Whydoestheauthorthinkthatencodingproperlyisveryimportant?
A.Ithelpsusunderstandourmemorysystembetter.
B.Itenablesustorecallsomethingformourmemory.
C.Itexpandsourmemorycapacityconsiderably.
D.Itslowsdowntheprocessoflosingourmemory.
2.Onepossiblereasonwhywomenhavebettermemoriesthanmenisthat________.
A.theyhaveawiderrangeofinterests
B.theyaremorereliantontheenvironment
C.theyhaveanunusualpoweroffocusingtheirattention
D.theyaremoreinterestedinwhat’shappeningaroundthem
3.Anoteinthepocketcanhardlyserveasareminderbecause________.
B.it’snotclearenoughforyoutoread
D.itmightgetmixedupwithotherthings
4.Whatdowelearnfromthelastparagraph?
A.Ifwefocusourattentionononething,wemightforgetanother.
B.Memorydependstoacertainextentontheenvironment.
C.Repetitionhelpsimproveourmemory.
D.Ifwekeepforgettingthings,we’dbetterreturntowherewewere.
5.Whatisthepassagemainlyabout?
A.Theprocessofgradualmemoryloss.
B.Thecausesofabsent-mindedness.
C.Theimpactoftheenvironmentonmemory.
D.Awayifencodingandrecalling.
1.[B]事实细节题。根据第2段第1句可知，encoding是关注某事的一种特殊方式，这影响到以后是否能回忆起这件事来，因此B正确。
2.[D]事实细节题。根据第3段第3句，“女性比男性的记忆力稍强，这也许是因为她们对周围的环境更加注意，而记忆正是依靠这个”，故选D“她们对于周围发生的事更感兴趣”。
3.[C]事实细节题。根据第4段首句中说到的“视觉线索可以防止遗忘某事”可知破折号之后的警告“不要把药瓶放在药箱里，然后写一张纸条装进口袋”正是为了防止药瓶、提示性信条离开了视线，故选C。
4.[A]推断题。根据最后一段的前两句“心不在焉的另一个常见的情景是:走进房间,却不知为什么要进来。你很有可能是在想别的事”,可知本题答案为A。
5.[B]主旨题。根据第1、3、5段的首句可以得出，本文主要讲的是精神不集中的原因，故选B。
