A
(2020·皖南八校联考)You try to keep your eyes wide open while watching a basketball match or a wonderful firework show in case you might miss something exciting in just the blink of an eye. But in fact, humans blink about 15 times per minute on average. Have you ever missed anything because you blinked? Probably not. Why is that?
According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology in September, our brain has the ability to skip the temporary darkness when we blink. It can keep visual information for a short period of time and then put it together to form an image without interruption.
In order to understand how this works, a group of scientists at the German Primate Center and the University Center Gottingen in Germany conducted an experiment. In the study, the participants were asked to look at patterns on a screen whose direction could be interpreted in different ways, such as horizontally(水平地) or vertically(垂直地). When one pattern was about to disappear and the next one was about to come, the participants had to indicate the direction that the next pattern would appear.
The researchers found that when the directions of two patterns didn’t match, the area in our brain which is responsible for visual memory was activated. This same area showed less activity when two patterns were in the same direction.
“The medial prefrontal cortex(额叶皮层) adjusts current visual information with previously obtained information, and thus enables us to perceive the world with more stability, even when we briefly close our eyes to blink，” Caspar Schwiedrzik explained in Science Daily. He is the first author of the study and also a scientist at the German Primate Center.
【解题导语】 本文是一篇说明文。研究发现，眨眼并不会错过细节并解释了其原因。
1．We don’t miss anything when blinking because our brain can ________．
A．deal with the missing image
B．remember all that we see
C．imagine what our eyes miss
D．put our pieces of memory together
A 解析：推理判断题。根据第二段第一句“According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology in September, our brain has the ability to skip the temporary darkness when we blink.” 可知，根据九月份发表在《当代生物学》杂志上的一项新研究，我们的大脑有能力跳过我们眨眼时形成的暂时黑暗。据此可推知，由于我们的大脑能处理丢失的图像，所以眨眼不会让我们错过任何东西，故A项正确。
2．What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A．Our brain． B．Visual information.
C．Current Biology. D．The temporary darkness.
B 解析：代词指代题。根据第二段第二句“It can keep visual information for a short period of time and then put it together to form an image without interruption.”可知，大脑可以在短时间内保存视觉信息，然后将其组合在一起形成不中断的图像，故可推知，it指代上文中的“visual information”，故B项正确。
3．What do we know about the experiment?
A．The two patterns appear at the same time.
B．Visual memory can be more activated by similarity.
C．Participants can interpret patterns differently.
D．The different directions activated visual memory.
D 解析：细节理解题。根据第四段中的“when the directions of two patterns didn’t match, the area in our brain which is responsible for visual memory was activated. This same area showed less activity when two patterns were in the same direction.”可知，当两个模式的方向不一致时，掌握视觉记忆的大脑区域则被激活；当两种模式在同一方向时，这个区域则显示出较少的活动。据此可知，不同的方向能激活视觉记忆，故D项正确。
4．What would be the best title for this passage?
A．The Brain’s Structure
B．The Brain’s Activated Patterns
C．The Brain’s Special Skill
D．The Brain’s Orientation
C 解析：标题归纳题。通读全文可知，本文主要介绍了一项科学研究。研究表明，眨眼不会错过细节并解释了其原因，即大脑有能力在短时间内保存视觉信息，然后将其组合在一起形成不中断的图像信息。故C项最适合作本文的标题。
