15．It turns out that nodding off in class may not be such a bad idea after all，as a new study has shown that going to sleep shortly after learning new material is the best way to remember it．
According to US lead author Jessica Payne，a psychologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana，nodding off after learning something new is like‘telling'the sleeping brain what to keep in memory．Along with colleagues，she studied 207students who habitually slept for at least six hours per night．Participants were randomly assigned to study declarative，semantically related or unrelated word pairs at 9a．m．or 9p．m．，and returned for testing 30minutes，12hours and 24hours later．
Declarative memory refers to the ability to consciously remember facts and events，and can be broken down into episodic memory （memory for events） and semantic memory （memory for facts about the world）．People routinely use both types of memory every day-recalling where we parked today or learning how a colleague prefers to be addressed．At the 12-hour retest，memory overall was superior following a night of sleep compared to a day of wakefulness．At the 24-hour retest，with all subjects having received both a full night of sleep and a full day of wakefulness，subjects'memories were superior when sleep occurred shortly after learning，rather than following a full day of wakefulness．
"Our study confirms that sleeping directly after learning something new is beneficial for memory．What's novel about this study is that we tried to shine light on sleep's influence on both types of declarative memory by studying semantically unrelated and related word pairs"，Payne said．"Since we found that sleeping soon after learning benefited both types of memory，this means that it would be a good thing to rehearse any information you need to remember just before going to bed．In some sense，you may be"telling"the sleeping brain what to consolidate （鞏固）．"
41．What does the underlined phrase nodding off mean？A
A．Going to sleep．
B．Arguing with others
C．Asking questions．
D．Answering questions．
42．How many times will the participants tested？C
A．At least once B．At least twice
C．At least three times D．At least four times
43．What can we infer from the passage about the study？D
A．Jessica Payne carried out the study all by herself．
B．The 207students were forced to sleep at least six hours per night．
C．Participants were asked to memorize things according to strict rules．
D．Participants could memorize what they learnt right before they slept best．
44．What would Payne advise us to do？B
A．Memorize things after we have a good sleep．
B．Memorize things just before our sleep．
C．All the students go to sleep in class．
D．Memorize things at mid-night．
45．The text is most probably aA．
A．science report B．book review
C．science fiction story D．newspaper advertisement．
分析 本文是一篇科教類閱讀．文章主要介紹了一項新的研究，表明了課堂上打瞌睡也許并不是一件壞事，學習新的東西后馬上睡覺會對記憶有好處．
解答 41．A 詞義猜測題．根據(jù)第一段as a new study has shown that going to sleep shortlyafter learning new material is the best way to remember it．可知一項新研究顯示學完新知識后馬上打個小盹是最佳的記憶方法．由此推知，nodding off的意思是"睡覺，打盹"．故選A．
42．C 細節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第二段and returned for testing 30minutes，12hours and 24hours later．可知他們學完后在30分鐘、12小時或24小時后回來做測試．由此推知，他們將參加實驗至少三次．故選C．
43．D 推理判斷題．根據(jù)第三段subjects'memories were superior when sleep occurred shortly after learning，rather than following a full day of wakefulness．可知那些在學習后不久就入睡的人比那些學習后過了一整個白天才睡覺的人記憶效果更好．由此推知，參與者在睡覺之前可以記住他們學到的東西．故選D．
44．B推理判斷題．根據(jù)第一段和最后一段可知新的研究表明學習新的東西后馬上睡覺對記憶有好處．由此推知，Payne會建議我們在睡覺之前記憶東西．故選B．
45．A文體推斷題．從文章內容來看本文主要介紹了一項新的研究，表明了學習新的東西后馬上睡覺會對記憶有好處．很明顯這是一篇科學研究報告．故選A．
點評 本文考察學生的理解推斷能力以及細心程度，只要抓住文章的關鍵詞，采用尋讀的方法查找細節(jié)，就能找到正確答案．
