高中三年级英语(人教版)全一册 Unit 12 Reading 2

　　MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MEMORY

　　Have you ever heard anyone say "I have a terrible memory"? It is quite common for people to believe that their difficulties in remembering are just part of their personality. In fact, research has proved that human beings' memories are surprisingly similar and our ability to remember can easily be improved.

　　The German philosopher Hermann Ebbinghaus carried out one of the earliest studies of human memory, which resulted in the "Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve". His experiments were conducted in 1885, but his conclusions still apply to students today. Ebbinghaus discovered that when we learn something new, we forget most of it immediately. He found that more than 50% of the information is forgotten after one hour, and almost two-thirds within one day. The good news is that our rate of forgetting then declines, so the material we can recall after one day (usually about 20%) will stay in our memory.

　　Ebbinghaus then carried out experiments to see if reciting made a difference to our ability to remember. It is evident that reciting the information just once increases how much we can recall to about 66%, and we remember it for several weeks. This rate is even higher if the facts or ideas are "meaningful", and further reciting keeps the material permanently in our memories. As we forget most new information within one day, the first recitation should take place as soon as possible m no later than 24 hours after learning it.

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