《新编大学英语》综合教程（第三版第一册）B1U2_self market_Reading Material_课文背景材料

UNIT2 Remembering and Forgetting UsefulInformation Memory is one of the most important functions of human intelligence,which makes it possible for people to leam and become educated,to leam skills necessary for work, and to form emotional ties to the past. Memory is important to human cultures and civilizations.Without memory,there would be no cultural heritage,let alone human civilizations.In the West people often leam,"Honor your father and your mother so that you may lead a long and happy life in the land which your Lord God has given you."Many Western holidays such as Christmas(honoring the birth of Jesus Christ),Thanksgiving (honoring those who have provided food and shelter),or Memorial Day (honoring those who have lost their lives in the defense of the nation)are important for the reason that we must not forget those who have helped us become what we are as a culture,a community,a nation,etc. Needless to say,memory is important in our daily life.Think of the pleasure we have in remembering the joys of our youth,the first love,and the experiences of leaming things.We need good memory to get high scores in tests.We need good memory to get things on the right track.We need good memory to keep our nomal life going.No wonder everyone wants to have a good memory and remember things better.And researchers in this field are making concerted efforts to enhance our understanding of memory in order to solve the problems of forgetting,memory failure of the aged and memory impairment,etc. But,is forgetting always painful?All of us have memories of being punished by our parents or teachers when we behaved badly or disobeyed the rules.As we look back, we know that the punishments were necessary and our memory of them would keep reminding us to behave well and stick to the family and social rules.However,for those unpleasant and even painful memories,isn't it better if we could erase them from our mind,for example,the small friction between neighbors,the quarrels over insignificant things,the loss of a game,etc.?In fact,to learn to forget will help us regain our confidence,take a positive attitude and have a good relation with people around us. Therefore,as we try our best to remember,we also need to learn to forget.It is a skill to make our life less burdensome and much happier. All in all,good memory is important.But in some cases forgetting is not necessarily a bad thing.We need to learn to see the two more rationally

UNIT2 Remembering and Forgetting Useful Information Memory is one of the most important functions of human intelligence, which makes it possible for people to learn and become educated, to learn skills necessary for work, and to form emotional ties to the past. Memory is important to human cultures and civilizations. Without memory, there would be no cultural heritage, let alone human civilizations. In the West people often learn, “Honor your father and your mother so that you may lead a long and happy life in the land which your Lord God has given you.” Many Western holidays such as Christmas (honoring the birth of Jesus Christ), Thanksgiving (honoring those who have provided food and shelter), or Memorial Day (honoring those who have lost their lives in the defense of the nation) are important for the reason that we must not forget those who have helped us become what we are as a culture, a community, a nation, etc. Needless to say, memory is important in our daily life. Think of the pleasure we have in remembering the joys of our youth, the first love, and the experiences of learning things. We need good memory to get high scores in tests. We need good memory to get things on the right track. We need good memory to keep our normal life going. No wonder everyone wants to have a good memory and remember things better. And researchers in this field are making concerted efforts to enhance our understanding of memory in order to solve the problems of forgetting, memory failure of the aged and memory impairment, etc. But, is forgetting always painful? All of us have memories of being punished by our parents or teachers when we behaved badly or disobeyed the rules. As we look back, we know that the punishments were necessary and our memory of them would keep reminding us to behave well and stick to the family and social rules. However, for those unpleasant and even painful memories, isn’t it better if we could erase them from our mind, for example, the small friction between neighbors, the quarrels over insignificant things, the loss of a game, etc.? In fact, to learn to forget will help us regain our confidence, take a positive attitude and have a good relation with people around us. Therefore, as we try our best to remember, we also need to learn to forget. It is a skill to make our life less burdensome and much happier. All in all, good memory is important. But in some cases forgetting is not necessarily a bad thing. We need to learn to see the two more rationally