Memory Champions! (1) Every year, people with extraordinary memory skills compete in a unique event called the World Memory Championships. The tasks they are expected to do require tremendous powers of memory retention: looking at and reciting a two-page poem; recollecting a page of 40-digit numbers, remembering the order of 52 cards in a deck; memorizing the names of 110 people after looking at their pictures and several other demanding tasks. Completing any of these tasks may not seem feasible for the average person, but scientific evidence seems to show that even someone with average skills can, through training, enhance his or her memory skills and be transformed into a memory champion (2) One memory champion explained his method of recalling the order of the cards in a deck. Previously, he linked a person, an action, and a thing to each card in the deck. For example, the king of hearts is Elvis Presley, eating, a peanut butter sandwich. The three of spades is Rocky Balboa, boxing, Madison Square Garden. The ten of hearts is William Shakespeare, writing Hamlet , a broken pen. Take a person from the first card, an action from the second card, and a thing from the third card. Then any group of three cards creates a vivid image that Is more easily recalled. For example: king - ton-three becomes Elvis Presley writing Hamlet in Madison Square Garden - a memorable Image (3) Sill, even having created images for each group of three cards, it is difficult to keep them in order. This is done using the loc method, or What some call a "Memory Palace - a term created by Frances Yates in his 1966 book The Art of Memory - which is a simple yet effective method devised by the ancient Greeks. They practised transforming lists of words into vivid sets of objects, which they arranged in their Imagination around familiar spaces. Then they learned to link these images back to their original meaning (4) But are there people with naturally superior memories? We've all heard of people with photographic memories - the ability to memorize anything just by looking at it. Rajan Mahadevan, born in India in 1957, seemed to have such a memory. By the age of five, he was able to remember the license plate numbers of a parking lot full of cars. He was also able to remember a string of 31.811 digits. One book claimed that his memory power was a natural talent. Later, however, Mahadevan visited with K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist who believes that memory is a matter of training, not talent. They discussed Mahadevan's memory achievements, and Mahadevan explained that he had spent 1.000 hours and used memory techniques to memorize the 31,811 digits. He admitted that it was hard training that allowed him to do It, not a special memory (5) The winner of the 2011 World Memory Championships, held in Guangzhou, China, was 21-year-old Chinese national Wang Feng. He retained his title from the previous year by breaking world records for three of the competition's 10 memory games. These records were recalling 300 of 400 spoken numbers, and memorizing 500 numbers in five minutes and 2660 numbers in one hour. But Wang Feng says he had a "normal memory as a child, and no special talent except for hard work and attention to detail. "Tve spent three months preparing for this championship," he said. "Each day I spend five to six hours practicing. Actually, each year, I spend two to three months preparing for competitions (6) Although many still think that people have either good or bad memories from birth, that need not be true. By using the methods of grouping, linking to vivid images, and the loc method, we can all enhance our memories. Who knows you might even become the next World Memory Champion! Question 1 1. The author's purpose in writing this article is to: O praise World Memory Champions explain how only special people have great memories give the history of the World Memory Championships O show how a good memory is more a matter of training than of talent Question 2 Which memory task is not mentioned in the passage? remembering the order of a deck of cards O memorizing a poem remembering a drawing O memorizing names Based on the method in paragraph 2, which sequence of cards is represented by William Shakespeare eating at Madison Square Garden? king-three-ten three-king-ten ten-king-three ten-three king Question 4 Why is the loci method useful for memorizing the order of a deck of cards? It makes images even more vivid. It assists with remembering the order of the three-card groups. It allows landmarks to be more easily recalled. It helps make things and places more familiar. Question 5 According to the passage, which is most likely true about Rajan Mahadevan His memory skill was a natural talent. He was not good at remembering things since childhood. He had spent 1,000 hours learning memory techniques. His powers of memory were actually a hoax. Question 6 According to the passage, what is true about Wang Feng? He was born with excellent memory skills. He does not need to prepare much for competitions. 2011 was the first time he had won the championship. He is very good at memorizing numbers. Moving to another cunti Question 7 What tone does the author take in the final paragraph? O negative encouraging neutral O cautious What does the word "tremendous" in Paragraph (1) mean? Choose the best option. Small in amount, size, or degree Limited in amount, size, or degree Great in amount, size, or degree Question 9 What does the word "superior" in Paragraph (4) mean? Choose the best option. Less than average Better than average Average dve ponse Question 10 What does the word "enhance" in Paragraph (6) mean? Choose the best option. o Improve the quality or strength of something Decrease the quality or strength of something Spoil the quality or strength of something