人教全日制普通高中英语（必修）高三UNIT12-4

Distance learning¹ is being adopted in several countries to help children in remote rural² schools, and it is also becoming increasingly³ popular with individuals as a means of obtaining higher or further education. While distance learning is a very different experience from attending a university or college, it does have several advantages and can be ideal⁴ for people in particular circumstances and with certain characteristics.
 
      Distance learning students do not need to be in the same place as the course provider. They can even be in a different country. As a result, the cost is usually much lower than attending a university or college. Students can also take as long as they want to complete the course, so they can organize their study while they are working. Many distance learners even continue to do a full-time⁵ job.
 
      Distance learning allows students the freedom to arrange their own study schedule, but the disadvantage of it is that many students tend to put off their study tasks and spend much longer on their course. Distance learners never meet the other students or teachers face to face, so they have to motivate themselves to complete projects without encouragement and advice from other people.
 
      While students who attend college or university are able to acquire information from lectures, distance learners usually depend only on written materials. To be successful, distance learners have to be good readers. They must be able to analyse and absorb written texts with little help from a teacher.
 
      Because distance learners are not in the academic environment of a university, they have to discipline themselves while studying. For example, students with children may be disturbed by their children from time to time. Other features of campus⁶ life that distance learners cannot experience are the lively social and sports activities. Therefore distance learning would not suit People who see further or higher education as an opportunity to make friends and have fun as well as to study.
 
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 philosopher⁷ Hermann Ebbinghaus carried out one of the earliest studies of human memory, which resulted in the "Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve⁸". 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 declines⁹, so the material we can recall¹⁰ 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 evident¹¹ 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 permanently¹² 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.
 
      Although Ebbinghaus referred to "reciting", many educators today prefer to use the term "to review". The reason for this is that learners frequently misunderstand what effective reciting involves. Take language learning as an example: students often tend to recite lists of single vocabulary items, rather than to review them in a context¹³. If you try doing this, you will find that you do remember a lot of words, but you will not understand how to use them appropriately. A more useful method is to use the new vocabulary by describing or retelling the main ideas of the text, presentation or discussion¹⁴ in your own words. In this way, you "review" or "recite" the vocabulary in a context, so the information becomes "meaningful" and you will remember much more.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

3 increasingly   

adv.逐渐地，日益地，逐渐增加地

参考例句：

• Rivers are being increasingly made use of by man. 河流正在日益为人类所利用。
• I find it increasingly difficult to live within my income.我发现靠收入过日子越来越难了。

4 ideal   

adj.理想的，完美的；空想的，观念的；n.理想

参考例句：

• The weather at the seaside was ideal—bright and breezy.海边的天气最宜人，风和日丽的。
• They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever. 他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。

5 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

6 campus   

n.大学校园，学校校园；大学　

参考例句：

• They spoke of the old days on the campus.他们谈起昔日的校园生活。
• The campus covers an area of twenty square kilometres.这个校园占地二十平方公里。

7 philosopher   

n.哲学家，哲人

参考例句：

• The philosopher has his ideas built on the rock of reason.那位哲学家把思想稳固地建立于理性之上。
• What a philosopher seeks after is truth.一个哲学家所追求的是真理。

8 curve   

n.曲线，弯曲，曲球；v.弯，使...弯曲

参考例句：

• The train slowed its speed as it went around the curve.火车在弯道行驶时放慢了速度。
• The path of an arrow is a curve.箭的轨迹是一条曲线。

9 declines   

辞谢，谢绝（邀请等）( decline的第三人称单数 )； （道路、物体等）下倾； （太阳）落下； （在品格、价值上）降低

参考例句：

• As one grows older one's memory declines. 一个人的记忆力随着年老而衰退。
• Hearing sensitivity declines with age. 听觉因年老而衰退。

10 recall   

n.回忆，召回，取消；vt.回想起，召回，与...相似，恢复

参考例句：

• As you may recall, he was in the army then.你可能记得当时他正在从军。
• We demand that you recall your army from our border.我们要求你们撤回在我们边境的部队。

11 evident   

adj.明显的，显然的，明白的

参考例句：

• It's evident to me that they have no experience in this work.在我看来，他们干这项工作没有经验是显而易见的。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

12 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

13 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

14 discussion   

n.讨论，谈论；论述

参考例句：

• It is certain he will come to the discussion.他肯定会来参加讨论。
• After months of discussion,a peace agreement is gradually taking shape.经过几个月的商讨，和平协议渐渐有了眉目。