Unit Nine
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Throughout the ages different ideas have been ex- pressed about the workings of the human brain. It is only recently, however,that seience has begun to give us some idea of how the brain really works. 1604.cn THE BRAIN THE MOST POWERFUL COMPUTER IN THE UNIVERSE
英.语.文.摘 Man still has a lot to learn about the most powerful and complex part of
his body -- the brain.
In ancient times men did not think that the brain as the centre of
mental activity. Aristotle the philosopher of ancient Greece thought that the
5 mind was based in the heart. It was not until the l8th century that man re-
alised that the whole of the brain was involved in the workings of the mind.
During the l9th century scientists found that when certain parts of the
brain were damaged men lost the ability to do certain things. And so, peo-
ple thought that each part of the brain controlled a different activity . But
10 modern research has found that this is not so. It is not easy to say exactly
what each part of the brain does.
In the past 50 years there has been a great increase in the amount of
research being done on the brain. Chemists and biologists have found that
the way the brain works is far more complicated than they had thought In
15 fact many people believe that we are only now really starting to learn the
truth about how the human b rain works. The more scientists find out, the
more questions they are unable to answer. For instance, chemists have
found that over 100,000 chemical reactions take place in the brain every
second. Mathematicians who have tried to use computers to copy the way
20 the brain works have found that even using the latest electronic equipment
they would have to build a computer which weighde over 10,000 kilos.
Some recent research also suggests that we remember everything that hap-
pens to us. We may not be able to recall this information, but it is all stored
in our brains.
25 scientists hope that if we can discover how the brain works, the better
use we will be able to put it to. For example, how do we learn language?
Man differs most from all the other animals in his ability to learn and use
language but we still do not know exactly how this is done .Some children
learn to speak and read and write when they are very young compared to av-
30 erage children. But scientists are not sure why this happens. They are try-
ing to find out whether there is something about the way we teach language
to children which in fact prevents children from learning sooner.
Earlier scientists thought that during a man's lifetime the power of his
brain decreased. But it is now thought that this is not so. As long as the
35 brain is given plenty of exercise it keeps its power. It has been found that
an old person who has always been mentally active has a quicker mind than
a young person who has done only physical work. It is now thought that
the more work we give our brains, the more work they are able to do.
Other people now believe that we use only 1% of our brains' full po-
40 tential. They say that the only limit on the power of the brain is the limit of
what we think is possible. This is probably because of the way we are
taught as children. When we first start learning to use our minds we are
told what to do, for example, to remember certain facts, but we are, not
taught how our memory warks and how to make the best use of it. We are
45 told to make notes but we are not taught how our brains accept information
and which is the best way to organise the information we want our brains to
accept.