必胜高考网_全国高考备考和志愿填报信息平台

必勝高考網(wǎng) > 外語(yǔ)類 > 英語(yǔ)四級(jí) > 閱讀理解 >

四級(jí)快速閱讀精選閱讀練習(xí)

時(shí)間: 焯杰2 閱讀理解

  differential calculus [數(shù)]微積分;微分學(xué)

  chaos theory 混沌理論

  pump up 給……打氣;加速

  aerobic exercise 有氧運(yùn)動(dòng)

  Mark McDaniel, PhD, professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, agrees, but adds, “I would suggest a combined program of aerobics and weight training. Studies show the best outcomes for those engaged in both types of exercise.”

  As we age, our brain cells, called neurons, lose the tree-branch-like connections between them. These connections, or synapses, are essential to thought. Quite literally, over time, our brains lose their heft. Perhaps the most striking brain research today is the strong evidence we now have that “exercise may forestall some kinds of mental decline,” notes McDaniel. It may even restore memory. Myriad animal studies have shown that, among other brain benefits, aerobic exercise increases capillary development in the brain, meaning more blood supply, more nutrients and — a big requirement for brain health — more oxygen.

  forestall v. 壟斷;預(yù)先阻止

  mental decline 智力下降

  The preeminent exercise and brain-health researcher in humans is Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In a dozen studies over the past few years, with titles such as “Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans,” Kramer and his colleagues have proved two critical findings: Fit people have sharper brains, and people who are out of shape, but then get into shape, sharpen up their brains. This second finding is vital. There’s no question that working out makes you smarter, and it does so, Kramer notes, at all stages of life. Just as important, exercise staves off heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other maladies that increase the risk of brain problems as we age.

  preeminent adj. 卓越的

  a dozen 一打;十二個(gè)

  out of shape (身體)走形;變樣

  sharpen up 使……更敏銳;認(rèn)真思考

  stave off 避開;延緩

  2. Feed It

  Another path to a better brain is through your stomach. We’ve all heard about antioxidants as cancer fighters. Eating foods that contain these molecules, which neutralize harmful free radicals, may be especially good for your brain too. Free radicals have nothing to do with Berkeley politics and everything to do with breaking down the neurons in our brains. Many colorful fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants, as are some beans, whole grains, nuts and spices.

  neutralize v. 抵消;中和;使……中立

  have nothing to do with 與……無(wú)關(guān)

  be packed with 擠滿;塞滿;充滿

  More important, though, is overall nutrition. In concert with a good workout routine, you should eat right to avoid the diseases that modern flesh is heir to. High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol all make life tough on your brain, says Carol Greenwood, PhD, a geriatric research scientist at the University of Toronto.

  in concert with 和…相呼應(yīng);與…合作;和…一致

  flesh is heir to 人所難免[共有]的

  If your diet is heavy, then you’re probably also heavy. The same weight that burdens your legs on the stairs also burdens your brain for the witty reply or quick problem solving. The best things you can eat for your body, Greenwood notes, are also the best things you can eat for your brain. Your brain is in your body, after all. Greenwood’s recommendation is to follow the dietary guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (available at diabetes.org).

  3. Speed It Up

  Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30 (yes, 30). It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped, but a barrage of new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to be faster and, in effect, younger. “Your brain is a learning machine,” says Michael Merzenich, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that’s required is dedicated practice: exercises for the mind.

  a barrage of 大量的

  in effect 實(shí)際上

  Merzenich has developed a computer-based training regimen to speed up how the brain processes information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to improve both speed and accuracy. Over the course of your training, the program starts asking you to distinguish sounds (between “dog” and “bog,” for instance) at an increasingly faster rate. It’s a bit like a tennis instructor, says Merzenich, shooting balls at you faster and faster over the course of the summer to keep you challenged. Though you may have started out slow, by Labor Day you’re pretty nimble.

  nimble adj. 敏捷的;聰明的

  Similarly, Nintendo was inspired by the research of a Japanese doctor to develop a handheld game called Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, which has sold more than two million copies in Japan. No software out there has yet been approved by the FDA as a treatment for cognitive impairment, but an increasing number of reputable scientific studies suggest that programs like Merzenich’s could help slow down typical brain aging, or even treat dementia. The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly adaptable, or “plastic,” as neurologists put it. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may speed up in the process.

  Nintendo 任天堂(日本電子游戲公司及其開發(fā)的電腦游戲名稱)

  FDA (美)食品及藥物管理局(Food and Drug Administration)

  cognitive impairment 認(rèn)知障礙;認(rèn)知損害

  brain aging 腦老化

  To keep your brain young and supple, you can purchase software like Merzenich’s, or you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing Ping-Pong or contract bridge, doing jigsaw puzzles, learning a new language or the tango, taking accordion lessons, building a kit airplane, mastering bonsai technique, discovering the subtleties of beer-brewing and, sure, relearning differential calculus.

  supple adj. 靈活的;柔軟的

  jigsaw puzzles 拼圖游戲;拼圖玩具

  “Anything that closely engages your focus and is strongly rewarding,” says Merzenich, will kick your brain into learning mode and necessarily notch it up. For his part, Merzenich, 64, has “4,000 hobbies,” including a wood shop and a vineyard.

  notch up 完成

  4. Stay Calm

  So you may be saying to yourself, I have to sign up right now for Swahili and calculus and accordion lessons before my brain withers away! Stop! Breathe. Relax. Good.

  wither away 枯萎;幻滅

  While challenging your brain is very important, remaining calm is equally so. In a paper on the brain and stress, Jeansok Kim of the University of Washington asserts, in no uncertain terms, that traumatic stress is bad for your brain cells. Stress can “disturb cognitive processes such as learning and memory, and consequently limit the quality of human life,” writes Kim.

  in no uncertain terms 明確地

  One example is a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is a primary locus of memory formation, but which can be seriously debilitated by chronic stress. Of course, physical exercise is always a great destressor, as are calmer activities like yoga and meditation. And when you line up your mental calisthenics (your Swahili and swing lessons), make sure you can stay loose and have fun.

  5. Give It a Rest

  Perhaps the most extreme example of the mental power of staying calm is the creative benefit of sleep. Next time you’re working on a complex problem, whether it be a calculus proof or choosing the right car for your family, it really pays to “sleep on it.”

  Researchers at Harvard Medical School have looked at the conditions under which people come up with creative solutions. In a study involving math problems, they found that a good night’s rest doubled participants’ chances of finding a creative solution to the problems the next day. The sleeping brain, they theorize, is vastly capable of synthesizing complex information.

  6. Laugh a Little

  Humor stimulates the parts of our brain that use the “feel good” chemical messenger dopamine. That puts laughter in the category of activities you want to do over and over again, such as eating chocolate or having sex. Laughter is pleasurable, perhaps even “addictive,” to the brain.

  But can humor make us smarter? The jury is still out and more studies are needed, but the initial results are encouraging. Look for a feature on exciting new research about humor and intelligence in the September issue of Reader’s Digest.

  7. Get Better With Age

  In our youth-obsessed culture, no one’s suggesting a revision to the Constitution allowing 20-year-olds to run for President. The age requirement remains at 35. You’ve heard about the wisdom and judgment of older people? Scientists are starting to understand how wisdom works on a neurological level.

  run for 競(jìng)選

  When you are older, explains Merzenich, “you have recorded in your brain millions and millions of little social scenarios and facts” that you can call upon at any time. Furthermore, he notes, “you are a much better synthesizer and integrator of that information.”

  Older people are better at solving problems, because they have more mental information to draw upon than younger people do. That’s why those in their 50s and 60s are sage. They’re the ones we turn to for the best advice, the ones we want to run our companies and our country.

  As Barry Gordon, a neurologist at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author of Intelligent Memory: Improve the Memory That Makes You Smarter, puts it, “It’s nice to know some things get better with age.”

  Question time:

  1. Why "exercise may forestall some kinds of mental decline"?

  2. How to train our brains to be faster according to Dr. Michael Merzenich?

  3. Why older people are better at solving problems?

  參考答案

  1. Because studies have shown that among other brain benefits, aerobic exercise increases capillary development in the brain, meaning more blood supply, more nutrients and — a big requirement for brain health — more oxygen.

  2. Anything that closely engages your focus and is strongly rewarding will kick our brain into learning mode and necessarily notch it up.

  3. Because they have more mental information to draw upon than younger people do.

62000 主站蜘蛛池模板: 深圳法律咨询【24小时在线】深圳律师咨询免费 | 大功率金属激光焊接机价格_不锈钢汽车配件|光纤自动激光焊接机设备-东莞市正信激光科技有限公司 定制奶茶纸杯_定制豆浆杯_广东纸杯厂_[绿保佳]一家专业生产纸杯碗的厂家 | 粘度计NDJ-5S,粘度计NDJ-8S,越平水分测定仪-上海右一仪器有限公司 | 冷却塔风机厂家_静音冷却塔风机_冷却塔电机维修更换维修-广东特菱节能空调设备有限公司 | 济南侦探调查-济南调查取证-山东私家侦探-山东白豹调查咨询公司 密集架|电动密集架|移动密集架|黑龙江档案密集架-大量现货厂家销售 | BHK汞灯-百科|上海熙浩实业有限公司| 山东PE给水管厂家,山东双壁波纹管,山东钢带增强波纹管,山东PE穿线管,山东PE农田灌溉管,山东MPP电力保护套管-山东德诺塑业有限公司 | 天津散热器_天津暖气片_天津安尼威尔散热器制造有限公司 | 电销卡_稳定企业大语音卡-归属地可选-世纪通信 | 山东PE给水管厂家,山东双壁波纹管,山东钢带增强波纹管,山东PE穿线管,山东PE农田灌溉管,山东MPP电力保护套管-山东德诺塑业有限公司 | 台式低速离心机-脱泡离心机-菌种摇床-常州市万丰仪器制造有限公司 | 股指期货-期货开户-交易手续费佣金加1分-保证金低-期货公司排名靠前-万利信息开户 | 电动百叶窗,开窗器,电动遮阳百叶,电动开窗机生产厂家-徐州鑫友工控科技发展有限公司 | 岩棉切条机厂家_玻璃棉裁条机_水泥基保温板设备-廊坊鹏恒机械 | 聚合氯化铝_喷雾聚氯化铝_聚合氯化铝铁厂家_郑州亿升化工有限公司 | 厌氧工作站-通用型厌氧工作站-上海胜秋科学仪器有限公司 | 水平垂直燃烧试验仪-灼热丝试验仪-漏电起痕试验仪-针焰试验仪-塑料材料燃烧检测设备-IP防水试验机 | 电动百叶窗,开窗器,电动遮阳百叶,电动开窗机生产厂家-徐州鑫友工控科技发展有限公司 | 杭州货架订做_组合货架公司_货位式货架_贯通式_重型仓储_工厂货架_货架销售厂家_杭州永诚货架有限公司 | 上海瑶恒实业有限公司|消防泵泵|离心泵|官网 | 压力控制器,差压控制器,温度控制器,防爆压力控制器,防爆温度控制器,防爆差压控制器-常州天利智能控制股份有限公司 | 阿米巴企业经营-阿米巴咨询管理-阿米巴企业培训-广东键锋企业管理咨询有限公司 | 集菌仪_智能集菌仪_全封闭集菌仪_无菌检查集菌仪厂家-那艾 | 高防护蠕动泵-多通道灌装系统-高防护蠕动泵-www.bjhuiyufluid.com慧宇伟业(北京)流体设备有限公司 | 罗氏牛血清白蛋白,罗氏己糖激酶-上海嵘崴达实业有限公司 | 河南生物显微镜,全自动冰冻切片机-河南荣程联合科技有限公司 | 复合肥,化肥厂,复合肥批发,化肥代理,复合肥品牌-红四方 | 扬尘在线监测系统_工地噪声扬尘检测仪_扬尘监测系统_贝塔射线扬尘监测设备「风途物联网科技」 | DWS物流设备_扫码称重量方一体机_快递包裹分拣机_广东高臻智能装备有限公司 | 必胜高考网_全国高考备考和志愿填报信息平台 | 重庆中专|职高|技校招生-重庆中专招生网 | 定时排水阀/排气阀-仪表三通旋塞阀-直角式脉冲电磁阀-永嘉良科阀门有限公司 | 离子色谱自动进样器-青岛艾力析实验科技有限公司 | 齿轮减速电机一体机_蜗轮蜗杆减速马达-德国BOSERL齿轮减速机带电机生产厂家 | 耐高温风管_耐高温软管_食品级软管_吸尘管_钢丝软管_卫生级软管_塑料波纹管-东莞市鑫翔宇软管有限公司 | 深圳办公室装修-写字楼装修设计-深圳标榜装饰公司 | 手机游戏_热门软件app下载_好玩的安卓游戏下载基地-吾爱下载站 | 信阳网站建设专家-信阳时代网联-【信阳网站建设百度推广优质服务提供商】信阳网站建设|信阳网络公司|信阳网络营销推广 | 包装机_厂家_价格-山东包装机有限公司 | 行吊_电动单梁起重机_双梁起重机_合肥起重机_厂家_合肥市神雕起重机械有限公司 | 精密五金加工厂-CNC数控车床加工_冲压件|蜗杆|螺杆加工「新锦泰」 |