Nobody likes stress. Not only can it cause sleepless nights and irritable days, we all suspect, at some level, that it can’t be

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问题     Nobody likes stress. Not only can it cause sleepless nights and irritable days, we all suspect, at some level, that it can’t be good for our health. Now we can add another reason to reduce the stress in our lives; It may impair our thinking when we’re older, adding tarnish to the luster of our golden years.
    A recent study in the journal Neurology concludes that people who experience chronic psychological distress, such as anxiety or depression, are up to 40 percent more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment(MCI)than people not prone to distress. What is MCI? Well, it’s not dementia, but it does represent a measurable decline in thinking ability and may affect more than 30 percent of the older population. It was found that psychological distress did not appear to correlate with age, education, or gender. But people with higher distress scores tended to have more depressive symptoms. And those who are prone to chronic distress have been shown to be more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. They also are more likely to have their thinking decline at a faster rate.
    What this study doesn’t tell us is how chronic distress leads to the development of MCI. The authors of the study have some ideas: Perhaps being prone to chronic distress is one of the earliest signs of having MCI. I find this idea less than appealing, because it suggests that the horse is already out of the barn when it comes to chronic distress and the development of MCI. Fortunately, the authors believe there is a more likely explanation.
    Their leading theory is that stress has adverse effects on the parts of our brains that help us form and keep memories. They point out that there is evidence that stress has been shown to reduce our ability to form memories, and that severe stress—like post-traumatic stress disorder—may cause changes in the memory-forming parts of the brain. I find this a far more appealing theory, as it’s based on studies of how our brains work and gives us a chance to "turn things around" by dealing with chronic distress in a positive way.
    So for now, let’s focus on what we do know: that reducing the stress in our lives is good for lots of reasons. It’s good for our complexions, probably good for our hearts, and maybe even good for our brains.
Which of the following is TRUE of MCI?

选项 A、It may lead to sharp decline in thinking.
B、It relates to Alzheimer’s disease in some way.
C、It is the earliest sign of chronic distress.
D、It can be a result of longtime stress.

答案D

解析 细节题。本题答案主要在第二段和第三段寻找。根据第二段内容所述,患有慢性心理烦恼(MCI)的人比没有此问题的人患轻度认知障碍的几率高40%,或由第三段首句中“研究没有给出慢性烦恼如何导致轻度认知障碍”,均可以推知,长期的心理压力的确可能会导致轻度认知障碍,故[D]为答案。[A]颠倒了因果关系,由原文第二段第三句可见,MCI是思维能力下降的一种表现,而不是原因,故[A]排除。[B]属于过度推断,作者在第二段提到患有慢性心理烦恼的人也易患上老年痴呆,但不能由此将它与轻度认知障碍相联系。而根据第三段第二句话:研究者怀疑慢性心理烦恼可能是轻度认知障碍的早期征兆,可见,[C]与原文语义相反。
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