首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
The greatest devastation of old age is the loss of mental faculties, and with the near doubling of life expectancy in the past c
The greatest devastation of old age is the loss of mental faculties, and with the near doubling of life expectancy in the past c
admin
2015-02-12
25
问题
The greatest devastation of old age is the loss of mental faculties, and with the near doubling of life expectancy in the past century has come the mixed blessing of living longer and losing more. A few great thinkers and artists remained productive in their later years—Galileo, Monet, Shaw, Stravinsky, Tolstoy—but even they were not what they had been in their primes. In science, the boom falls sooner still: "A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so," said Einstein.
Imagine if we could transplant old brains into younger bodies: would our minds stay young, or would we be senile teenagers, scaling mountains and skateboarding at 120, but forgetting where we put the car keys? Is the brain uniquely vulnerable to the ravages of time? Can anything be done?
Incontrovertible evidence from many studies shows that a higher level of education and greater mental activity throughout life correlate with lower cognitive losses in old age. These benefits apply to all sorts of cognitive losses, including those associated with Alzheimer’s. Some researchers believe that mental application in early life produces complex neural connections that provide a reserve later on; others argue that education merely gives people the means to cope with and compensate for their losses.
K. Warner Schaie, a professor of human development and psychology at Pennsylvania State University, has studied age-related change in more than 5,000 people, some for more than 40 years. Comparing earlier with later recruits, Mr. Schaie concludes that the rate of mental decline is slowing, a change he attributes to better education, healthier diet, lessened exposure to serious disease, and more mental activity. "You’ve got to practice," Mr. Schaie says. "If you don’t solve problems, you no longer can solve problems." Retirement can be particularly hard, he adds, because for many people, work is their most challenging activity. "Retirement is good for people who’ve had routine jobs—they may find something more stimulating. But it’s disadvantageous for people in high-level jobs, who are less likely to find something as stimulating as the job they had."
K. Anders Ericsson, a psychology professor at Florida State University, confirms Mr. Schaie’s emphasis on the virtue of practice. Initially interested in expert performers like musicians, he found that many ostensible geniuses aren’t really so different from everyone else—they just practice harder and longer, benefiting from sheer labor, rather than from some special gift. Professional musicians who continue to practice assiduously as they age continue to play well, while amateurs who just play for pleasure show age-related declines.
Mr. Ericsson’s studies failed to show significant generalized benefits from mental exercise. "If you play tennis, you improve your general fitness, but the greatest improvement is specific to tennis, not to other sports. It’s the same with cognitive exercise. You have to look at your life and pick what you want to improve."
According to the text, most great thinkers and artists______.
选项
A、were productive even in their later years
B、were most successful before the age of 30
C、made contributions regardless of age
D、contributed the most before old age
答案
D
解析
属事实细节题。题目中的关键词great thinkers and artists出现在第一段第二句:一些伟大的思想家、艺术家到了晚年依然卓有成就,……但是即便是这些伟人,晚年的成就也不能与其壮年时期相提并论。由此可知,选项D“在步人老年以前贡献最大”符合此意。选项A中even的使用与原文内容有出入,选项B是对本段最后一句的断章取义,原文意思是“如果一个人在30岁之前还没有对科学事业做出任何伟大贡献,以后就更不可能了”。同时,这句也说明成就和年龄还是有一定关系的,故选项C错误。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/6z74777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
TheMenandWomenoftheUniversityLivingaRatioMargininAmericanTheprospectsforwomenwhoarescientistsandenginee
TheMenandWomenoftheUniversityLivingaRatioMargininAmericanTheprospectsforwomenwhoarescientistsandenginee
TheMenandWomenoftheUniversityLivingaRatioMargininAmericanTheprospectsforwomenwhoarescientistsandenginee
TheUncertaintyofChildBehaviorPerformanceHypothetically,let’ssayyouranafancyprivateelementaryschool.Likeothe
TheUniversityMakesUseofKnowledgetoObtainEconomicInterestNobodyeverwentintoacademiatomakeafastbuck.Profes
AmericanIncentiveStudentofUniversityEconomizesaCommissaryTheonce-seen-everywherecafeteriatray.withsomanyglass
Accordingtothepassage,oilresultsinairpollutionbecauseAccordingtosomeenvironmentalist,theoilcompanies
Youaregoingtoreadatextaboutthestateofcollegestudents’mentalhealth,followedbyalistofexamples.Choosethebest
Youaregoingtoreadatextaboutthestateofcollegestudents’mentalhealth,followedbyalistofexamples.Choosethebest
随机试题
某市为了整顿市容,成立了由公安、城管和工商三家单位组成的市容整顿联合执法队。在整顿过程中,执法队发现某饭馆在门口摆设桌椅进行营业,执法队认为该饭馆的这种做法严重地影响了市容的整齐和美观效果,随即告知饭馆老板进行清理。次日,该执法队再次巡查时发现该饭馆照旧进
_______是借款人对与贷款有关的事实,包括法律、财务、商务等状况作出说明,并且对说明的真实性或者对自己承诺的其他义务作出保证。
CT检查,被检者自己准备工作的主要依据是
皮肤有环形红斑,抗"O"效价升高心前区剧烈疼痛,有病毒感染史,能自愈
2周岁儿童体重、身长约为5周岁儿童体重、身长约为
图示连续梁,EI为常数,用力矩分配法求得节点B的不平衡力矩为:
在材料采购合同中,交货质量的验收方法有( )。
下面这篇文章是一个二年级学生所写的日记,请仔细阅读这篇习作,然后完成后面的题目。放鞭炮今天,夜晚我和爸爸、妈妈一起看见许多烟火,听到许多鞭炮声音,还放了一些烟火和鞭炮
公文写作要求选择合适的文种格式,下面公文标题中文种使用错误的是()。
Wheremostlikelydoesthespeakerwork?
最新回复
(
0
)