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
37
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."
In this text the author’s main intent is to______.
选项
A、underscore the difficulties related to aging
B、critique different theories of mental decline in old age
C、argue that old age need not be a barrier to great accomplishments
D、understand how people can counter the impacts of aging on mental faculties
答案
B
解析
属主旨思想题。题目考查的是作者的主要目的。文章开篇就指出“老龄对人最大的破坏就是脑力的丧失……”,第二段提出相关问题,第三段总体介绍一些研究发现,第四、五段分别介绍了夏伊教授和埃里克森教授的研究,最后一段进行总结。全文中没有一个定论,各种相关的研究各有千秋。这正是选项B的内容(critique意为“批评,评论”)。选项A只是文中细节,不是作者的主要目的(其中underscore意为“强调”);选项C与第一段内容相反;选项D只是第四段的内容,不能概括全文的目的。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Iz74777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
TheMenandWomenoftheUniversityLivingaRatioMargininAmericanTheprospectsforwomenwhoarescientistsandenginee
TheMenandWomenoftheUniversityLivingaRatioMargininAmericanTheprospectsforwomenwhoarescientistsandenginee
TheUncertaintyofChildBehaviorPerformanceHypothetically,let’ssayyouranafancyprivateelementaryschool.Likeothe
TheUniversityMakesUseofKnowledgetoObtainEconomicInterestNobodyeverwentintoacademiatomakeafastbuck.Profes
AmericanIncentiveStudentofUniversityEconomizesaCommissaryTheonce-seen-everywherecafeteriatray.withsomanyglass
Atpresent,muchattentionisbeingattachedtotheenvironmentalprotection.Writealettertoadvocatecar-pooling.Andinyou
Inthetwodecadesbetween1929and1949,sculptureintheUnitedStatessustainedwhatwasprobablythegreatestexpansionins
Youaregoingtoreadatextaboutthestateofcollegestudents’mentalhealth,followedbyalistofexamples.Choosethebest
随机试题
()包括制造计划、安装计划、调试计划,制造、安装和调试日志,定位测量资料,技术措施、安全措施和环境保护措施,设备制造、安装材料的试验记录等。这类文件是区分今后制造、安装和调试单位质量责任的凭据。对这类文件的审查、监督是设备监理工程师的一项重要工作。
急性心肌梗死在Ⅱ、Ⅲ、aVF导联出现病理性Q波,应诊断为
医师为一位符合安乐死条件的患者使用药物结束其痛苦的生命,称为
铜冶炼行业的产业政策包括()。地表水现状调查水质参数包括()。
下列情形中,可能会导致当事人因重大误解而订立合同的有()。
甲与乙投宿同一旅店,甲得知乙身携巨款,于是甲利用聊天机会在乙的茶杯中偷放安眠药,待乙熟睡时将其巨款拿走。甲的行为构成:
下列各项中,哪一项是行政复议区别于行政诉讼所特有的原则?()
你肯定听过这种理论:左撇子的右脑运作比较活跃,因此更为感性,具有艺术天赋;右撇子则充分锻炼了左脑,因而擅长逻辑思维,性格更为理性。这个观念是如此深入人心,以至于有些父母或教育者煞费苦心地让孩子平衡左右手活动。接下来作者最有可能谈论的是()。
根据下列资料,回答下列问题。2014年上半年全国共生产汽车1178万辆,同比增长9.6%,其中,乘用车971万辆,同比增长12.1%;商用车207万辆,同比下降0.6%。销售汽车1168万辆,同比增长8.4%,其中乘用车963万辆,同比增长1
Coca-Cola,theworld’slargestproducerofsugarybeverages,isbackinganew"science-based"solutiontotheobesitycrisis:To
最新回复
(
0
)