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  3. William Shakespeare described old age as"second childishness"—no teeth, no eyes, no taste. In the case of taste he may, musicall

William Shakespeare described old age as"second childishness"—no teeth, no eyes, no taste. In the case of taste he may, musicall

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问题     William Shakespeare described old age as"second childishness"—no teeth, no eyes, no taste. In the case of taste he may, musically speaking, have been more perceptive than he realised. A paper in Neurology by Giovanni Frisoni and his colleagues at the National Centre for Research and Care of Alzheimers’s Disease in Italy, shows that frontotemporal dementia can affect musical desires in ways that suggest a regression,if not to infancy,then at least to a patient’s teens.
    Frontotemporal dementia, a disease usually found with old people, is caused, as its name suggests,by damage to the front and sides of the brain. These regions are concerned with speech, and with such" higher" functions as abstract thinking and judgment.
    Two of such patients intrigued Dr Frisoni. One was a 68-year-old lawyer, the other a 73-year-old housewife. Both had undamaged memories, but displayed the sorts of defect associated with frontotemporal dementia—a diagnosis that was confirmed by brain scanning.
    About two years after he was first diagnosed, the lawyer, once a classical music lover who re¬ferred to pop music as" mere noise" , started listening to the Italian pop band "883". As his com¬mand of language and his emotional attachments to friends and family deteriorated, he continued to listen to the band at full volume for many hours a day. The housewife had not even had the lawyer’s love of classical music, having never enjoyed music of any sort in the past. But about a year after her diagnosis she became very interested in the songs that her 11-year-old granddaughter was listen¬ing to.
    This kind of change in musical taste was not seen in any of the Alzheimer’s patients, and thus appears to be specific to those with frontotemporal dementia. And other studies have remarked on how frontotemporal-dementia patients sometimes gain new talents. Five sufferers who developed ar¬tistic abilities are known. And in another case, one woman with the disease suddenly started com¬posing and singing country and western songs.
    Dr Frisoni speculates that the illness is causing people to develop a new attitude towards novel experiences, Previous studies of novelty-seeking behaviour suggest that it is managed by the brain’s right frontal lobe. A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience. Alternatively, the damage may have affected some specific nervous system that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music. Whether that is a gain or a loss is a different matter. As Dr Frisoni puts it in his article, there is no accounting for taste.
Frontotemporal dementia is a disease
选项 A、identified with loss of memory.
B、causing damage to certain parts of the brain.
C、whose patients may develop new talents.
D、whose symptoms are similar to those of Alzheimer’s patients.
答案C
解析 该题为细节题。根据第三段第三句“Both had undamaged memoties，but displayed the sorts of defect…”可知额颞痴呆症患者的记忆都没有受损，选项A不符合文意；根据第二段第一句“Fronto temporal dementia，a disease usually found with old people，is caused，as its name suggests，by damage to the front and sides of the brain．”可知，额颞痴呆症是由大脑前部和侧面的损坏引起的，而选项B表达的意思是额颞痴呆症会引起大脑某些部分的损毁，与文章原意因果颠倒；根据第五段第一句“This kind of change in musical taste was not seen in any of the Alzheimer’s patients，and thus appears to be specific to those with frontotemporal dementia．”可知，阿尔茨海默氏病患并没有出现这种音乐品味的变化，仅仅是那些患有额颞痴呆的病患有这样的症状，选项D所述额颞痴呆的症状与阿尔茨海默氏病症状相似的说法是错误的；根据第五段第二句“And other studies have remarked on how frontotemporal—de—mentia patients sometimes gain new talents．”可知，有研究表明额颞痴呆症有可能使患者获得新的才能，故选C。
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