Standing up straight and keeping your body centered may seem like second nature to most of us. But for people with balance disor

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问题     Standing up straight and keeping your body centered may seem like second nature to most of us. But for people with balance disorders, it is anything but easy. Wobbly (摇晃的) and unsure on their feet, they often have difficulty walking and are【C1】______ to falls, a leading cause of injury and death in the elderly.
    Certain diseases and medications, or the normal course of aging, can【C2】______ the sensory signals transmitted to the part of the brain that governs gravitational stability, which is why people become unsteady, dizzy or【C3】______ .
    Now scientists have developed a novel balance feedback device that weighs less, than a pound and can be worn on a belt like a pager. It may help correct balance difficulties by providing sufferers with the sensory data they are missing.
    An estimated 20% of Americans suffer from balance disorders. These difficulties can be【C4】______ by various infections, head injuries, aging, illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (硬化症) and Parkinson’s disease, or inner ear damage, which can be caused by Meniere’s disease, poor blood circulation or some antibiotics (抗生素).
    Although maintaining balance may seem effortless, keeping your body stable is a gravity-defying skill that requires input from three main senses. The brain【C5】______ information from our vision, from the vestibular (balance) system in the inner ear and from the somatosensory system—the sense receptors in our muscles, joints, skin and feet—that tells us where our body is in【C6】______ to surfaces that we contact.
    If a person doesn’t receive enough information from the【C7】______ balance sensors, especially from the balance system that regulates our sense of gravity, he or she can become quite wobbly without realizing it. As a consequence, he may【C8】______ too far and fall. It’s basic physics, and the bigger the sway, the more likely it is to fall.
    The balance feedback device can help【C9】______ a person’s damaged sensory system. The lightweight appliance, which contains sensors, is hooked to a belt and connected to a pair of headphones. The device acts much like a carpenter’s level and emits auditory【C10】______ to let users know when their body is swaying too much so they can make corrections. Different tones and intensities tell subjects which way they are leaning: a high-pitched tone, for example, signals that they are leaning forward and grows louder if they bend farther; a lower sound tells them they’re swaying backward.
A) integrates                    I) prone
B) weaken                        J) cues
C) unites                        K) disoriented
D) triggered                     L) connection
E) emit                          M) tilt
F) innate                        N) reference
G) influenced                    O) awaken
H) rehabilitate
【C1】

选项

答案I

解析 be prone to sth.意为“易于…”。该句话的意思是“通常他们行走困难并且容易摔倒,这是老年人受伤和死亡的主要原因”。
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