分享2009年UE section C 部份ans

十

Sorry....淨得兩part..考評局有改過少許原文  以方便出題@@
[綠色字為我已知的考評局既改動]

MC:

原文:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/health/research/20brai.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this A16:assumption is often wrong.

Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term A17:benefit. The studies are analyzed in a new edition of a neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.”

Some brains do deteriorate with age. Alzheimer’s disease, A18:for example, strikes 13 percent of Americans 65 and older. But for most aging adults, the authors say, much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that A19:makes it more difficult to latch onto just one fact, like a name or a telephone number. Although that can be frustrating, it is often A20:useful.

“It may be that distractibility is not, in fact, a bad thing,” said Shelley H. Carson, a psychology researcher at Harvard A21:whose work was cited in the book. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind.”

For example, in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases, adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean, older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic A22:at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling over the extra information, but are taking it in and A23:processing it.

When both groups were later asked questions for A24:which the out-of-place words might be answers, the older adults responded much better than the students.

“For the young people, it’s as if the distraction A25:never happened,” said an author of the review, Lynn Hasher, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. “But for A26:older adults, because they’ve retained all this extra data, they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.”

Such tendencies can yield big A27:advantages in the real world, where it is not always clear what information is important, or will become important. A seemingly A28:irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. Or extra details that stole your A29:attention, like others’ yawning and fidgeting, may help you assess the speaker’s real impact.

“A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more A30:about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger A31:peers,” Dr. Hasher said. “We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser.”

In a 2003 study at Harvard, Dr. Carson and other researchers tested students’ A32:ability to tune out irrelevant information when exposed to a barrage of stimuli. The more creative the students were thought to be, determined by a questionnaire on past achievements, the more trouble they had A33:ignoring the unwanted data. A reduced ability to filter and set priorities, the scientists concluded, could contribute to original thinking.

This phenomenon, Dr. Carson said, is often linked to a decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex. Studies have found that people who A34:suffered an injury or disease that lowered activity in that region became more interested in creative pursuits.



THEME EXERCISE:

原文:http://magtheweekly.com/21/parenting.php

Sleep is one of the most talked-about topics among parents. We quickly learn just how important sleep is for everyone's wellbeing. For a start, it means A35:the difference between a cheerful or grumpy baby, between a calm and frazzled mom and dad.

Sleep is equally vital for school-aged children. A good night's sleep sets a child up for the day. It helps kids deal with the social stresses and pressures of a busy school environment and also promotes learning. Sleep is essential for A36:growing brains.

Children have long rebelled against set bedtimes, but today there are more and more distractions to keep them awake and alert and out of bed for longer. Television, the internet, talking on the phone and playing video games A37:all compete for their bedtime attention.

And while it may seem that your kids are the only ones in the street racing around the house at 10pm, the reality is that many children struggle to get a good night's rest. Difficulty in falling asleep, early morning awakening and nightmares are among the most common problems affecting some of our kids.

How much is enough?
All children differ in the amount of sleep they require. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, my son seemed to function perfectly well on a fraction of the sleep his two sisters needed. What my wife and I came to realize is that there isn't mandatory number of hours for children at certain ages. Instead A38:there is a range for each age.

Most preschoolers need 10-12 hours a day. At age nine, it's closer to ten hours. When puberty hits kids still need between eight and nine hours of sleep, yet most of them get less than this. And for teenagers, just at the time when their schedules typically overflow with activities, A39:the developing body and brain place extra demands on their systems and sleep needs ramp up again.

Lack of sleep can lead to inattentiveness at school, poor memory, inconsistent performance, bad temper and even use of stimulants as a sleep substitute.

Teens And Time
One of the most interesting realities about adolescents' physiology is that their sleep -wake cycle gets delayed by up to two hours. This means they don't become sleepy until later in the night and, A40:subsequently, wake up later in the morning.Children under 13 begin to secrete melatonin- the hormone that makes them sleepy- at around eight or nine o'clock at night. Most teenagers secrete melatonin at around 11 pm. A41:So, essentially, any time before this is a no sleep zone for teens; they physically cannot fall asleep.

At the other end of the sleep zone is cortisol, the chemical responsible for waking us up. It isn't secreted in teenagers until around 8.15 am, usually too late A42:to make it to school on time.

So if your teenage son is dreamily vague and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes over breakfast, remember this: if his brain had its way, he'd A43:still be tucked up in bed.Instead of giving angry admonitions or well-meaning motivational lectures, try to realize that your teenager is just A44:battling his or her physiology.

[ 本帖最後由 十 於 2009-4-1 06:45 PM 編輯 ]