(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
Can eating a chocolate bar every day really prevent age-related memory loss?
No.
Can eating chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner be good for your heart?
Again, the answer is no.
That would be too good to be true.
But new research shows that large amounts of flavanols, substances found in cocoa, tea and some vegetables, may reverse age-related memory failure. Another study is looking to see if high levels of cocoa flavanols can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Flavanols found in dark chocolate are known to increase blood flow in the part of the brain that controls memory. They also help prevent heart disease by lowering blood pressure and "bad" cholesterol.
A new study published online in Nature Neuroscience found that cocoa flavanols reverse minor memory loss in older adults. A company that makes chocolate helped to pay for the study.
Can chocolate improve memory?
Brain processes decrease as we age. By the time we reach our 50s and 60s we may have trouble remembering simple things such as the names of new people we meet or where we put our car keys.
Dr. Scott Small is a professor of neurology at Columbia University in New York City. He is the lead writer of a research paper describing the effects of cocoa flavanols on brain activity.
The study involved 37 volunteers aged between 50 and 69. Researchers gave them a high-level flavanol drink made from cocoa beans or a low-level flavanol drink. For a period of three months, some subjects got 900 milligrams of flavanol a day. The others got 10 milligrams of flavanol each day.
Brain imaging and memory tests were given to each study subject before and after the study. Dr. Small says that the subjects who had the high-level flavanol drink showed much improvement on memory tests.
Four-year study to dig deeper into healing powers of flavanol
The researchers warn that more work is needed because this study was performed on a small group. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts recently announced plans to do just that.
Dr. JoAnn Manson is the lead researcher of a four-year study involving 18,000 adults. This study will use flavanol capsules.
"This capsule of cocoa flavanols will avoid having the calories and the sugar and the saturated fat found in chocolate."
The study subjects will be divided into two groups and will take two pills a day. The capsules will all look the same. But, one group's capsules will contain flavanols. The other group will take capsules made of an inactive substance, or placebo.
Dr. Manson says that a person would have to eat ten times a normal amount to get the flavanols in just one flavanol pill.
"The amount of chocolate that it would take in order to have this amount of cocoa flavanols would be more than ten times the amount that people would ordinarily eat."
But Dr. Small says people should not necessarily start eating more chocolate. He says a person would have to eat a huge amount of chocolate to get the level of flavanol given to the test subjects. He also says many manufacturers remove the flavanols from their chocolate products.
Dr. Small says a cocoa-based flavanol extract may be developed in the future. He says that more studies are needed to see how much flavanol is good for human health.
I'm Anna Matteo.
词汇解释
1.cholesterol n. [生化] 胆固醇
Many other medications have an influence on cholesterol levels.
许多其他的药物治疗对胆固醇水平都有一定的影响。
2.saturated adj. 饱和的；渗透的；深颜色的 v. 使渗透，使饱和（saturate的过去式）
The water saturated with electrolyte.
水中的电解质饱和了。
3.placebo n. 安慰剂；为死者所诵的晚祷词
The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.
人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
内容解析
1.That would be too good to be true.
too good to be true 好得令人难以置信；太好而有失真实
On the whole the celebrations were remarkably good-humoured and peaceful. Indeed, it seemed almost too good to be true.
总体上，庆典活动一派快乐祥和。事实上，简直好得让人难以置信。
Your new job sounds too good to be true -- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Isn't there any fly in the ointment?
你的新工作听起来实在太好了—工作有趣味，待遇高，时间短。有什么美中不足的地方吗?
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
每天吃一块巧克力真的可以预防与年龄有关的记忆衰退？
不能。
三餐都吃巧克力蛋糕对心脏有好处吗？
答案也是否定的。
没有这样的好事。
但新研究发现，在可可、茶和一些蔬菜中发现的大量黄烷醇类物质也许可以逆转与年龄相关的记忆损失，另一项研究着眼于看可可黄烷醇能否预防心脏病和中风。
我们都知道，黑巧克力中发现的黄烷醇能提高大脑中控制记忆部分的血液循环，还能通过降低血压和“坏”的胆固醇来预防心脏病。
《自然神经科学》网站上发布的一项新研究发现，可可黄烷醇能逆转老年人的轻微记忆损失，一家巧克力制造商资助了这项研究。
巧克力能改善记忆力吗？
随着年龄增大，大脑活动减少。到了五六十岁的时候，我们可能记不住简单的东西，比如刚认识的人的名字，或者把车钥匙放哪里了。
斯考特·斯摩尔是纽约市哥伦比亚大学的神经学教授，他是一份研究论文的主撰稿人，这篇论文描述了可可黄烷醇对大脑活动的影响。
研究中使用了年龄在50到69岁的37名志愿者，研究者给他们喝从可可豆中制成的高浓度黄烷醇饮料，或是低浓度的黄烷醇饮料。在三个月时间内，有些受试者每天饮用900毫克的黄烷醇，其他的每天饮用10毫克的黄烷醇。
在做研究之前和之后每位受试者都做了大脑图像和记忆力测试，斯摩尔博士说，饮用高浓度黄烷醇的受试者的记忆测试水平有了很大提高。
研究者表示还需做更多工作，因为这份研究是在很小的群体内进行的。马萨诸塞州波士顿布莱根妇女医院的研究者最近宣布要进行更多研究。
乔安·曼森博士是这项涉及1.8万名成年人、为期4年研究的首席研究员，这项研究将使用黄烷醇胶囊。
“这种可可黄烷醇胶囊不含巧克力中的热量、糖分和饱和脂肪。”
研究的受试者将被分成两组，每天服用两片药。这些胶囊看起来都是一样的，但是一组服用的胶囊含有黄烷醇，另一组服用的胶囊是用非活性物质即安慰剂制成的。
曼森博士说，一个人需要食用正常量的10倍才能顶上一片黄烷醇胶囊。
“要获得这样剂量的可可黄烷醇，必须食用日常量10倍的巧克力才能获得。”
但斯摩尔博士说，人们没有必要开始吃更多巧克力，他说人们必须吃大量的巧克力才能获得受试者服用的黄烷醇剂量，他说很多制造商还从巧克力产品中去掉了黄烷醇。
斯摩尔博士说，基于可可的黄烷醇提取物将来可能会被开发出来，他说需要做更多研究来看多少黄烷醇对人体健康有益。
我是安娜·马特奥。
