阅读试题

Women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 30 percent less likely to have memory decline at age 65 than whose who drank one cup or less daily. And the benefit increased with age. Women over age 80 who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were about 70 percent less likely to have memory decline than those who drank one cup or less. the researchers said.

Caffeinated tea had the same effect in the women. the study found, although more was needed to get the same caffeine boost. "Count roughly two cups of tea for a cup of coffee," said study leader Karen Ritchie of INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research.

But the researchers didn't find a similarly protective effect in men, although other studies have found a benefit to males.

How might caffeine help ward off cognitive decline? "It is a cognitive stimulant." said Ritchie. It also helps to reduce levels of the protein called beta amyloid in the brain. she said. "whose accumulation is responsible for Alzheimer's disease but which also occurs in normal aging."

Ritchie said she wasn't sure why men in the study didn't benefit from caffeine. "Our hypothesis is that either women metabolize caffeine differently than men, or there may be an interaction of the caffeine with the sex hormones.the estrogen-progesterone balance," she said.

The French study confirms previous research, said William Scott. professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. who has researched caffeine's beneficial effects against Parkinson's disease, also a neurodegenerative disorder.

As for caffeine only protecting women, Scott noted that just 2,800 of the 7,000 study participants were men. and the results might have differed if more men were included.

A study published in February in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 676 healthy men and found that regular coffee drinkers had a lower rate of cognitive decline over a 10-year follow-up than those who didn't drink coffee. Those who drank three cups daily had the least signs of decline.

Both Scott and Ritchie agreed that more study is needed. Ritchie's research will next look at the relationship between caffeine and Alzheimer's.

参考译文

女性每天喝三杯或更多咖啡，到65岁时记忆衰退的可能性比那些每天只喝一杯或更少咖啡的人要小30%。[1]而且这样的益处随年龄的增长而增加。据研究者称，80岁以上的女性，如果每天喝三杯或更多咖啡，较之每天只喝一杯或更少咖啡的人，记忆衰退的可能性小70%。

[2]研究发现，添加了咖啡因的茶对女性有同样的效果，尽管需要喝更多的茶才能得到与咖啡同样的刺激作用。“大约是两杯茶相当于一杯咖啡，”该项研究的负责人卡伦·里奇说。她来自法国国家健康与医学研究院(INSERM)。

但是研究者没有发现咖啡对男性具有类似的保护作用，虽然其他的一些研究已发现咖啡能给男性带来好处。

咖啡因何以能有助于抵抗记忆衰退呢？里奇说：“它是一种刺激记忆的物质。”咖啡因也有助于降低大脑中叫做β淀粉酶的蛋白质的水平，她说：“[3]β淀粉酶的积聚会导致老年痴呆症，但是正常的老化过程中也会出现这种病症。”

里奇说，她还不能确定为什么受试的男性未能从咖啡因中受益。“我们猜想，要么是女性代谢咖啡因的方式与男性不同，要么是咖啡因与性激素发生相互作用，即雌激素——孕酮的平衡。”

[4]迈阿密大学米勒医学院的教授威廉·斯科特说，法国人的研究证实了以前的研究结果。斯科特教授研究过咖啡因对帕金森综合征的疗效。帕金森综合征也是一种神经退化疾病。

至于为什么咖啡因只对女性起保护作用，斯科特教授指出，7000位受试者中只有2800位男性，如果有更多的男性参与试验，结果可能会不一样。

《欧洲临床营养学杂志》于2月发表了一项研究，调查了676位健康男性，经过十年的追踪调查显示，常喝咖啡的人比不常喝咖啡的人记忆衰退的速度要慢。那些每天喝三杯咖啡的人记忆衰退的迹象最不明显。

斯科特和里奇都认为还需进一步研究。里奇接下来会研究咖啡因与老年痴呆症之间的关系。

测试题

1. As it is indicated in the l st paragraph, how does coffee influence women’s memory?
A) The older the woman was. the more remarkable her memory was.
B) The more coffee the woman drank, the more slowly her memory declined.
C) The older the woman was, the more slowly her memory declined.

D) The more coffee the woman drank. the more remarkable her memory was.

2. What is true about caffeinated tea?

A) It affected women’s memory in the same manner as coffee.
B) It influenced women’s memory as effectively as coffee.
C) It boosted women’s memory in the same rate as coffee.

D) It contained che same amount of caffeine as coffee.

3. According to Ritchie. Alzheimer's disease is resulted from________________.

A) the lack of caffeine in the brain
B) the accumulation of beta amyloid
C)high level of proteins in the brain

D) abnormal metabolism in normal aging

4. William Scott would most probably agree that caffeine helped_______________.

A) reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease
B) retard the process of cognitive decline
C) balance the production of female hormones

D) protect both men and women from diseases

5. What was the author's attitude towards the research of caffeine's beneficial effect on men7

A) Doubtful.
B) Convinced.
C) Matter-of-fact.
D) Cautious.

选项翻译与答案详解

1.第一段中显示，咖啡能如何影响女士的记忆？

A)女士年纪越大，她的记忆就越出色。
B)女士喝的咖啡越多，记忆衰退的速度就越慢。
C)女士年纪越大，记忆衰退的速度就越慢。
D)女士喝的咖啡越多，她的记忆就越出色。

[C]首段第2句概括了该段的主要内容，句中的benefit指的是记忆衰退的减缓。因此本段内容为：年龄越长，记忆衰退就比同龄人越慢, 即C。本段关注的是咖啡影响记忆的衰退程度，而非咖啡是否能增强记忆，A.D（记忆力的好坏）在本段并未论及；虽然本段对比了喝三杯或更多咖啡的女性与喝一杯或更少的女性的记忆衰退程度，但这并不意味着咖啡喝得越多越好，因此，B、D中的the more coffee the woman drank这个前提不正确，故两项均错。

2.对于含咖啡因的茶叶的说法，下列哪一项正确？

A)影响女士记忆的方式与咖啡一样。
B)影响女士记忆的效果与咖啡一样。
C)促进女士记忆的速度跟咖啡一样。
D)含有的咖啡因与咖啡一样。

[A]第2段首句中的the same effect与上一段提到的benefit所指相同，故本句表明含咖啡因的茶和咖啡以同样的机制影响女性的记忆衰退程度，选A。第2段首句中although引出的让步状语从句表明咖啡的作用比茶明显。因此B不正确，这样看来，D(茶和咖啡含有同量的咖啡因）也是不正确的；C针对的是增强记忆，而非其衰退程度，不符合文章的论点，也不正确。

3.根据Ritchie所称，患上早老性痴呆病是因为_______________。

A)脑袋里面缺乏咖啡因
B）β淀粉酶的累积
C)脑袋里高水平的蛋白质
D）正常老化当中的不正常代谢
[B]第4段末句中的beta amyloid...whose accumulation is responsible for Alzheimer's disease表明B为本题答案。本题根据Ritchie和Alzheimer's定位原文后。答案就不难找到。

4.William Scott最有可能同意的是，咖啡因能帮助__________________。

A）降低患上早老性痴呆病的风险
B）减缓认知衰退的过程
C）平衡女性荷尔蒙的产生
D）保护男士和女士不受疾病困扰

[B]第6段首句开头的The French study confirms previous research表明斯科特认同了法国人的研究结果，即咖啡因能减缓记忆衰退，因此本题选B。第4段提及咖啡因可以降低导致老年痴呆症的β淀粉酶的水平，但要注意的是，该段末也有提及老年痴呆症在正常的老化过程中也会出现，这意味着老年痴呆症也可能与β淀粉酶无关，那么，对于不是由β淀粉酶引起的老年痴呆症，咖啡因就不起作用了，强干扰项A的说法过于片面，可排除。

5.作者对于咖啡因对人类有益的研究持怎样的态度？

A)怀疑。
B)信服。
C)认为是事实。
D)谨慎。
[C]本文是作者对一项研究结果的客观引述，没有涉及作者的个人态度，因此作者对文中任何观点话题的看法都只是持旁观者中立的态度，故选C。其他选项都具有积极或消极的词义色彩，不表明中立的态度。故均不能选。