2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 86

Unit 86

It was a big week for Alzheimer’s disease, and not just because PBS aired The Forgetting, a first-rate documentary about Alzheimer’s worth catching in reruns if you missed it the first time. There was also a flurry of scientific news that offered hope to the families already struggling with Alzheimer’s, as well as to the baby-boom generation that’s up next. Unless something dramatic happens, the number of Americans living with this terrifying brain disease could triple, to about 16 million, over the next 50 years. There’s still no cure in sight, but there is progress on several fronts. Among them:

MEGADOSE VITAMINS Doctors knew vitamins E and C, both antioxidants, help stave off Alzheimer’s, at least in folks who haven’t already developed the disorder. ① What they didn’t know—but a big study involving 4,740 participants published in the Archives of Neurology showed—was that the two vitamins taken together in huge daily doses（at least 400 IU of E and more than 500 mg of C） could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s a remarkable 78%.

COMBINATION THERAPY A yearlong study of more than 400 Alzheimer’s patients showed that two drugs that work differently on the brain’s chemistry act well together to help slow down the disease. ② Patients who were being treated with donepezil（sold as Aricept）, an older drug that preserves the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, were also given memantine（Namenda）, a new drug approved by the FDA last October that blocks overproduction of a harmful brain chemical called glutamate. The two drugs worked even better in combination than they did alone, providing substantial benefit for patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

BRAIN IMAGING Finally, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh announced that they had successfully developed a procedure that allows them to peer into the brains of Alzheimer’s patients with positron emission tomography（PET）scans to see telltale plaque deposits. Before now, doctors could not track the progress of these plaques until after the patient died, when the brain could be autopsied. Using the new technique, doctors may be able to begin treatment long before the first symptoms appear.

None of these advances is a magic bullet for Alzheimer’s disease. If you or your loved ones are concerned, the first step is careful evaluation by your doctor. Not all memory lapses are Alzheimer’s, and there are reversible causes of forgetfulness that can be treated if caught early. Also, remember the old adage “use it or lose it.” Mental exercise—reading, doing crossword puzzles, playing chess or Scrabble—is as good for preserving your mind as physical exercise is for your body.

注（1）：本文選自Time；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象：第1、3題分別模仿2002年Text 4第1題和Text 3第3題，第2題模仿1994年真題Text 2第3題，第4~5題分別模仿2004年Text 3第4、5題。

1. From the first paragraph, we learn that ______.

A) the baby-boom generation will not suffer from Alzheimer’s disease

B) recent progress brings hope for Alzheimer victims

C) the week was very important for Alzheimer’s, mainly because a documentary about it was shown on PBS

D) the new achievements made on several fronts show that Alzheimer’s disease can be cured

2. The phrase “stave off ” （Line 1, Paragraph 2） most probably means ______ .

A) getting

B) treating

C) curing

D) preventing

3. The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that ______.

A) combination therapy refers to combining two different ways of treatment

B) donepezil helps block overproduction of a harmful brain chemical called glutamate

C) combination therapy is of great benefit to all patients with Alzheimer’s

D) Aricept and Namenda have better effect when used together than used separately

4. Why is brain imaging considered progress in treating Alzheimer’s?

A) Because it helps doctors diagnose and treat the disease in an early phase by tracking the progress of plaques in the brain.

B) Because it helps doctors autopsy the brains of the patients after they died.

C) Because it helps doctors see the plaque deposits clearly so that they can operate on the brain.

D) Because it helps doctors develop a new procedure of tracking the progress of the disease.

5. To which of the following is the author likely to agree?

A) Alzheimer’s disease can be cured thanks to the new advances.

B) Forgetfulness can be cured by doing mental exercise.

C) Careful evaluation is important because it can tell Alzheimer’s from curable memory lapses, which can be treated if found in an early phase.

D) Mental exercises do good only to forgetfulness caused by reversible causes.

篇章剖析

本篇文章介紹了阿爾茨海默病研究領域取得的新成果。第一段，作者介紹了兩件對阿爾茨海默病來說非常重要的事情：其一，紀錄片《遺忘》的播出；其二，對該疾病的研究取得新發(fā)現。第二段介紹了新成果之一：大量服用維生素C和E有助于預防阿爾茨海默病。第三段介紹了新成果之二：藥物治療上的新發(fā)現——同時服用兩種對大腦的化學特性起不同作用的藥品有助于緩解病情。第四段介紹了新成果之三：大腦成像技術。用正電子放射X線斷層攝影術自動程序控制技術檢查大腦內的斑塊，能夠及早發(fā)現疾病隱患，及早治療。第五段作者指出新的科研成果并不能治愈阿爾茨海默病，重要的是要多做腦力訓練。

詞匯注釋

Alzheimer’s disease 阿爾茨海默?。ㄗ畛Ｒ姷睦夏昶诎V呆類型）

PBS 美國公共廣播公司（Public Broadcasting Service）

rerun /?ri??r?n/ n. 重播

flurry /?fl?ri/ n. 一陣

baby-boom n . 生育高峰

megadose /?meg?d??s/ v. 給予…大劑量

antioxidant /??nt???ks?d?nt/ n. 【化】抗氧化劑

stave off 避開，延遲

chemistry /?kem?stri/ n. 化學特性

neurotransmitter /?nj??r?tr?ns?m?t?/ n. 【生】神經傳遞素

acetylcholine /??si?t?l?k??l?n/ n. 【化】乙酰膽堿

FDA （美國）食品及藥物管理局（Food and Drug Administration）

glutamate /?glu?t?me?t/ n. 【化】谷氨酸鹽

substantial /s?b?st?n??l/ adj. 巨大的

the American Medical Association 美國醫(yī)學協會

imaging /??m?d???/ n. 成像

peer into 窺視

positron emission tomography正電子放射X線斷層攝影術

scan /sk?n/ n. 掃描

telltale /?telte?l/ adj. 泄密的

plaque /plɑ?k/ n. 斑

deposit /d??p?zit/ n. 沉積物

autopsy /???t?psi/ v. （為查明死因而做的）尸體解剖

lapse /l?ps/ n. 喪失

reversible /ri?v??s?bl/ adj. 可逆的

adage /??d?d?/ n. 格言，諺語

scrabble /?skr?bl/ n. 一種拼字游戲

preserve /pr??z??v/ v. 保護，保持，保存

難句突破

① What they didn’t know—but a big study involving 4,740 participants published in the Archives of Neurology showed—was that the two vitamins taken together in huge daily doses（at least 400 IU of E and more than 500 mg of C）could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s a remarkable 78%.

主體句式：What they didn’t know was that...

結構分析：本句的難點是句子長，結構復雜，不容易看出各句子成分之間的關系。What they didn’t know是主語從句；but a big study involving 4,740 participants published in the Archives of Neurology showed是插入語，用于補充說明新發(fā)現的背景信息；was后是that引導的表語從句，用于說明過去醫(yī)生不知道的情況，即新發(fā)現的內容是：每日大劑量服用維生素C和E能有效預防阿爾茨海默病。

句子譯文：發(fā)表在《神經病學檔案》雜志上的一項涉及4740名參加者的重大研究成果顯示，每天同時大劑量服用這兩種維生素（至少400國際單位維生素E和500毫克以上的維生素C）能大幅度降低阿爾茨海默病的患病幾率，降低幅度為78%。

② Patients who were being treated with donepezil（sold as Aricept）, an older drug that preserves the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, were also given memantine（Namenda）, a new drug approved by the FDA last October that blocks overproduction of a harmful brain chemical called glutamate.

主體句式：Patients... were also given memantine.

結構分析：該句的難點有兩個。其一是本句醫(yī)學詞匯多，影響理解。針對這一問題，重要的是不要勉強自己去理解每個單詞的意思，而是要努力理解句子的主旨。其二是句子結構復雜而且句子長。who were being treated with donepezil（sold as Aricept）, an older drug that preserves the neurotransmitter acetylcholine修飾Patients，作它的定語從句，而其中的an older drug that preserves the neurotransmitter acetylcholine是donepezil（sold as Aricept）的同位語，解釋其功能；后半句中關鍵詞memantine（Namenda）也帶有一個長長的同位語a new drug... glutamate，介紹這種新藥的基本情況。

句子譯文：患者在服用保護神經傳遞乙酰膽堿的donepezil（藥品銷售名稱為Aricept）的同時服用美國食品及藥物管理局去年剛剛批準的一種用于抑制有害大腦的化學物質——谷氨酸鹽——過剩的藥物memantine（藥品銷售名稱是Namenda）。

題目分析

1. B 推理題。該題主要考查對第一段主旨思想的理解。第一段主要是引入下文的研究新成果，因此，主旨句是最后一句：There’s still no cure in sight, but there is progress on several fronts. 其他干擾項涉及本段其他句子的意義理解。

2. D 語義題。從“stave off ”后的“at least in folks who haven’t already developed the disorder”可知，該短語指的是“起到預防作用”。

3. D 推理題。第三段第五至六行“The two drugs worked even better in combination than they did alone”是理解本題的關鍵。首先需要根據上下文理解這兩種藥品指：Aricept and Namenda；其次，要理解in combination的意思，其意為“結合”，在本句中指“同時使用兩種藥物”，再次要理解第三段第二行“help slow down the disease”中的disease在第二段中曾被指為disorder。

4. A 細節(jié)題。從第四段最后一句“Using the new technique, doctors may be able to begin treatment long before the first symptoms appear.”可以推斷出這種新技術能使醫(yī)生及早診斷和治療阿爾茨海默病。從第四段第三、四兩行“... to see telltale plaque deposits. Before now, doctors could not track the progress of these plaques until after the patient died,”可以推斷出通過大腦成像技術跟蹤斑塊的病變情況是早期診斷阿爾茨海默病的關鍵。

5. C 推理題。從第五段第二句“If you or your loved ones are concerned, the first step is careful evaluation by your doctor.”可以推斷出仔細的測評非常重要。第三句“Not all memory lapses are Alzheimer’s, and there are reversible causes of forgetfulness that can be treated if caught early. ”解釋了細致測評的重要性：能根據測評判斷出是否是阿爾茨海默病引起的健忘癥狀，如果是可逆性原因引起的健忘，發(fā)現及時，是可以治療的。從以上兩句可以推斷出C正確。

參考譯文

對于阿爾茨海默病來說，那是個重要的星期，不僅僅是因為美國公共廣播公司播出了非常值得一看的紀錄片《遺忘》，一部有關阿爾茨海默病的優(yōu)秀紀錄片。如果你錯過了首播，建議你在重播時補看。此外，科學界喜訊頻傳，給眾多與病魔做斗爭的家庭以及在極可能患病的生育高峰期出生的一代帶來了希望。除非有奇跡發(fā)生，否則在未來50年，美國患這種嚴重大腦疾病的患者人數將達到約1600萬，是目前患者人數的3倍。雖然目前還沒有治愈的辦法，但科學家們在若干前沿領域的研究取得了新的成果。包括：

大劑量服用維生素：醫(yī)生們過去就知道氧化劑維生素E和C有助于預防阿爾茨海默病，至少對于那些沒有患上這種疾病的人們來說，是有預防作用的?？墒撬麄儾恢榔漕A防作用到底有多大。發(fā)表在《神經病學檔案》雜志上的一項涉及4740名參加者的重大研究成果顯示，每天同時大劑量服用這兩種維生素（至少400國際單位維生素E和500毫克以上的維生素C）能大幅度降低阿爾茨海默病的患病幾率，降低幅度為78%。

聯合治療：對400多名阿爾茨海默病患者長達一年的研究表明，同時服用兩種對大腦的化學特性起不同作用的藥品有助于緩解病情。據發(fā)表在美國醫(yī)學協會雜志上的一篇研究報告介紹，患者在服用保護神經傳遞乙酰膽堿的donepezil（藥品銷售名稱為Aricept）的同時服用美國食品及藥物管理局去年剛剛批準的一種用于抑制有害大腦的化學物質——谷氨酸鹽——過剩的藥物memantine（藥品銷售名稱是Namenda）。報告還指出，同時服用兩種藥品對緩解中度和重度患者病情起到很大作用，療效好于單獨使用其中任何一種藥物。

大腦成像技術：最后一個新成果是匹茲堡大學的科學家新近宣布的，他們已經成功研發(fā)出察看病人大腦內部的技術。他們用正電子放射X線斷層攝影術自動程序控制技術察看大腦內泄露疾病成因秘密的斑塊。從前，醫(yī)生只能在病人去世后解剖大腦時研究斑塊的形成。新技術的出現使醫(yī)生們可以在病人的早期癥狀出現很久之前就開始治療。

以上提到的成果都不能治愈阿爾茨海默病。如果您本人或您的親朋好友不幸患上了這種疾病，第一步就是讓醫(yī)生做詳細的測評。并不是所有的記憶力減退都意味著阿爾茨海默病，如果發(fā)現早，由可逆性病因造成的健忘癥是可以治療的。此外，請牢記那句古老的格言：“不用就會失去它。”正如體育運動鍛煉身體一樣，閱讀、猜縱橫字謎、下棋或玩拼字游戲等腦力訓練有助于保持您的腦力。