阅读理解
Keeping a full social calendar may help protect you from dementia (痴呆), researchers said on
Monday.Socially active people who were not easily stressed had a 50 percent lower risk of developing
dementia compared with men and women who were isolated and prone to distress, they reported in the
journal Neurology.
"In the past, studies have shown that chronic distress (长期抑郁) can affect parts of the brain,
possibly leading to dementia, " HuiXin Wang of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the study,
said in a statement."But our findings suggest that having a calm and outgoing personality in combination
with a socially active lifestyle may decrease the risk of developing dementia even further."
An estimated 24 million people worldwide have memory loss, problems with direction and other
symptoms that signal Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.Researchers believe the number of
people with dementia may quadruple (变为四倍) by 2050, underlining the importance of better
understanding the condition.
The Swedish study involved 506 elderly people who did not have dementia when first examined.The
volunteers were given questionnaires about their personality traits and lifestyles and then tracked for six
years.Over that time,144 people developed dementia with more socially active and less stressed men and women 50 percent less likely to be diagnosed with the condition.
"The good news is, lifestyle factors can be modified as opposed to genetic factors which cannot be
controlled, " Wang said."But these are early results, so how exactly mental attitude influences risk for
dementia is not clear."
1. Study suggests that________.
A. women have a 50 percent lower risk of developing dementia than men
B. 50 percent of elderly people have the risk of developing dementia
C. people with active lifestyles will never develop dementia
D. going to a party will cut the risk of developing dementia
2. ________people are believed to develop dementia in one year on average in the future 40 years.
A. About 1.8 million
B. About 24 million
C. About 72 million
D. About 96 million
3. It can be inferred that________could be a good way to decrease the risk of developing dementia.
A. living alone in a deserted island
B. modifying genetic factors
C. changing lifestyles
D. getting away from activities
4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. It is not clear whether mental attitude influences the risk of developing dementia.
B. The people involved in the Swedish study are never diagnosed with dementia.
C. Memory loss, direction confusion could be the symptoms of dementia.
D. The number of people with calm and outgoing personality is growing.
