题目内容
PEOPLE who have had a painful experience may wish they could wipe the memory from their minds. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, US, say that this may someday be possible.
A drug remains far off, but researchers have laid a foundation with their discovery that proteins can be removed from the brain’s fear center to cut memories forever.
Previous research had already shown that a special behavior therapy (治疗) could cut painful memories. But relapse (复发) was possible because the memory hadn’t necessarily disappeared.
By looking at that process, Richard Huganir and Roger Clem, two researchers from Johns Hopkins University, discovered a “window of vulnerability (脆弱的窗口)” when proteins are created. The proteins help signals travel within the brain as painful memories are made. Because the proteins are unstable, they can be easily removed with drugs or behavior therapy to cut memories.
Researchers used mice to find the window, but think the process would be the same in humans. They used electric shocks to make the mice fear a certain sound. The sound triggered (触发) the creation of the proteins, called calcium-permeable (钙通透性) AMPARS, which formed for a day or two in the fear centers of the mice’s brains.
The researchers are working on ways to reopen the window by recalling (唤醒) the painful memory and using drugs to remove the protein. They published their report online last month in Science Express.
Their research has drawn interest and concern from experts in mental healthcare.
Kate Farinholt, a mental health expert with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Maryland, US, said many people suffering from a painful event might benefit from erasing a memory. “Erasing a memory and then everything bad built on that is an amazing idea, and I can see all sorts of potential ,” she said.
But there are a lot of unanswered questions, too.
“Completely deleting a memory is a little scary. How do you remove a memory without removing a part of someone’s life,” Farinholt said. “And is it best to do that, considering that people grow and learn from their experiences?”
1.What have researchers at Johns Hopkins University found recently?
A. A new drug to erase painful memories from human brains.
B. A special behavior therapy to erase painful memories.
C. Removing certain proteins from the brain can wipe painful memories.
D. Erasing memory damages a patient’s brain functions.
2.What makes it possible to erase painful memories according to Paragraph 4?
A. The way the brain cells are created.
B. The unstable character of the proteins in the brain.
C. The strength of the signals the proteins send.
D. The drugs that can stop the formation of memories.
3.Which of the following shows the stages of the process done on mice?
a. removal of fear proteins b. making mice fear a certain sound
c. fear proteins created in mice brains d. making mice recall painful memories
A. a-b-c-d B. d-a-c-b C. b-c-d-a D. c-b-d-a
4.What is Kate Farinholt’s opinion of the research?
A. People may lose the chance to learn from their bad experiences.
B. The research will be a great breakthrough in treating painful memories.
C. People could suffer long-term memory loss.
D. People could forget happy memories as well.
1.C
2.B
3.C
4.A
【解析】略
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Health researchers have noticed that some groups of people are more consistently healthy than others, and wondered… Is it race? Income? Where you live? In the United States, these disagreements in health outcomes have been the focus of intense research for the past several decades.
Harvard University health policy researcher Ellen Meara says scholars have found some clues as to why some groups of people have more or less disease than others. She says one important factor in people’s health is the amount of education they have.
In her most recent paper, Meara looked at data from the United states census. These counts of people occur every 10 years. Meara and her colleagues examined data from several decades.
“We looked at life expectancy(预测寿命) at age 25,” Meara says.
“How many additional years can you expect to live if you arrive at age 25 and your education has stopped at high school, or sooner? Versus how many years, can you expect to live if you’ve reached aged 25 and you’ve gone on to at least some college…”
Meara says they found that in 1990, a 25-year-old who only had some secondary school could expect to live for a total of 75 years. In 2000, a 25-year-old with some secondary education could also expect to live to the age of 75.
In contrast, for a better educated 25-year-old, they could expect to live to the age of 80 in 1990. Someone with a similar education level in the year 2000, could expect to live to be more than 81 years, 81.6 years to be exact.
Meara says, not only do better-educated people live longer to begin with, but in the past ten years, more educated people have made gains in the length of their lives. Meanwhile, the life expectancy hasn’t changed for less educated people.
Some of these gains can be explained. Meara says researchers know that people who are more educated are more likely to quit smoking cigarettes, or not start at all, compared to people with less education.
“I think it’s a reminder not to be satisfactory,” Meara says. “Just because a population overall appears to be getting healthier, it doesn’t always mean that those advantages and successes that many people have enjoyed really extend into all parts of the population. And I think that’s something to really pay attention to regardless of whether you live in the US or elsewhere.”
Meara points out that education can often determine income---people with more education frequently make more money. This makes them aware of health care, and purchase other resources and services that can keep them healthier. But the data on income do NOT show that people who make more money are automatically healthier.
Meara says education is key. People need to be educated in order to take advantage of opportunities for better health.
| Title | The Amount of Contributes to People’s Health | ||||
| The less educated people | The ______ educated people | ||||
| Comparisons | In 1990 | They could live for 75 years | They could live to the age of 80 | ||
| In 2000 | Their life expectancy was the same as in 1990. | They could live to the age of 81.6 ____ | |||
| ___ of the research | In the past ten years | Their life expectancy remained _____. | They’ve made gains in the length of their lives, partly due to their __ smoking. | ||
| People are getting healthier, but it doesn’t mean that the advantages and successes extend into all parts of the ____. | |||||
| Education____income. | People with more education make more money | ||||
| Getting more money helps to increase their___ of health care, which can keep them healthier. | |||||
| ____ | Education is the key to better health. | ||||