If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise — and as a result, we are ageing unnecessarily soon.
Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of ageing could be slowed down.
With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and varying occupations.
Computer technology enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the volume of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intellect and emotion, and determine the human character. (The rear section of the brain, which controls functions like eating and breathing, does not contract with age, and one can continue living without intellectual on emotional faculties (功能)).
Contraction of front and side parts — as cells die off — was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty-and seventy-year-olds.
Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple remedy to the contraction normally associated with age — using the head.
The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns. Those least at risk, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely to have shrinking brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.
Matsuzawa’s findings show that thinking can prevent the brain from shrinking. Blood must circulate properly in the head to supply the fresh oxygen the brain cells need. "The best way to maintain good blood circulation is through using the brain." He says. "Think hard and engage in conversation. Don’t rely on pocket calculators."

1. The purpose of the research carried out by the team of doctors is         .
A) to reveal why certain people are aging sooner than others
B) to find out how to help people live longer
C) to measure the size of certain people’s brains
D) to find out which people are most intelligent

2. The research is carried out by beginning with _______
A) A survey of farmers in northern Japan.
B) Tests performed on a thousand old people.
C) The study of brain volumes of different people.
D) The latest development of computer technology.

3. The doctor’s tests show that         .
A) our brains shrink as we grow older
B) the front section of the brain does not shrink
C) sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds
D) some people’s brains have contracted more than other people’s

4. The word "subjects" in paragraph 5 means           .
A) something to be considered              
B) branches of knowledge studied
C) persons chosen to be studied in an experiment 
 D) any member of a state except the supreme ruler

5. According to the passage, which people seem to age slower than the others?
   A) Lawyers.         B) Farmers.       C) Clerks.       D) Shop assistants

参考答案：Passage 5. A C D C A

如果你想保持年轻，那就坐下来思考。这是一个日本医生研究小组的研究发现。他们认为，我们的大脑没有得到足够的锻炼，因而我们都在快速老化。
Taiju Matsuzawa教授想搞清楚其他方面均健康的日本北方农民为什么在较早丧失思维能力，他还想找到如何延缓衰老的方法。
和东京大学的几位同事一起，他开始对一千名来自不同职业不同年龄段的人大脑进行测量。
电脑技术使研究人员能获得前脑和侧脑的准确测量数据，前脑和侧脑关乎到智力和情感并决定人们的性格。（后脑控制饮食及呼吸功能，它并不随着年龄而收缩。没有智力和情感功能人类还能继续生存）。
研究人员观察到有些实验对象尽管只有三十多岁，他们的前脑和侧脑有所收缩，但是有些六七十岁实验对象的前脑和侧脑收缩却并不明显。
Matsuzawa通过实验得出这样的结论：与年龄有关的大脑萎缩可以通过一个简单的方法加以治疗：用脑。
研究发现表明：总的来说，生活在农村的人大脑萎缩出现的比生活在城市的人更早。Matsuzawa说：风险最小的依次是律师，大学教授和医生。在政府机关从事日常工作的白领与农民、公交司机和店员大脑萎缩的可能性一样大。
Matsuzawa的研究发现表明思维可以防止大脑萎缩。血液必须在脑部正常循环以供给那细胞所需的氧气。他说，“维持正常血液循环的最佳方法就是用脑，认真思考，参与交谈。不要依赖袖珍计算器。”