Question

Many of us believe that a person’s mind becomes less active as he grows older. But this is not true, according to Dr Jarvik, professor of psychiatry at the University of California. She has studied the mental functioning of aging persons for several years. For example, one of her studies concerns 136 pairs of twins (雙胞胎), who were first examined when they were already 60 years old. As Dr Jarvik continued the study of the twins into their 70s and 80s, their minds did not generally decline (衰弱) as was expected.
　　However, there was some decline in their psycho-motor speed. This means that it took them longer to finish mental tasks than it used to. But when speed was not a factor, they lost very little intellectual (智力的) ability over the years. In general, Dr Jarvik’s studies have shown that there is no decline in knowledge or reasoning ability. This is true not only with those in their 30s and 40s, but with those in their 60s and 70s as well.
　　It is true that older people themselves often complain that their memory is not as good as it once was. However, much of what we call “loss of memory” is not that at all. There usually was incomplete learning in the first place. For example, the older person perhaps had trouble hearing, or poor vision, or was trying to learn the new thing at too fast a speed. In the cases where the older person’s mind really seems to get worse, it is not necessarily a sign of decline due to old age. Often it is simply a sign of a sad emotional state. 
小題1: This passage is mainly about _______.

A．what caused mental decline

B．a new discovery about mental decline

C．the difference between middle-aged and older persons

D．how Dr Jarvik studied mental functioning of the twins

小題2:The word “psychiatry” in paragraph 1 most probably means _______.

A．the study of diseases of the mind

B．the study of physical diseases

C．the study of twins’ growth

D．the study of human behavior

小題3:More often than not, what we call mental decline is actually a sign of _______.

A．a worsening state of health	B．old age
C．nervous tension	D．a state of unhappiness

Answer 1

小題1:B
小題2:A
小題3:D

試題分析：人們往往認為隨著年齡的增長，人的智力有所下降，而且大腦功能也變得不再活躍。然而加利福尼亞大學的Dr Jarvik卻通過研究發現人大腦的知識和推理能力不會隨著人的年齡而減弱，只不過在思考問題的速度上有所減緩，而且表面上記憶力的衰退也不過是因為他們對事情沒有全面了解而已。
小題1:B主旨大意題。在文章開頭作者提出人們對大腦的錯誤認識，然后介紹了大學的Dr Jarvik的研究結果，隨后兩段均圍繞這一話題展開行文，由此可知文章中心內容是介紹一項關于大腦智力下降的研究報告，所以B選項正確。
小題2:A詞意猜測題。根據下文可知Dr Jarvik是從事大腦方面疾病研究的，由此推斷psychiatry意思為“精神病學”所以A選項正確。
小題3:D細節理解題。根據文章末句Often it is simply a sign of a sad emotional state.可知人們往往認為metal decline 只是一種不快樂狀態的征兆、表現。所以D選項正確。