With a team of colleagues (同事) at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain activity of a thousand people of different ages and varying (不同的) jobs.
Computer technology enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the activity of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intelligence and feeling, and
determine the human character. (The rear section of the brain, which controls functions like eating and breathing, does not change with age, and one can continue living without the ability to think and feel.)
Change of front and side parts, as bits die off, was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not to be seen in some sixty-and-seventy-year-olds.
Matsuzawa discovered from his tests that there is a simple answer to the loss normally associated with age?using the head.
The findings show in general terms that the decrease of the brain's ability to think 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 move around properly in the head to supply the fresh oxygen the brain needs. "The best way to keep blood moving well is through using the brain." He says, "Think hard and engage in conversation. Don't rely on pocket calculators."
ABDDB
1. The team of doctors wanted to find out _________________________.
A. why certain people age sooner than others
B. how to make people live longer
C. the size of certain people's brains
D. which people are most intelligent
2. Which of the following statements is true?
A. People who work in the government don't age as quickly as people in the town.
B. The back of the brain is in charge of people's eating.
C. The easiest way to prevent the brain from aging is to improve our diet.
D. We are young when we have enough physical exercise.
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 less active than other people's
4. According to the passage, which group of people seem to age sooner than the others?
A. Lawyers.
B. Professors.