托福阅读素材：多吃巧克力有好处吗(自然科学篇)

　　托福阅读素材自然科学篇：三餐都吃巧克力蛋糕对心脏有好处?新东方在线托福网为大家带来托福阅读素材：多吃巧克力有好处(自然科学篇)，希望对大家托福备考有所帮助，更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线托福网!

　　每天吃一块巧克力真的可以预防与年龄有关的记忆力衰退?不能。三餐都吃巧克力蛋糕对心脏有好处?答案还是否定的。这是我们一般的思维，但是，因为富含黄烷醇类，这一观点受到质疑。起从今天的托福阅读材料中寻求答案吧!

　　Stroke n. 中风;冲程

　　flavanols n. 黄烷醇

　　reverse adj. 反面的;颠倒的

　　cholesterol n.胆固醇

　　neurology n. 神经病学

　　capsule n. 胶囊

　　placebo n. 胶囊

　　extract n摘录vt. 提取;取出

　　Chocolate Improves Memory and Heart Health

　　巧克力提高记忆力和心脏健康

　　Can eating a chocolate bar every day really prevent age-related memory loss? No. Can eating chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner be good for your heart? Again, the answer is no. That would be too good to be true.

　　But new research shows that large amounts of flavanols, substances found in cocoa, tea and some vegetables, may reverseage-related memory failure. Another study is looking to see if high levels of cocoa flavanols can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

　　Flavanols found in dark chocolate are known to increase blood flow in the part of the brain that controls memory. They also help prevent heart disease by lowering blood pressure and “bad” cholesterol.

　　A new study published online in Nature Neuroscience found that cocoa flavanols reverse minor memory loss in older adults. A company that makes chocolate helped to pay for the study.

　　Can chocolate improve memory?

　　Brain processes decrease as we age. By the time we reach our 50s and 60s we may have trouble remembering simple things such as the names of new people we meet or where we put our car keys.

　　Dr. Scott Small is a professor of neurologyat Columbia University in New York City. He is the lead writer of a research paper describing the effects of cocoa flavanols on brain activity.

　　The study involved 37 volunteers aged between 50 and 69. Researchers gave them a high-level flavanol drink made from cocoa beans or a low-level flavanol drink. For a period of three months, some subjects got 900 milligrams of flavanol a day. The others got 10 milligrams of flavanol each day.

　　Brain imaging and memory tests were given to each study subject before and after the study. Dr. Small says that the subjects who had the high-level flavanol drink showed much improvement on memory tests.

　　Four-year study to dig deeper into healing powers of flavanol

　　The researchers warn that more work is needed because this study was performed on a small group. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts recently announced plans to do just that.

　　Dr. JoAnn Manson is the lead researcher of a four-year study involving 18,000 adults. This study will use flavanol capsules.

　　“This capsule of cocoa flavanols will avoid having the calories and the sugar and the saturated fat found in chocolate.”

　　The study subjects will be divided into two groups and will take two pills a day. The capsules will all look the same. But, one group’s capsules will contain flavanols. The other group will take capsules made of an inactive substance, or placebo.

　　Dr. Manson says that a person would have to eat ten times a normal amount to get the flavanols in just one flavanol pill.

　　“The amount of chocolate that it would take in order to have this amount of cocoa flavanols would be more than ten times the amount that people would ordinarily eat.”

　　But Dr. Small says people should not necessarily start eating more chocolate. He says a person would have to eat a huge amount of chocolate to get the level of flavanol given to the test subjects. He also says many manufacturers remove the flavanols from their chocolate products.

　　Dr. Small says a cocoa-based flavanol extract may be developed in the future. He says that more studies are needed to see how much flavanol is good for human health.

　　长难句：

　　1.Dr. Small says that the subjects who had the high-level flavanol drink showed much improvement on memory tests.

　　句子类型：宾语从句+定语从句

　　句子拆分：

　　主干：Dr. Small says…

　　宾语从句：that the subjects showed much improvement on memory tests定语从句：the subjects who had the high-level flavanol drink

　　翻译：斯摩尔教授表示，饮用高浓度黄烷醇饮料的受试者在记忆测试中大有提高。

　　2.The researchers warn that more work is needed because this study was performed on a small group.

　　句子类型：宾语从句+原因状语从句

　　句子拆分：

　　主干：The researchers warn…

　　宾语从句：that more work is needed

　　定语从句：because this study was performed on a small group

　　翻译：研究人员警告说还需要做更多工作，因为这项研究是在一个很小的群体中进行。

　　3.The amount of chocolate that it would take in order to have this amount of cocoa flavanols would be more than ten times the amount that people would ordinarily eat.

　　句子类型：定语从句

　　句子拆分：

　　主干：The amount of chocolate would be more than ten times the amount.

　　定语从句：that it would take in order to have this amount of cocoa flavanols

　　翻译：为了获得这种量级的可可黄烷醇，人们需要食用的巧克力数量是正常人通常食用的10倍以上。