1 . Researchers from Singapore said in their new study that in older adults, doing housework was tied to a better memory and attention span, and stronger legs, which helps prevent falls. Shiou-Liang Wee, a researcher said, “Housework is a purposeful activity performed by many older adults and represents a significant share of their self-reported physical activity.”
For the study, Wee’s team investigated nearly 500 healthy Singaporeans between 21 and 90 years of age. Among younger participants, 36% said they engaged in enough physical activity to meet the goal researchers set as beneficial, as did 48% of older participants. But 61% of younger and 66% of older participants met this target only through housework, the study revealed.
After taking other types of regular physical activity into consideration, the researchers found that housework was tied with sharper mental abilities and better physical capacity, but only among the older participants. Scores on tests of mental ability were as much as 8% higher among those who did lots of housework, compared with those who did little, Lee’s team found.
And among older participants, balance and the time it took to stand up from sitting, which the investigators used as an indication of physical ability, were better for those who did lots of housework than for those who didn’t.
Dr. Maria Carney, chief of geriatric (老年病的) medicine at Northwell Health, N.Y., noted that exercise benefits your brain, and housework is exercise that also involves mental activity and requires detailed thought processes to complete. Physical activity increases blood circulation to your muscles and your brain, which helps mental function. Housework can be an important part of your exercise routine. Carney said, “It’s a task you’ve got to plan for. You’ve got to use devices; you’ve got to use equipment. There’s planning involved, so there’s mental exercise along with physical exercise.”
1. According to Paragraph 1, what do we know about the study?| A．Older adults benefit from doing housework. |
| B．Older adults doing housework do not fall. |
| C．Doing housework is a rising trend in Singapore. |
| D．Doing housework is older adults’ favorite exercise. |
| A．Participants’ ages, sexes and occupations. |
| B．Goals of physical ability participants set. |
| C．Ways in which participants do housework. |
| D．Types of physical activity participants do. |
| A．Research data. | B．Scientific theory. |
| C．Related documents. | D．Daily observation. |
| A．Why tools are used in doing housework. |
| B．How housework works for mental ability. |
| C．What physical activities should be done. |
| D．Who are more suitable to do housework. |
2 . Are you preparing for a big test? If so, you may want to go play some basketball in between hitting the books. Doctors are starting to find more and more information that suggests a connection between exercise and brain development. Judy Cameron, a scientist at Oregon Health and Science University, studies brain development. According to her research, it seems that exercise can make blood vessels (血管), including those in the brain, stronger and more fully developed. Dr. Cameron claims this allows people who exercise to concentrate better. As she says, “while we already know that exercise is good for the heart, exercise can really cause physical changes in the brain.”
The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies. Babies who do activities that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain development than babies who are less physically active. With babies, even a little movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes, a doctor, also believes in the importance of exercise. She thinks that many learning disabilities that children have in elementary school or high school can be traced back to a lack of movement as babies. “Babies need movement that encourages and excites their five senses. They need to establish a connection between motion and memory. In this way, as they get older, children will begin to connect physical activity with higher learning,” says Margaret.
Older people can develop their brains as well. Columbia University studied a group of seniors who have a short-term memory of up to 40 percent after exercising just three hours a week. The exercise does not have to be very difficult, but it does have to increase the heart rate. Also, just like the motion for babies, exercise for older people should not be too simple. Learning some new skills or actions, such as with yoga or tai-chi, helps to open up memory paths in the brain that may not have been used for a long time. For most people, any type of physical activity that increases the heart rate is helpful. The main goal is to increase the brain’s flow of blood. And your brain can benefit from as little as two to three hours of exercise a week.
1. What is the main idea of this reading?| A．How to exercise. |
| B．How exercise helps the brain. |
| C．How to get good scores on a test. |
| D．How the brain can change. |
| A．Exercise helps make our blood vessels. |
| B．The brain needs special mental exercise. |
| C．The more exercise, the bigger the brain is. |
| D．Physical exercise helps us think better. |
| A．three hours per week | B．40 hours per week |
| C．three hours per day | D．40 hours per month |
| A．It is easy to remember. | B．It can be done in groups. |
| C．It does not increase the heart rate. | D．It includes learning new motions. |
