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健康报道 - 终生双语环境给了老年人心智优势 From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English. A new study adds to evidence suggesting that being bilingual is good for the brain. In the study, older adults who have spoken two languages since childhood showed better mental skills than those who speak just one language. 这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。一项新的研究进一步表明讲双语对大脑有益。在这项研究中，打小讲双语的老年人比单语者展示出了更好的心智技能。Earlier studies showed that bilingualism seemed to favor the development of these heightened skills. The authors of the new study say their findings provide evidence of that cognitive advantage among older, bilingual adults. 早先的研究表明，双语似乎有利于这些高技能的发展。这项新研究的作者说，他们的研究结果为双语老年人的认知优势提供了证据。“What is the functional basis of this advantage? Is it because they activate different parts of their brain that are typically used for doing cognitive control tasks? Or is it because they use their brain more efficiently?” “这方面优势的功能基础是什么？是不是因为他们激活了大脑通常用于认知控制任务的部位？或者是不是因为他们使用大脑更为有效？”Brian Gold was the lead author of the study. Dr. Gold is a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. 布莱恩·戈尔德（Brian Gold）是这项研究的主要作者。戈尔德博士是肯塔基大学医学院的神经学家。In the study, the researchers asked people to sort colors and shapes in a series of simple exercises. Dr. Gold and his colleagues used brain imaging to compare how well three groups of people switched among these exercises. The groups were bilingual seniors, monolingual seniors and younger adults. 在这项研究中，研究人员要求人们在一系列简单练习中对颜色和形状分类。戈尔德博士和他的同事们使用脑成像技术来比较三组研究对象在这些练习中如何切换。这三组分别是双语老年人，单语老年人和青年。The imaging showed different patterns of activity in the frontal part of the brain, in an area used for processing such tasks. 脑部成像展现出了大脑用于处理这类任务的额叶部分的不同活动模式。　 “We found that seniors who are bilingual are able to activate their brain with a magnitude closer to young subjects. So they don’t need to expend as much effort, and yet they still out-perform their monolingual peers, suggesting they use their brain more efficiently.” “我们发现，双语老年人能够以接近年轻人的量值激活它们的大脑。因此他们无需付出