Pоlаr аir mаy have a relative humidity оf 100% and still be cоnsidered “dry” because:
DIRECTIONS: Reаd eаch sentence, pаying attentiоn tо the underlined wоrds. Decide if the use of the word or words in each sentence makes the statement True (T) or False (F).An elderly person is someone who is 20-years-old.
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question. In Seаrch of Longevity [A] A long, healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes inherited from your family, but it also depends on good habits. So what's the formula for success? In a study funded in part by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, scientists focused on groups living in several regions where exceptional longevity is the norm: Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; and the islands of Okinawa, Japan. Groups living in these three areas offer three sets of guidelines to follow.Sardinians[B] Taking a break from farm work in the village of Silanus, 75-year-old Tonino Tola tickles the chin of his five-month-old grandson, Filippo, who watches from his mother's arms. "Goochi, goochi, goo," Tonino whispers. For this strong, healthy, 1.8-meter-tall man, these two things - hard work and family - form the foundation of his life. They may also help explain why Tonino and his neighbors live so long.[C] A community of 2,400 people, Silanus is located on the edge of a mountainous region in central Sardinia, where dry fields rise suddenly into mountains of stone. In a group of villages in the heart of the region, 91 of the 17,865 people born between 1880 and 1900 have lived to their hundredth birthday - a rate more than twice as high as the average for Italy.[D] Why do they live so long? Lifestyle is part of the answer. By 11:00 a.m. on this particular day, the industrious Tonino has already milked four cows, chopped wood, slaughtered1 a calf, and walked over six kilometers with his sheep. Now, taking the day's first break, he gathers his grown children, grandson, and visitors around the kitchen table. Giovanna, his wife, unties a handkerchief containing a paper-thin flatbread called carta da musica, pours some red wine, and cuts slices of homemade pecorino cheese.[E] These Sardinians also benefit from their genetic history. According to Paolo Francalacci of the University of Sassari, 80 percent of them are directly related to the first Sardinians, who arrived in the area 11,000 years ago. Genetic traits made stronger over generations may favor longevity. Nutrition, too, is a factor. The Sardinians' diet is loaded with fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, fish, and wine. Most of these items are homegrown.Adventists[F] It's Friday morning, and Marge Jetton is speeding down the highway in her purple Cadillac.2 She wears dark sunglasses to protect her eyes from the sun's glare, though her head is barely higher than the steering wheel. Marge, who turned 101 in September, is late for one of several volunteer commitments she has today. Already this morning she's eaten breakfast, walked one and a half kilometers, and lifted weights. "I don't know why God gave me the privilege of living so long," she says, pointing to herself. "But look what he did."[G] Marge - like many other residents of Loma Linda, California - is a Seventh-Day Adventist. The Adventist Church has always practiced and been a proponent of healthy living. It forbids smoking, alcohol consumption, and certain foods, such as pork. The church also discourages the consumption of other meat, rich foods, caffeinated drinks, and most spices. Adventists also observe a sacred day of the week on Saturday, assembling and socializing with other church members, which helps to relieve stress.[H] A study found that the Adventists' habit of consuming beans, soymilk,3 tomatoes, and fruit lowered their risk of developing certain cancers. It also suggested that eating whole wheat bread, drinking five glasses of water a day, and consuming four servings of nuts a week reduced their risk of heart disease. It found that not eating red meat had been helpful in avoiding both cancer and heart disease.[I] In the end, the study reached a surprising conclusion, says Gary Fraser of Loma Linda University: The average Adventist's lifespan surpasses that of the average Californian by four to ten years. That compelling evidence makes the Adventists one of the most-studied cultures of longevity in the United States.Okinawans[J] The first thing you notice about Ushi Okushima is her laugh. It fills the room with pure joy. This rainy afternoon, she sits comfortably wrapped in a blue kimono. Her thick hair is combed back from her suntanned4 face, revealing alert green eyes. Her smooth hands lie folded peacefully in her lap. At her feet sit her friends, Setsuko and Matsu Taira, cross-legged on a tatami mat5 drinking tea.[K] Ushi has recently taken a new job. She also tried to run away from home after a dispute with her daughter, Kikue. A relative caught up with her in another town 60 kilometers away and notified her daughter. Not long ago, she started wearing perfume, too. When asked about the perfume, she jokes that she has a new boyfriend. Predictable behavior for a young woman, perhaps, but Ushi is 103.[L] With an average life expectancy of 81 years for men and 87 years for women, Okinawans are among the world's longest-lived people. This is undoubtedly due in part to Okinawa's warm and inviting climate and scenic beauty. Senior citizens living in these islands tend to enjoy years free from disabilities. Okinawans have very low rates of cancer and heart disease compared to seniors in the United States. They are also less likely to develop dementia6 in old age, says Craig Wilcox of the Okinawa Centenarian Study.[M] A lean diet of food grown on the island and a philosophy of moderation - "eat until your stomach is 80 percent full" - may also be factors. Ironically, this healthy way of eating was born of hardship. Ushi Okushima grew up barefoot7 and poor; her family grew sweet potatoes, which formed the core of every meal. During World War II, when the men of the island joined the army, Ushi and her friend Setsuko fled to the center of the island with their children. "We experienced terrible hunger," Setsuko recalls.[N] Many older Okinawans belong to a moai, a mutual support network that provides financial, emotional, and social help throughout life. Ikigai may be another key factor. The word translates roughly to "that which makes one's life worth living," and it is something that is different for each person. "My ikigai is right here," says Ushi with a slow sweep of her hand that indicates her friends Setsuko and Matsu. "If they die, I will wonder why I am living."1 To slaughter animals such as cows and sheep means to kill them for their meat.2 A Cadillac is an American brand of car.3 Soymilk is a drink made from soybeans.4 If you are suntanned, the sun has turned your skin a darker color.5 Tatami mats, made of woven straw, are the traditional material for floors in Japanese homes.6 Dementia is a serious illness that affects the brain.7 Someone who is barefoot is not wearing anything on their feet.Why did Ushi run away from home?
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question. Is Aging All In Our Genes? [A] In 1995, Vаlter Longo, a cell biologist at the University of Southern California who studies aging, began to change the genes of simple organisms like single-celled yeast, creating mutations that allowed them to live longer. The reasons for this varied. Some mutated cells could repair their DNA more effectively than normal cells; others became better able to stop the type of DNA damage that would promote cancer in humans. [B] Others were studying the same processes. In 1996, Andrzej Bartke, a scientist at Southern Illinois University, began messing around with mouse genes that are involved with growth. He showed - not surprisingly - that owing to the fact that the growth hormone1 pathway had been shut down, the mice were smaller. What was surprising was that they had longer lifespans - about 40 percent longer - than normal mice. Could similar processes be at work in humans? Could genetic mutations protect against diseases of age?[C] It was a gray day in the Bronx, and 81-year-old Jean Sisinni paced on a gray carpet in a third-floor room on Morris Park Avenue. As she walked, Sisinni struggled to repeat every other letter of the alphabet ("B, D, F, H"), while the sensor on her forehead measured activity in her brain, and the carpet simultaneously registered the location, path, and speed of every step. [D] "You're doing great!" said Roee Holtzer, a scientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who has been conducting studies of brain function and mobility in the elderly. [E] If this sounds like a scientific variation on the old joke about being able to walk and chew gum at the same time, go ahead and laugh. In a series of studies over the past several years Holtzer and Joe Verghese have shown that the amount of thinking people are able do while they walk and talk predicts the risk of dementia, loss of mobility, and falls.[F] These experiments add to research at Einstein led by Nir Barzilai, an Israeli doctor who in 1998 began a study of three New York centenarians. The Einstein project has since grown to include more than 500 centenarians in and around New York City - all from central Europe and all Ashkenazi Jews, a historically isolated population. In this homogeneous group, research has again revealed a set of genes related to longevity. [G] As they gathered more and more data, the Einstein researchers noticed that the Ashkenazi centenarians had exceptionally high levels of HDL, often called the good form of cholesterol,2 and that the children of these centenarians had even higher levels. This sent them off to analyze the DNA of about a hundred genes known to be involved in breaking down and using of cholesterol. What they found was a variant of a gene known as CETP that was more common in centenarians than in others. When they investigated the centenarian version of the CETP gene, they confirmed earlier research showing that due to this particular gene variant, people were protected against heart disease. They have gone on to show that since people have this gene, they perform better on mental tasks like the "walking while talking" experiments. [H] Einstein's large and ambitious longevity program is part of a sea change sweeping human genetics research, where the emphasis for the past 20 years has been on the search for so-called disease genes - genes that are linked to certain chronic health problems. Many researchers are now focused largely on the search for protective genes, which seem to keep people from getting disease or from aging. [I] The race to find the keys to longevity has even led scientists to a place that looks increasingly important in setting every individual's rate of aging: the womb.3 Researchers at Einstein now suspect that our pattern of aging may be set very early, perhaps before we're born. To study this hypothesis, Francine Einstein and John Greally have been examining subtle chemical markings on the DNA recovered from the blood of babies born in the Bronx and comparing differences in babies who were small, normal, or large. They have found that the pattern of DNA markings in both small and large babies is significantly different from that of normal-size babies. As Barzilai explains it, because of things that influence us before we are even born, our rate of aging may be affected. The fetus,4 in other words, may be father of the old man. 1 A hormone is a chemical from body organs that stimulates cells.2 Cholesterol is a fat-like substance produced by the human body and carried in our blood. 3 The womb is the part of a woman's body where a baby grows.4 A fetus is a baby before it is born.Why are certain centenarians protected against heart disease?