VOA慢速英语:Mental Training Can Help Elderly Stay Sharp for Years

Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease as people get older. Yet research seems to show that some training can improve such skills. A recently published study also appears to demonstrate that the good effects of training can last for many years after that training has ended.
随着人们变老，一些心智能力会自然下降。然而，研究似乎表明，一些训练可以改善这样的能力。最近发表的一份研究似乎也证实，良好的训练结束后其效果还可以持续很多年。

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills would last in older people who trained to keep them. The people were part of the ten-year research project. They were taught methods meant to improve their memory, thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks.
美国马里兰州约翰•霍普金斯大学的研究人员想要研究，接受过训练的老年人的记忆和思维能力可以维持多长时间。这些人是一项为期十年的研究项目一部分。他们被教导了旨在改善他们记忆、思维和日常行为能力的方法。

More than 2,800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE - short for Advanced (Cognitive) Training for Independent and Vital Elderly. Most studied when they were more than 70 years old.
2800多名志愿者参与了这项名为ACTIVE的研究，它的全称是老年个体高级认知训练，其中多数被研究者年龄超过70岁。

The volunteers took one of several short training classes meant to help them keep their mental abilities. One class trained participants in skills including how to remember word lists. Another group trained in reasoning. A third group received help with speed-of-processing - speed of receiving and understanding information. A fourth group - the control group did not get any training.
志愿者参加了旨在帮助他们保持心智能力的几项简短训练课程之一。其中一项课程训练了参与者的能力，包括如何记忆单词列表；另一组接受了推理训练；第三组接受了快速处理的帮助，即接受和理解信息的速度。第四组作为对照组没有得到任何训练。

Earlier results had established that the training helped the participants for up to five years. Now, lead study writer George Rebok says, the research showed most of the training remained effective a full ten years later.
先前的研究结果已经证实，训练帮助了参与者长达5年之久。现在，研究的主要作者George Rebok表示，该研究表明，大部分训练在整整十年后仍然有效。

Professor Rebok and his team found that the people trained in reasoning and speed-of-processing did better on tests than the control group.
Rebok教授和他的研究小组发现，接受了推理和快速处理训练的人们在各项测试中要优于对照组。

"We are wondering whether those effects which endured over time would still be there ten years following the training, and in fact, that's exactly what we found."
“我们想知道训练的影响在十年后是仍然继续存在。事实上，这正是我们的研究发现。”

The effect on memory, however, seemed not to last as long. Still, the old people in any of the three classes generally reported less difficulty in performing daily activities than the control group. The total training time for the older people was between 10 and 15 hours.
然而训练对记忆的影响似乎持续时间不长。不过，参加三项训练课程中任何一项的老人在执行日常行为上比对照组遇到较少的困难。老年人培训总共的时间在10到15小时之间。

Professor Rebort and his team are now considering ways to provide such training for lower cost.
Rebort教授和他的团队目前正在考虑以更低成本提供这类训练的各种方法。

"We are trying to make the training more broadly available. For example, we have a grant right now from the National Institute on Aging to try to make a web-based version of the ACTIVE memory training and put the training online."
“我们正努力让这种训练更广泛的使用。例如，我们目前获得了美国老龄问题研究所的拨款，努力做一个基于互联网版本的ACTIVE记忆训练，提供在线培训。”

One question still to be studied is how only a few hours of training can still be effective after ten years. The study appears in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
还有待研究的一个问题是，如何让仅仅数小时的训练在十年之后还能有效？该研究发表在《美国老年病协会杂志》上。