多食饼干有损记忆力，你想变笨么？

It is discovered that fats found in some biscuits, cakes and processed foods could have a harmful effect on memory. 

The fats, known as trans fats（反式脂肪）, are used both in processed food and in restaurants, often to improve the texture, shelf life or flavor. They are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it more solid, which is why they are often called partially hydrogenated oils（氢化油）.

Now, a study of 1,000 healthy men aged under 45 found those who ate the most trans fat had worse scores in a word memory test. Study leader Dr Beatrice Golomb said: “Trans fats were most strongly linked to worse memory, in young and middle-aged men. From a health standpoint, trans fat consumption has been linked to higher body weight, more aggression and heart disease. While trans fats increase the shelf life of foods, they reduce the shelf life of people.”

The participants were asked to complete a dietary questionnaire, from which the researchers estimated participants’ trans fat consumption. The test found each additional gram a day of trans fats consumed was associated with an estimated 0.76 fewer words correctly recalled. For those eating the highest amounts of trans fats, this translated to an estimated 11 fewer words —a reduction of 10 per cent in words recalled compared to adults who ate the least trans fat. The average number of words correctly recalled was 86, according to research presented at the American heart Association’s Scientific sessions 2014 in Chicago.

Trans fat is widely considered the worst kind for your heart, even worse than saturated fat（饱和脂肪）, which can also contribute to heart disease. The UK food industry in recent years has reduced or eliminated industrially produced trans fat in foods.

The Food and Drug Administration is taking further steps to reduce the amount of artificial trans fats in the US food supply. 

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1.Why are trans fat used in food?

A They are used to improve the quality of food.

B They are used to create hydrogen.

C They are used to improve people’s memory.

D They are used to lengthen the storing time of food.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据文章第二段首句The fats…are used both in processed food and in restaurants, often to improve the texture, shelf life or flavor可知，反式脂肪酸用于食品加工和烹调，用于改善食品外观，保质期和口味。故选D。

2.What effect does trans fat consumption have on people’s health?

A It will reduce people’s ability to remember language.

B It will cause poor memory among young and middle-aged men.

C It will lead to people’s violence behavior.

D It will cause obesity, memory decline and heart diseases.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据文章第三段From a health standpoint, trans fat consumption has been linked to higher body weight, more aggression and heart disease可知，摄入反式脂肪会造成肥胖，情绪过激和心脏病等。故选D。

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A Trans fats are forbidden in the UK and the US in food industry.

B The more biscuits one has eaten, the poorer his memory is.

C Without trans fats, food can go bad very easily.

D People who eat biscuits a lot can not live longer.

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据文章第四段The test found each additional gram a day of trans fats consumed was associated with an estimated 0.76 fewer words correctly recalled可知反式脂肪的摄入每日每增加1克，将会减少0.76个词汇的记忆。由此判断，使用饼干越多，记忆力将会越差。

4.What does the underlined word“eliminated”most probably mean in the passage?

A Stopped.

B Prepared.

C Suspended.

D Maintained.

解析：选A。A 猜测词义题。根据前文的reduced，结合反式脂肪带来的健康风险，可以判断eliminate在文中意为“消除，排除”，即英国出台政策，减少或杜绝在食品中添加工业生产的反式脂肪。

5.Where are you more likely to read this article?

A Guidebook.

B Cookbook.

C Science magazine.

D Science fiction.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。本文介绍了人们对反式脂肪有害健康的研究，属于科学题材的文章，因为我们更有可能从科学杂志上阅读此文章。