Analysts say the biggest problem is high unemployment,which weakens demand and makes banks reluctant to lend. But U.S.Bancorp chief Richard Davis sees the situationdifferently.

“We're probably more optimistic than the experts might be. With that in mind, we're putting in everything wecan. Lending is the coal to our engine, so we want to make moreloans. We have to find a way to qualify more people and not putourselves at risk.”

While some economists predict continued recovery in thefuture, Baily says the only certainty is that banks are unlikely tomake the same mistakes twice. “You know, forecasting's become avery hazardous business so I don't want to commit myself too much.I don't think we know exactly what's going to happen but it'scertainly possible that we could get very slow growth over the nextyear or two.”

If the economy starts to shrink again, Baily says it wouldmake a strong case for a second stimulus—something the Obamaadministration hopes will not be necessary.

Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you havejust heard.

23. According to the speaker, what might be a symptom ofcognitive decline in older adults?

A) Being unable to learn new things.

B) Being rather slow to make changes.

C) Losing temper more and more often.

D) Losing the ability to get on with others.

【详解】 A)。事实细节题。讲座中明确指出，认知能力下降是指学习新技能的能力下降或者记忆单词、名字以及熟悉的面孔的能力衰退。

24. According to James Burke, what does seem to helpreduce cognitive decline?

A) Cognitive stimulation.

B) Community activity.

C) Balanced diet.

D) Fresh air.

【详解】 A)。细节辨认题。JamesBurke表示，通过观察性研究发现，B族维生素、锻炼、饮食和认知刺激都对认知衰退有所抑制。需要特别注意的是，讲座中虽然提到了diet，但这与选项中的Balanceddiet不是完全相同的概念，不要混淆。

25. What did James Burke recommend to reduce the incidenceof cognitive decline?

A) Ignoring the signs and symptoms of aging.

B) Adopting an optimistic attitude towardslife.

C) Endeavoring to give up unhealthy lifestyles.

D) Seeking advice from doctors from time totime.

【详解】 C)。细节推断题。JamesBurke明确提到，不管是从医学角度、营养角度还是认知角度，采纳健康的生活方式都是十分有益的，换句话说，他认为人们应该放弃不健康的生活方式。

A new study has failed to find any conclusive evidencethat lifestyle changes can prevent cognitive decline in olderadults. Still there are good reasons to make positive changes inhow we live and what we eat as we age.

Cognitive decline is the loss of ability to learn newskills, or recall words, names, and faces that is most common as weage. To reduce or avoid it, researchers have examined the effect ofsmoking, diet, brain-challenging games, exercise and otherstrategies.

Researchers at Duke University scrutinized more than 160published studies and found an absence of strong evidence that anyof these approaches can make a big difference.

Co-author James Burke helped design the study. “In theobservational studies we found that some of the B vitamins werebeneficial. Exercise, diet, cognitive stimulation showed somepositive effects, although the evidence was not so strong that wecould actually consider these firmly established.”

Some previous studies have suggested that challenging yourbrain with mentally stimulating activities might help. And Burkesays that actually does seem to help, based on randomizedstudies—the researcher's gold standard.

“Cognitive stimulation is one of the areas where we didfind some benefit. The exact type of stimulation that an individualuses is not as important as being intellectuallyengaged.”

The expert review also found insufficient evidence torecommend any drugs or dietary supplements that could prevent orslow cognitive decline.

However, given that there is at least some evidence forpositive effects from some of these lifestyle changes, plus otherbenefits apparently unrelated to cognitive decline, Burke waswilling to offer some recommendations.

“I think that by having people adopt a healthy lifestyle,both from a medical standpoint as well as nutritional and cognitivestimulation standpoint, we can reduce the incidence of cognitivedecline, which will be proof that these factors are, in fact,important.”

James Burke of Duke University is one of the authors of astudy reviewing previous research on cognitive decline. The paperis published online by the Annals of Internal Medicine.

2016.6六级（二）答案

Section A