单选题
Vivid, violent dreams can portend brain disorders by
half a century, a new study finds. Spotting early warning signs of the disease
may {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}clinicians to monitor and treat
patients long {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}the brain
deterio-rates. People with a mysterious sleep disturbance {{U}} {{U}}
3 {{/U}} {{/U}} REM sleep behavior disorder, or RBD, experience a
sudden change in the nature of dreams. Dreams increasingly become more violent
and frequently {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}} episodes
in which an attacker must be fought {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}.
The normal muscle paralysis that accompanies dreams is gone, {{U}} {{U}}
6 {{/U}} {{/U}} the dreamer, who is most often male, to act
{{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}the dream's punches, twists and
yells. Doctors used to think of RBD as an isolated disorder.
But follow-up studies {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}that a
striking number of these patients later {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}}
{{/U}} neuro-degen-erative diseases, including Parkinson's disease and Lewy
body dementia. The exact figures {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}},
but some studies find that anywhere from 80 to 100 percent {{U}}
{{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}} get a neurodegenerative
disorder. In a study, 27 patients who {{U}} {{U}}
12 {{/U}} {{/U}} the criteria (of which only three were
women, {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}the curious male
pre-dominance of RBD), the median interval {{U}} {{U}} 14
{{/U}} {{/U}}onset of the sleep disorder and of the neurological disorder was
25 years. {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}} six of these
patients the sleep disorder was first {{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}}
{{/U}}by their spouse on their honeymoon or shortly afterwards. In one case,
RBD {{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}} Parkinson's disease
by 50 years. The researchers can't {{U}} {{U}}
18 {{/U}} {{/U}} how frequently this happens in the general
population, because patients were {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}}
{{/U}}to have a minimum interval of 15 years between the onset
of RBD and diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease.
But {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}} such long intervals
between diseases were unexpected.
【答案解析】[解析] 该处意为：“在一次研究中，27名符合条件的病人(其中只有3名女性______不寻常的男性为RBD的主要患者群的现象)……”括号中部分同样为先行词patients的定语从句，对这27名病人做了进一步的说明，且“{{U}} (79) {{/U}} the curious male pre-dominance of RBD”为现代分词结构作句子的结果状语。27人中只有3名女性“反映出(reflecting)”不寻常的男性为主要患者群的现象，故答案应选D。
[词义分析] 本题考查动词词义辨析：thinking意为“思考”；conferring意为“授予”；being意为“是”；reflecting意为“反映”。