Advancing age means losing your hair, your waistline and your memory, right? Dana Denis is just 40 years old, but【C1】______ she's worried about what she calls "my rolling mental blackouts. " "I try to remember something and I just blank out," she says. You may【C2】______ about these lapses, calling them " senior moments " or blaming " early Alzheimer's (老年痴呆症) ". Is it an inescapable fact that the older you get, the【C3】______ you remember? Well, sort of. But as time goes by, we tend to blame age【C4】______ problems that are not necessarily age-related. "When a teenager can't find her keys, she thinks it's because she's distracted or disorganized," says Paul Gold. "A 70-year-old blames her【C5】______ " In fact, the 70-year-old may have been【C6】______ things for decades. In healthy people, memory doesn't worsen as【C7】______ as many of us think. "As we【C8】______ , the memory mechanism isn't【C9】______ ," says psychologist Fergus Craik. "It's just inefficient." The brain's processing【C10】______ slows down over the years, though no one knows exactly【C11】______ Recent research suggests that nerve cells lose efficiency and【C12】______ there's less activity in the brain. But, cautions Barry Gordon, "It's not clear that less activity is【C13】______ A beginning athlete is winded (气喘吁吁) more easily than a【C14】______ athlete. In the same way,【C15】______ the brain gets more skilled at a task, it expends less energy on it. " There are【C16】______ you can take to compensate for normal slippage in your memory gears, though it【C17】______ effort. Margaret Sewell says: "We're a quick-fix culture, but you have to【C18】______ to keep your brain【C19】______ shape. It's like having a good body. You can't go to the gym once a year【C20】______ expect to stay in top form."

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：习惯搭配。本句的意思是“你也许会拿这些小失误开玩笑”。joke about sth．是习惯搭配，意为“拿……开玩笑”，A项符合题意，为正确答案。B项laugh后面跟介词at，laugh at意为“因……发笑，嘲笑”，C项blame(责备)以及D项criticize(批评)都是及物动词，所以B、C和D项都不合题意。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：副词辨析。本句的意思是“在健康的人中，记忆力的减退不会像我们许多人想的那样快”。四个选项中C项timely(及时的，适时的)为形容词，可直接排除；B项frequently意为“频繁地”，不合题意；A项swiftly意为“迅速地，敏捷地”，强调动作敏捷，和worsen搭配不当；D项quickly意为“快速地”，符合题意，是正确答案。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：逻辑关系。上文提到，经过多年之后，大脑处理事情的时间慢了下来。下一句Recent research suggests…来揭示其原因，and连接的两个并列分句作suggests的宾语，由于nerve cells lose efficiency是there's less activity in the brain的原因，所以选择hence(副词，意为“因此”)来表明两个分句之间的因果关系，B项是正确答案。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：上下文推理。上文提到，研究结果表明：神经细胞效率丢失会导致大脑活动减少。转折连词but和动词cautions表明Barry Gordon并不同意这种说法，所以本句的意思应该是“尚不清楚活动较少是否会更糟”，D项为正确答案。A项irregular(不规则的)，B项better(更好的)，C项normal(正常的)，均不合题意。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：形容词辨析。本句是一个比较结构，对两类运动员进行了比较，所以此处所选的词应该和beginning(刚开始的)的意思相对应。四个选项中，D项trained(经专门训练的)与beginning相对应，符合题意。A项famous(著名的)，B项senior(资格较老的，年长的)，C项popular(流行的)，均不合题意。因此，D项为正确答案。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：逻辑关系。根据In the same way可以确定，本句和上一句话是一种并列关系，所以本句的意思应该是“同理，随着大脑在某一工作上变得更加熟练，它就会花更少的精力在上面”。as可以引导时间状语从句，表示“随着”的意思，所以A项正确。B项till(直到)，C项though(虽然，尽管)，D项yet(但是)，均不合题意。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：习惯搭配。本句的意思是“你可以采取措施来补偿你记忆齿轮功能的正常下降”。take steps to do sth．为习惯搭配，意为“采取措施做某事”。A项stages(舞台；阶段)，C项advantages(优势，有利条件)，D项purposes(目的)，均不合题意。因此，B项为正确答案。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：逻辑关系。本句的意思是“你不可能每年只去一次健身房就指望使身体保持最佳状态”。and连接两个并列的动词短语：go to the gym once a year和expect to stay in top form，为正确答案。or虽然也可以连接两个并列的动词短语，但是不符合逻辑关系。so和if后面不能直接跟谓语动词。