William Shakespeare described old age as "second childishness" - sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste. In the case of taste he may, musically speaking, have been even more perceptive than he realized. A paper in Neurology by Giovanni Frisoni and his colleagues at the National Centre for Research and Care of Alzheimer's Disease in Brescia, Italy, shows that one form of senile dementia can affect musical desires in ways that suggest a regression, if not to infancy, then at least to a patient's teens.
Frontotemporal dementia is caused, as its name suggests, by damage to the front and sides of the brain. These regions are concerned with speech, and with such "higher" functions as abstract thinking and judgement. Frontotemporal damage therefore produces different symptoms from the loss of memory associated with Alzheimer's disease, a more familiar dementia that affects the hippocampus and amygdale in the middle of the brain. Frontotemporal dementia is also rarer than patients; it has seen only 46 with frontotemporal dementia.
Two of those patient interested Dr. Frisoni. One was a 68-year-old lawyer, the other a 73-year-old housewife. Both had undamaged memories, but displayed the sorts of defect associated with frontotemporal dementia -- a diagnosis that was confirmed by brain scanning.
About two years after he was first diagnosed the lawyers, once a classical music lover who referred to pop music as "mere noise", started listening to the Italian pop band "883". As his command of language and his emotional attachments to friends and family deteriorated, he continued to listen to the band at full volume for many hours a day. The housewife had not even had the lawyer's love of classical music, having never enjoyed music of any sort in the past. But about a year after her diagnosis she became very interested in the songs that her 11-year-old granddaughter was listening to.
This kind of change in musical taste was not seen in any of the Alzheimer's patients, and thus appears to be specific to those with frontotemporal dementia. And other studies have remarked on how frontotemporal-demetia patients sometimes gain new talents. Five sufferers who developed artistic abilities known. And in another lapse of musical taste, one woman with the disease suddenly started composing and singing country and western songs.
Dr. Frisoni speculates that the illness is causing people to develop a new attitude towards novel experiences. Previous studies of novelty-seeking behavior suggest that it is managed by the brain's right frontal lobe. A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience. Alternatively, the damage may have affected some specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music. Whether that is a gain or a loss is a different matter. As Dr. Frisoni puts it in his article, "de gustibus non disputandum est". Or, in plainer words, there is no accounting for taste.
11. For Shakespeare, old age as "second childishness" for they have the same .
[A] favorite
[B] memory
[C] experience
[D] sense
12. Which one is not a symptom of Frontotemporal dementia?
[A] the loss of memory
[B] the loss of judgement
[C] the loss of abstract thinking
[D] the loss of speech
13. From the two patients mentioned in the passage, it can be concluded that .
[A] their command of language has deteriorated
[B] their emotional attachments to friends and family are being lost
[C] the Frontotemporal dementia can bring new gifts
[D] Frontotemporal dementia can cause patients to change their musical tastes.
14. The "novel" in the last paragraph means .
[A] historical
[B] special
[C] story-like
[D] strange
15. From the passage, it can be inferred that .
[A] the damage of the left frontal lobe may affect some specific neural circuit
[B] the lawyer patient has the left frontal lobe damaged
[C] the damage of the left frontal lobe decreased the appreciation certain kinds of music
[D] every patient has the same taste
答案：D A D D B
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题目分析
11．答案为D，属推理判断题。文章第一句"莎士比亚把老年人比作人生第二个幼年期"，紧接着后面"sans teech, sans eyes, sans taste"是补充说明的，sans不知道是什么意思，但可以推断老人和婴儿在牙齿、眼睛、味觉方面的特点就是在这些方面都不敏感，（sans是法语，意思是"没有"）那么答案中"A爱好"、"B记忆"、"C经历"、"D感觉"，根据原文应该是D，因牙齿、眼睛、味觉都和感官有关。
12．答案为A，属事实细节题。文章第二段脑周损伤痴呆顾名思义脑前和脑周受到破坏。它会影响语言表达能力、抽象思维能力和判断能力，因此答案中只有"A丧失记忆"是文章没有提到的。
13．答案为D，属推理判断题。文章第五段中提到"这种对音乐品味的变化在Alzheimer's病人中是看不到的。它好像是脑周痴呆病人特有的症状。"而且文中提到的这两个人都是在爱好的音乐类型上发生了变化，所以答案中"A驾驭语言的能力衰退"、"B对朋友和家人的感情疏远"、"C脑周痴呆可能会对病人引发出新的兴趣和天分"、"D痴呆可使病人在音乐品味上有变化"，答案D最为切合。虽然第五段也提到了这种病可以让人产生新的天分，但是其他的研究所发现的。
14．答案为D，属猜词题。最后一段Frisoni论述到疾病使人对新鲜事物产生兴趣"Apredominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience."答案"A历史的"、"B特别的"、"C特殊的、故事般的"、"D新奇的、稀奇的"，这四个答案中D最为符合。
15．答案为B，属推理判断题。文章最后一段解释了为什么病人会对一些新奇的经验有新的态度。"Previous studies of novelty-seeking behavior suggest that it is managed by the brain's right frontal lobe. A predominance of the right over the left frontal lobe, caused by damage to the latter, might thus lead to a quest for new experience. Alternatively, the damage may have affected some specific neural circuit that is needed to appreciate certain kinds of music.""研究表明，大脑的右前体控制人追求稀奇事务的作为。一旦左前体受损，右前脑体作用突出，随即引发人对新事物的兴趣。或者说，这种损伤会影响用来欣赏某种音乐的特殊神经电路。"答案A"左半脑体受损影响一些特殊神经电路"，根据文章有两种可能，这一点不能确定；答案B"那位律师病人的左前脑体受损了"，律师对音乐的喜好发生了变化，这证明了是左前脑体受损了；答案C"左半脑体受损能减少对音乐的喜好"，文中只提到会影响，至于是增加还是减少对音乐的喜还就不一定了；答案D"每个病人有不同样的品味"，从文章最后一句可以看出，每个人品味是不同的
第一段:人进入老年期就会在感觉上面有所退化。
第二段:痴呆症是由于大脑的前半部分或者侧部受到损伤而造成的。因为这些部分和语言能力，判断力还有想象力都有紧密的联系。
第三-五段:通过例子说明，痴呆可以改变人对音乐的喜好。
第六段:解释了为什么病人对新奇的事物有新的态度。
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