Alzheimer's disease - Part 1

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This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.  I’m Faith Lapidus. 

 

1. And I’m Bob Doughty.  Today we tell about Alzheimer’s disease.  One century after its discovery, the disease is stilldestroying people’s brains.  The cause remains unknown.
 

2. A United States Senate committee met last month to discuss the issue of Alzheimer's disease.  The Senate Special Committee on Aging heard from several speakers, including retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.  She urged Congress to support an aggressive campaign against the disease. 
 

3. Miz O’Connor was the first woman to serve on America's highest court.  But she left the court in two thousand six.  Her husband John suffers from Alzheimer’s.  She needed time to move him to an assisted–care center.  

 

4. About five hundred thousand people in the United States alone have this heartbreaking disease.  Millions more are expected to have it in years to come. 

 

5. Doctors describe Alzheimer's as a slowly increasing brain disorder.  It affects memory and personality -- those qualities that make a person an individual.  There is no known cure.  Victims slowly lose their abilities to deal with everyday life.  At first, they forget simple things, like where they put something or a person’s name.
 

6. As time passes, they forget more and more.  They forget the names of their husbands, wives or children.  Then they forget who they are.  Finally, they remember nothing.  It is as if their brain dies before the other parts of the body.  Victims of Alzheimer’s do die from the disease, but it may take many years.
 

7. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common disability or mental sickness called dementia.  Dementia is the loss of thinking ability that is severe enough to interfere with daily activities.  It is not a disease itself.  Instead, dementia is a group of signs of some conditions and diseases.
 

8. Some kinds of dementia can be cured or corrected.  This is especially true if they result from drugs, infection, sight or hearing problems, head injury, and heart or lung problems.  Other kinds of dementia can be corrected by changing levels of hormones or vitamins in the body.  However, brain cells of Alzheimer’s victims die and are not replaced.
 

9; Victims can become angry and violent as the ability to think and remember decreases.  Often they shout and move with no purpose or goal.  Media reports often tell about older adults found walking in places far from their homes.  They do not know where they are or where they came from.  Generally, these people are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
 

10. Alzheimer’s generally develops differently in each person.  Yet some early signs of the disease are common.  Often, the victims may not recognize changes in themselves.  Others see the changes and struggle to hide them.

 

11. Probably the most common early sign is short-term memory loss.  The victim cannot remember something that happened yesterday, for example.  Also, victims of the disease have increasing difficulty learning and storing new information.  Slowly, thinking becomes much more difficult.  The victims cannot understand a joke, or cannot cook a meal, or perform simple work.
 

12. Another sign of Alzheimer’s disease is difficulty solving simple problems.  Alzheimer’s patients might not know what to do if food on a stove is burning.  Also, people have trouble following directions or finding their way to nearby places.
 

13. Another sign is struggling to find the right words to express thoughts or understand what is being discussed.  Finally, people with Alzheimer’s seem to change.  Quiet people may become noisy and aggressive.  They may easily become angry and lose their ability to trust others.
 

14. Alzheimer’s disease normally affects people more than sixty-five years old.  But rare cases have been discovered in people younger than fifty. 

1. About = aproximadamente
2. Against = contra
3. Aging = envelhecimento
4. Also = também, além disso
5. Angry = zangado(a), furioso(a)
6. as if = como se
7. As time passes = à medida em que o tempo passa
8. At first = no início
9. Become = tornar-se
10. Brains = cérebros
11. Burning = queimando
12. deal with = lidar com
13. Decreases = diminui
14. Dementia = demência
15. Describe = descrever
16. develops = desenvolve-se
17. dies = morre
18. disability = incapacidade
19. Discovery = descoberta
20. Disease = doença
21. Disorder = distúrbio
22. each = cada
23. Early = iniciais
24. easily = facilmente
25. far from = longe de
26. Found = encontrado
27. Goal = objetivo
28. Heard = ouviu
29. hearing = audição
30. Heartbreaking = que causa sofrimento
31. Hide = esconder
32. highest court = o mais alto tribunal
33. However = contudo
34. Increasing = progressivo(a)
35. injury = ferimento
36. Instead = ao invés
37. Issue = questão
38. Joke = piada
39. kinds of = tipos de
40. left = deixou

41. levels = níveis
42. loss = perda
43. lung = pulmão
44. may take = pode levar
45. Meal = refeição
46. Met = reuniu-se
47. Might = poder (possibilidade)
48. more and more = cada vez mais
49. Nearby = próximo, nas redondezas
50. noisy = barulhento
51. Perform = realizar
52. Purpose = propósito
53. Recognize = reconhecer
54. Remains = permanece
55. Replaced = substituído(a)
56. Retired = aposentado
57. right words = palavras certas
58. seem = parecer
59. Several = diversos
60. severe enough = grave o bastante
61. short-term = curto-prazo
62. Shout = gritar
63. sickness = doença
64. sight = vista
65. Signs = sinais
66. Slowly = lentamente
67. Speakers = oradores
68. Still= ainda
69. Storing = armazenar
70. Stove = fogão
71. Struggle = lutar
72. suffers = sofre
73. Support = apoiar
74. thoughts = pensamentos
75. Trouble = dificuldade
76. trust = confiar
77. Unknown = desconhecida
78. Urged = implorar, insistir com veemência.
79. wives = esposas
80. Yet = porém