Dangers Await Babies with Altitude
　　Women who live in the world’s highest communities tend to give birth to under-weight babies, a new study suggests. These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.1
　　Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average. But it wasn’t clear whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitude or because their mothers are under-nourished — many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down.
　　To find out more, Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the records of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998. The babies were bom in both rich and poor areas of two cities: La Paz and Santa Cruz. La Paz is the highest city in the world, at 3.65 kilometers above sea level, while Santa Cruz is much lower, at 0.44 kilometers.
　　Sure enough, Giussani found that the average birthweight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz. This was true in both high and low-income families. Even babies bom to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies born to wealthy families in lofty La Paz. “We were very surprised by this result,” says Giussani.
　　The results suggest that babies born at high altitude are deprived of2 oxygen before birth. “This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child.3 ‘‘ says Giussani.
　　His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies4. This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body5.
　　Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life. People born in La Paz might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood, for example. Low birthweight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life.
　　词汇：
　　altitude /'?lt?tju?d/ n.纬度，(海拔)高度
　　birthweight /'b?:θ,weit/n. 出生体重
　　underweight /?nd?'we?t/ adj.体重不足的
　　hormone /'h??m??n/n. 荷尔蒙
　　stroke /str??k/ n.中风
　　coronary /'k?r(?)n(?)r?/ adj. 冠状的
　　hint /h?nt/ vt.暗示
　　fetus /'fi?t?s/n. 胚胎
　　under-nourished/'?nd? 'n?r??t/ adj.营养不足的
　　注释：
　　1.These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.这些婴儿长大成人后得心脏病和中风的风险很大。
　　2.be deprived of: 被剥夺了……，缺乏……
　　3.This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child. 这可能会触发调节未出生儿成长的荷尔蒙的释放或抑制。这里的release是名词。
　　4.relatively larger heads compared with their bodies:相对身体来说较大的头部
　　5.a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body: 一个缺氧的胚胎会优先把充氧的血液输送到脑部,然后才送到身体的其他部位。starved of 是分词短语,修饰fetus, in preference to 表示“优先于……”，如:I chose to study English in preference to Russian in university.读大学时,我选了英语,而不是俄语。
　　练习：
　　1.According to the passage, one of the reasons why newborns in mountain communities are underweight is that their mothers are underweight.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
　　2.Giussani’s team members are all British researchers and professors from Cambridge University.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
　　3.Giussani did not expect to find that the weight of a baby had little to do with the financial conditions of the family he was born into.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
　　4.The weight of a newborn has to do with the supply of oxygen even when he was still in his mother’s womb.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
　　5.High-altitude babies have heads that are larger than their bodies.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
　　6.High-altitude babies have longer but thinner limbs than average.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
　　7.Giussani has arrived at the conclusion that babies in high-altitude regions are more likely to have heart trouble when they grow up.
　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned答案与题解：
　　1.B 本题的依据是第二段中的一句话：But it wasn’t clear whether...or because their mothers are under-nourished... 可见婴儿体重不足是否是因为母体营养不足尚不能肯定。
　　2.C第三段中提到Giussani在剑桥大学有一个研究组,但其中的成员是什么人却没有讲到。
　　3.A第四段里说Giussani发现在La Paz出生的婴儿比在Santa Cruz出生的婴儿明显要轻,不论是高收入的家庭还是低收入的家庭都是这样,最后的一句话是:We were very surprised by this result,说明这个结果是他所没有料到的。
　　4.A 第五段的第一句话是...babies born at high altitude are deprived of oxygen before birth.也就是说孩子还在母亲的子宫内时就已经缺氧了,这种缺氧的状况又影响荷尔蒙的释放和抑制,这些荷尔蒙又调节着婴儿的发育。
　　5.B 回答此题只需正确理解第六段中的...have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies,这句话的意思不是头比身体大,而是相对身体来说头显得较大。
　　6.C关于婴儿四肢的大小文中完全没有提及。
　　7.B这不是Giussani已得出的结论,而是他想找到答案的问题,请见最后一段的第一、二句：Giussani wants to find out... for example.
　　译文：高海拔地区的婴儿有危险
　　一项新的研究表明，住在世界高海拔地区的女人通常生下体重不足的婴儿。这些婴儿在长大成人后患心脏病和中风的风险很大。
　　研究暗示，在山区出生的新生儿低于平均体重。但是还不清楚这是由于在高海拔地区氧气不足，还是由于他们的母亲没有获得足够的营养——许多住在高海拔地区的人相对比住在低海拔地区的人穷。
　　为了了解更多情况，剑桥大学的Dina Giussani 和他的团队研究了1997年至1998年玻利维亚的400个新生儿的记录。这些婴儿出生于两个城市的富有和贫困地区：拉巴斯和圣克鲁斯。拉巴斯是世界上海拔最高的城市，海拔3.65千米，而圣克鲁斯低很多，海拔440米。
　　当然，Giussani发现拉巴斯的新生儿的平均出生体重明显低于圣克鲁斯的新生儿，无论高收入家庭还是低收入家庭都是如此。甚至圣克鲁斯的贫穷家庭的婴儿比拉巴斯的富有家庭的婴儿平均体重还要重。Giussani说：“我们对这个结果感到吃惊。”
　　这个结果表明在高海拔地区出生的婴儿出生前就缺氧。Giussani说：“这可能会触发调节胎儿成长的荷尔蒙的释放或抑制。”
　　他的团队还发现高海拔地区出生的婴儿通常有相对身体来说较大的头部。这可能是因为一个缺氧的胚胎会首先把充氧的血液输送到脑部，然后才送到身体的其他部位。
　　Giussani想要查出这样的婴儿在今后的生活中是不是更容易患病。例如在拉巴斯出生的人在成年之后更可能患心脏病。出生时体重轻是患冠心病的一个危险因素。头部相对身体较大的新生儿在今后的生活中通常更容易患高血压和中风。






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