托福阅读资料：Losing weight

肥胖不仅会影响你的外表和身体健康，还会给大脑带来负担。今天的新托福考试阅读练习资料我们就会通过一项最新研究结果来讨论这个话题。

Losing weight is not only good for the waistline, it is good for the brain.

Scientists say substantial weight loss improves cognitive functions like memory and concentration.

Researchers carried out tests on 150 volunteers, all weighing over 21 stone, and compared them with results from healthy people.

In some tests, including memory exams, almost a quarter of the overweight participants scored low enough to be considered learning disabled.

Many of them had additional health problems, such as high blood pressure, type two diabetes and sleep apnea.

After the initial round of testing, two-thirds of the volunteers had gastric bypass surgery to reduce the size of the stomach and lost an average of about 3st 8lbs.

After 12 weeks, they all took the tests again and the group that lost weight boosted their scores, particularly those involving memory, significantly. They also showed great improvement in organisational skills.

The 41 obese volunteers who declined the surgery ended up with even worse results.

Professor John Gunstad, of Kent State University, Ohio, said the research showed obesity can damage the brain, ‘especially the parts most important for paying attention and learning new things’.

In the study the researchers also used magnetic resonance imaging to see inside their subjects’ brains.

The obese subjects tended to have damage to a particular substance that surrounds and insulates nerve fibres in the brain, suggesting that substance is needed for optimal cognitive function.

以上就是这篇托福阅读材料，同学们可以积累其中的词汇及优美句式，找到托福阅读段的主题句，了解托福阅读的几个出题点。托福阅读训练是个长期的过程。大家如果每天做几篇阅读，坚持下来，一定会有不小的进步。预祝大家能有一个好的阅读成绩。