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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.

詞匯：

altitude n.緯度，(海拔)高度

birthweight n. 出生體重

underweight adj.體重不足的

hormone n. 荷爾蒙

stroke n.中風(fēng)

coronary adj. 冠狀的

hint vt.暗示

fetus n. 胚胎

under-nourished adj.營養(yǎng)不足的

注釋：

1.These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.這些嬰兒長大成人后得心臟病和中風(fēng)的風(fēng)險很大。

2.be deprived of: 被剝奪了……，缺乏……

3.This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child. 這可能會觸發(fā)調(diào)節(jié)未出生兒成長的荷爾蒙的釋放或抑制。這里的release是名詞。

4.relatively larger heads compared with their bodies:相對身體來說較大的頭部

5.a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body: 一個缺氧的胚胎會優(yōu)先把充氧的血液輸送到腦部,然后才送到身體的其他部位。starved of 是分詞短語,修飾fetus, in preference to 表示“優(yōu)先于……”，如:I chose to study English in preference to Russian in university.讀大學(xué)時,我選了英語,而不是俄語。

練習(xí)：

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

答案與題解：

1.B 本題的依據(jù)是第二段中的一句話：But it wasn’t clear whether...or because their mothers are under-nourished... 可見嬰兒體重不足是否是因為母體營養(yǎng)不足尚不能肯定。

2.C第三段中提到Giussani在劍橋大學(xué)有一個研究組,但其中的成員是什么人卻沒有講到。

3.A第四段里說Giussani發(fā)現(xiàn)在La Paz出生的嬰兒比在Santa Cruz出生的嬰兒明顯要輕,不論是高收入的家庭還是低收入的家庭都是這樣,最后的一句話是:We were very surprised by this result,說明這個結(jié)果是他所沒有料到的。

4.A 第五段的第一句話是...babies born at high altitude are deprived of oxygen before birth.也就是說孩子還在母親的子宮內(nèi)時就已經(jīng)缺氧了,這種缺氧的狀況又影響荷爾蒙的釋放和抑制,這些荷爾蒙又調(diào)節(jié)著嬰兒的發(fā)育。

5.B 回答此題只需正確理解第六段中的...have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies,這句話的意思不是頭比身體大,而是相對身體來說頭顯得較大。

6.C關(guān)于嬰兒四肢的大小文中完全沒有提及。

7.B這不是Giussani已得出的結(jié)論,而是他想找到答案的問題,請見最后一段的第一、二句：Giussani wants to find out... for example.

譯文：高海拔地區(qū)的嬰兒有危險

一項新的研究表明，住在世界高海拔地區(qū)的女人通常生下體重不足的嬰兒。這些嬰兒在長大成人后患心臟病和中風(fēng)的風(fēng)險很大。

研究暗示，在山區(qū)出生的新生兒低于平均體重。但是還不清楚這是由于在高海拔地區(qū)氧氣不足，還是由于他們的母親沒有獲得足夠的營養(yǎng)——許多住在高海拔地區(qū)的人相對比住在低海拔地區(qū)的人窮。

為了了解更多情況，劍橋大學(xué)的Dina Giussani 和他的團(tuán)隊研究了1997年至1998年玻利維亞的400個新生兒的記錄。這些嬰兒出生于兩個城市的富有和貧困地區(qū)：拉巴斯和圣克魯斯。拉巴斯是世界上海拔最高的城市，海拔3.65千米，而圣克魯斯低很多，海拔440米。

當(dāng)然，Giussani發(fā)現(xiàn)拉巴斯的新生兒的平均出生體重明顯低于圣克魯斯的新生兒，無論高收入家庭還是低收入家庭都是如此。甚至圣克魯斯的貧窮家庭的嬰兒比拉巴斯的富有家庭的嬰兒平均體重還要重。Giussani說：“我們對這個結(jié)果感到吃驚。”

這個結(jié)果表明在高海拔地區(qū)出生的嬰兒出生前就缺氧。Giussani說：“這可能會觸發(fā)調(diào)節(jié)胎兒成長的荷爾蒙的釋放或抑制。”

他的團(tuán)隊還發(fā)現(xiàn)高海拔地區(qū)出生的嬰兒通常有相對身體來說較大的頭部。這可能是因為一個缺氧的胚胎會首先把充氧的血液輸送到腦部，然后才送到身體的其他部位。

Giussani想要查出這樣的嬰兒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臟病。出生時體重輕是患冠心病的一個危險因素。頭部相對身體較大的新生兒在今后的生活中通常更容易患高血壓和中風(fēng)。