Red Meat Links to Higher Risk of Breast Cancer
Exercise and keeping a healthy weight are two things that doctors say might help women lower their risk of breast cancer.
Mothers may reduce their risk if they breastfeed for at least four months. For older women， hormone replacement therapy2 can lower the risk of some other diseases. But it has been found to increase the risk of breast cancer. So women should consider their choices carefully. The same may be said for diet.
New findings show that younger women who eat a lot of red meat have higher rates of breast cancers called hormone-receptor positive3. The growth is fed by the levels of estrogen or another hormone， progesterone， in the body.
Researchers at Brigham Womens Hospital in Boston， Massachusetts， reported the findings as part of a health study of nurses. The researchers followed the health of more than 90，000 women from 1991 to 2003. Those who ate the most red meat ate more than one and one-half servings a day. A serving was defined as roughly 84 grams. Those who ate the least red meat ate less than three servings a week. This is what the study found about breast cancers that were hormone receptor-positive: The women who ate the most red meat were almost two times as likely to get them as the women who ate the least of it.
Eunyoung Cho， the lead author of the report， says more research is needed to know the reason for the link. But in the past， researchers have suggested that three things may play a part. One is the way meat is cooked or processed. Another is the use of growth hormones in cows. And the third is the kind of iron in red meat. The study appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
And now we have more to tell you about our subject—resveratrol. We discussed a study in the United States that found that large amounts of this plant compound helped fat mice live longer. The mice were fed much more resveratrol than people could get from red wine， one of the foods that contains it.
Now， scientists in France say resveratrol also improves muscle performance — again， at least in mice. They were able to run two times as far in laboratory treadmill tests4 as mice normally could. The study at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology5 appeared in the journal Cell.
詞匯：
breast/brest/n.胸部， ****，breastfeed/5brestfi:d/u.哺乳，喂奶hormone/5hC:mEun/n.激素，荷爾蒙
therapy/5WerEpi/ n.療法，治療 receptor/ri5septE/n.接受器，感受器；受體estrogen/estrogen /5estrEdVEn/n..雌激素
progesterone/prEu5dVestErEun/n.黃體酮，孕酮(孕激素類藥) serving/ 5sE:viN/n.一份飯菜 process/prE5ses/vt.加工， 處理
resveratrol /n.白藜蘆醇(抗腫瘤藥)compound/5kCmpaund/n.混合物；化合物；復合物treadmill/5tredmIl/n.(古時罰囚犯踩踏的)踏車；(喻)單調的工作genetics/dVi5netiks/n.遺傳學/n.遺傳學molecular/mEu5lekjulE/adj.分子的cellular/5seljulE/adj.細胞的cell/sel/n.細胞
練習:
1. Breastfeeding helps women prevent the development of breast cancer to a certain degree.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
2. Estrogen may contribute to the development of breast cancer as much as hormone
replacement therapy.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
3. The amount of red meat a woman eats is directly proportional to the probability of breast cancer.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
4. The way red meat is prepared has much to do with the probability of breast cancer.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
5. Any kind of iron in the food is a contributor to the development of breast cancer.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
6. Resveratrol is the fourth factor recently found that causes a breast cancer to develop.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
7. Any kind of wine contains resveratrol.
A Right B Wrong C Not mentioned
答案與題解：
1.A 第二段第一句明確說到喂奶可以減少婦女患乳腺癌的危險性。
2.B 第二段說激素補充療法會增加患乳腺癌的危險性，而第三段說到雌激素時只說到它是供給身體發育的，并未提到它會觸發乳腺癌，兩者是不能相提并論的。
3.A 第四段尤其是最后一句已是結論性的話，紅肉吃的多，患乳腺癌的可能性就大，反之就小，故成正比。
4.A 倒數第三段列出了研究人員過去認為可能吃紅肉致乳腺癌的三個原因，其中第一個就是紅肉的烹調方法。
5.B 同樣倒數第三段中列出的第三個因素就是紅肉中所含的鐵的種類，言下之意是有些類型的鐵致癌，有的就不致癌，因此說所有食物中的鐵都致癌顯然是錯的。
6.B 倒數第二段說到，食用大量白藜蘆醇這種植物的混合物老鼠就會長壽，最后一段又說到白藜蘆醇能提高肌肉的功能。這些都是正面的、積極的作用，并沒有說它能致癌。
7.C 倒數第二段只說紅酒中含有白藜蘆醇，并沒有說其他酒類有還是沒有。