VOA慢速英语2014 交谈可以找回失去的记忆

 

Conversations Find Lost Memories 交谈可以找回失去的记忆

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

Imagine forgetting everything you have ever done in life –jobs you held, a marriage you built, the children you raised, your friends, your travels, everything.  For many older people such severe memory loss is a reality.

But in Tennessee, one man works to connect senior citizens with their past to regain¹ their sense of self.

Doug Oliver and his friend Geneva McElroy are talking about old times.

Oliver: "Tell me something that you and HC (her husband) did together that was just fun and funny at the same time, that you remember..."

McElroy: "Well, we was on our way to church one time, and I can't think what it was, he told something that my niece ..."

However, the two friends are not just having a simple talk about the past, however.  Mr. Oliver is using a technique called guided conversations to help Ms. McElroy remember her past.   

Guided conversations are planned, purposeful talks. They are designed to help those with memory loss.  But the point is not only remembering the past, it is also recovering a sense of self-worth.

“They can see what they have done that has or will impact the future and it lifts their mood.  Many times they will realize that they are and were important; that they have something to offer.”

To understand how guided conversations work it is important to understand an important detail about the brain.  Short term and long term memories are stored in different areas of the brain. 

Diseases that harm short-term storage areas may not affect long-term storage areas.  Alzheimer’s disease, for example, begins in the areas of the brain where short-term memories are kept.

Doug Oliver explains. 

“One of the hidden benefits that many elders have, even when they are having trouble with short-term memory, is that their long-term memories are usually intact² for a much longer time.”

For more than twenty years, Mr. Oliver worked as a mental health care provider.  He is retired³ now. 

But he volunteers at a daycare center for senior citizens in the southern U.S. city of Nashville, Tennessee.  

This is where he uses the guided conversation memory technique.  He finds it useful in fighting depression in older people.

Oliver: "If we were to talk about HC just for a minute. He passed away six months ago, was it?"

McElroy: "No, 11 months, a year ago."

Oliver: "Has it been a year already? ..."

“Without trying to lift the depression a little bit, people can languish⁴ quickly and deteriorate⁵, and so part of the purpose is to take that healthy part of their thinking and get that firing as passionately⁶ as you can.”

Mr. Oliver says it is important to get patients to connect the past to the present and the future.  These connections help a person reach memories that are buried deep away in the brain.  To do this, he uses memories of good experiences and bad -- successes and losses. 

“[It] Helps them to determine what they learned from those incidences⁷, those memories.  How does that apply to them and their families in the present, and what impact do they think they have had on the future.”

Catholic⁸ Charities operates the senior daycare.  The group praises Mr. Oliver's work. Linda Edwards helps direct the daycare.  She says Doug Oliver has a gift for helping⁹ seniors feel needed and valued.

Mr. Oliver says sometimes he thinks about quitting.  He has an eye disease and cannot see well.  For him, getting to the daycare center and home again can be difficult. 

“Each time I consider that, I actually step back and say, ‘No. I am where I need to be right now.  And I am doing what I should be doing.”

But Mr. Oliver says he has always been interested in older people and the stories they tell.  He says that listening to these stories brings history to life in a very personal way.

And that’s the Health Report.  I’m Anna Matteo.

Try a guided conversation with an older family member or friend.  You can share what you learn in our comment section. 

Or write a few of you own sentences of your own using words from today’s lesson – words like “conversation” and “senior citizen.”  Or answer this question: what does the term “old times” mean?

Using these words will help make sure they get into your brain’s long-term storage.

1 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

2 intact   

adj.完整无缺的，未经触动的，未受损伤的

参考例句：

• The glasses remained intact after being dropped.眼镜坠地后依然完好无损。
• He can scarcely survive this scandal with his reputation intact.他经此丑闻名誉很难不受损。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 languish   

vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎

参考例句：

• Without the founder's drive and direction,the company gradually languished.没有了创始人的斗志与指引，公司逐渐走向没落。
• New products languish on the drawing board.新产品在计划阶段即告失败。

5 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

6 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

7 incidences   

发生率( incidence的名词复数 )； 影响范围； 发生范围； 影响程度

参考例句：

• Secondly, the law consideration that brought about by Argos incidences. 本文就Argos所提出的法律辩护中提炼出其理论观点，并一一分析其正确与否。
• Use corporate hot lines or some mechanism for reporting and investigating incidences. 使用公司热线或其他设备举报或检查小事。

8 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。