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.
词汇：
breast/brest/n.胸部， ****，breastfeed/5brestfi:d/u.哺乳，喂奶hormone/5hC:mEun/n.激素，荷尔蒙
therapy/5WerEpi/ n.疗法，治疗 receptor/ri5septE/n.接受器，感受器；受体estrogen/estrogen /5estrEdVEn/n..雌激素
progesterone/prEu5dVestErEun/n.黄体酮，孕酮(孕激素类药) serving/ 5sE:viN/n.一份饭菜 process/prE5ses/vt.加工， 处理
resveratrol /n.白藜芦醇(抗肿瘤药)compound/5kCmpaund/n.混合物；化合物；复合物treadmill/5tredmIl/n.(古时罚囚犯踩踏的)踏车；(喻)单调的工作genetics/dVi5netiks/n.遗传学/n.遗传学molecular/mEu5lekjulE/adj.分子的cellular/5seljulE/adj.细胞的cell/sel/n.细胞
练习:
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
答案与题解：
1.A 第二段第一句明确说到喂奶可以减少妇女患乳腺癌的危险性。
2.B 第二段说激素补充疗法会增加患乳腺癌的危险性，而第三段说到雌激素时只说到它是供给身体发育的，并未提到它会触发乳腺癌，两者是不能相提并论的。
3.A 第四段尤其是最后一句已是结论性的话，红肉吃的多，患乳腺癌的可能性就大，反之就小，故成正比。
4.A 倒数第三段列出了研究人员过去认为可能吃红肉致乳腺癌的三个原因，其中第一个就是红肉的烹调方法。
5.B 同样倒数第三段中列出的第三个因素就是红肉中所含的铁的种类，言下之意是有些类型的铁致癌，有的就不致癌，因此说所有食物中的铁都致癌显然是错的。
6.B 倒数第二段说到，食用大量白藜芦醇这种植物的混合物老鼠就会长寿，最后一段又说到白藜芦醇能提高肌肉的功能。这些都是正面的、积极的作用，并没有说它能致癌。
7.C 倒数第二段只说红酒中含有白藜芦醇，并没有说其他酒类有还是没有。