VOA慢速英语20061129a

HEALTH REPORT - Waltzing Pumps Up Heart PatientsBy Lawan Davis

Broadcast: Wednesday, November 29, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.


A social dancing program at a senior citizen center in Brooklyn, New York

Dancing is good exercise. Now a study shows it can improve the health and quality of life of people with mild to moderate heart failure.

Heart failure is not the same as a heart attack or heart stoppage. It means the heart is weakened and cannot pump blood normally. As a result, blood and fluid collect in the lungs and fluid builds up in the feet and legs.

This condition develops over time. In the United States, heart failure is a cause or the cause of about three hundred thousand deaths each year. So says the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

People with heart failure get tired and short of breath easily. Daily activities become difficult. But their doctors may want them to perform aerobic¹ exercise at least three times a week. Aerobic exercise is activity that makes the heart and lungs work harder and increases oxygen use.

Many patients, though, lose interest in traditional programs of exercise training.

So researchers tested the effects of dancing. They chose waltz dancing because it is internationally known. They presented the study at a recent meeting of the American Heart Association.

Doctor Romualdo Belardinelli at Lancisi Heart Institute in Ancona, Italy, led the study. It involved eighty-nine men and twenty-one women with mild to moderate heart failure. The average age was fifty-nine.

One group of forty-four people took part in a supervised² program of riding exercise bicycles and walking on treadmills³ three times a week.

Forty-four others danced three times a week. Each time, they danced a combination of slow waltzes and fast waltzes for twenty-one minutes. A third group with twenty-two people did not exercise. All three groups were observed for eight weeks.

The study found improved oxygen use in both the dance and exercise groups, so the people got tired less easily. The dancers showed an eighteen percent improvement. In the exercise group, it was sixteen percent. The group that did not exercise had no improvement.

The researchers say the findings were the same as an earlier study of slow and fast waltzing. That study showed it was safe for patients with heart disease and a history of heart attacks. Doctor Belardinelli says doctors have to find something that may capture the interest of patients. He says exercise should be fun, so people will want to continue for a lifetime.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written

1 aerobic   

adj.需氧的，增氧健身法的，有氧的

参考例句：

• Aerobic exercise helps to build up stamina.有氧健身操有助于增强耐力。
• Aerobic dance is conductive to the health.有氧舞蹈有助于健康。

2 supervised   

v.监督，管理( supervise的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The architect supervised the building of the house. 建筑工程师监督房子的施工。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He supervised and trained more than 400 volunteers. 他指导和培训了400多名志愿者。 来自辞典例句

3 treadmills   

n.枯燥无味的工作[生活方式]( treadmill的名词复数 )；（尤指旧时由人或牲畜踩动踏板使之转动的）踏车；（锻炼身体的）跑步机，走步机

参考例句：

• But soon, you may think microwave ovens and treadmills too. 但是不久的将来，您可能还会想到微波炉或健身踏车什么的。 来自互联网
• The Gym has several treadmills an X-trainer machine, bicycles, weights and mats for floor work. 体育馆里配备了：跑步机、教练机、自行车、哑铃和专为做地板运动准备的垫子。 来自互联网