VOA标准英语2010年-Tutoring Students Might Lower Dementia

Shirley Mickel, 62, who retired¹ from the federal government, might be lowering her risk of dementia by volunteering at a Washington, DC elementary school twice a week.

Retired Americans seeking useful ways to spend their time find that tutoring children not only helps the students, but may also reduce their own risk of developing dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Volunteering in the classroom

Chaniya Anderson is a second grader at Whittier Elementary School in Washington, D.C.

She is a little behind in math and reading so she gets one-on-one tutoring twice a week from 62-year-old volunteer Shirley Mickel, a retired federal government employment discrimination investigator².

"I really love it. It gives me an opportunity to give back. It is my way of giving back," says Mickel. "Also, it helps me to stay alert and stay involved with children. I love children. I love to see them learn."

 

Gloria Pendleton is 65 years old. She worked for the U.S. Navy as a computer systems programmer. She also tutors students at Whittier.

"I feel much better. I feel like I am learning," she says. "I am constantly trying to learn along with the children."

Experience Corps³

Mickel and Pendleton are both members of Experience Corps, a national program that pairs people over 55 with students from low-income families.

Research suggests helping⁴ students problem solve and read may actually improve areas of the brain, such as frontal lobes⁵, in older Americans.

Experience Corps' 2000 volunteers tutor and mentor⁶ elementary students in 23 cities across the country.

"What I have seen is a lot of kids take off because they do have the one-on-one attention," says Kathleen Kaye, who has participated in the program for over three years. "And they are up to grade level if not beyond as a result of having been in the program."

Kaye feels that she gets back more than she gives. Irving Wilson echoes Kaye's feeling. He's been in the program for seven years.

"I get a lot of benefits from being in this program," says Wilson. "I keep my mind active and, coming to school three times a week, walking up and down the steps, that kept me physically⁷ able."

Health benefits

Recent research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland indicates that the volunteers do benefit from their efforts.

Michelle Carlson is the associate director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins.

Irving Wilson says volunteering keeps both his mind and body active.

"By volunteering through this particular program, Experience Corps, what it may be showing preliminary is that volunteering and exercising your brain to help problem solving and to help children read may actually be improving the areas of brain such as frontal lobes," says Michelle Carlson, associate director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins. "And, by improving this parts of brain, we may be reducing the risk of dementia such as the most common form of dementia being Alzheimer's disease."

Carson says that older adults are growing in numbers around the world, and there are mutual⁸ benefits to pairing them with children who need help.

"The beauty of it is that we are not asking you to take a pill, We are asking you to get back to engage with other people in need so that at the same time that you are helping others, you are helping yourself."

The volunteers say they do feel rewarded. Not only by looking at children and seeing them grow, but they also enjoy being able to contribute and being part of the community.

 

1 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。

2 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

3 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 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。

5 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

6 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

7 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

8 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。