1. Wearing a seat belt saves lives; it reduces your chance of death or serious injury by more than half.

2. But it will be the driver’s responsibility to make sure that children under 14 do not ride in the front unless they are wearing a seat belt of some kind.

3. However, you do not have to wear a seat belt if you are reversing your vehicle; or you are making a local delivery or collection using a special vehicle; or if you have a valid medical certificate which excuses you from wearing it.

4. Remember you may be taken to court for not doing so, and you may be fined if you cannot prove to the court that you have been excused from wearing it.

5. Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of ageing could he slowed down.

6. With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and varying occupations.

7. Computer technology enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the volume of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intellect (智能) and emotion, and determine the human character.

8. Contraction of front and side parts as cells die off was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.

9. The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns.

10. White collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely to have shrinking brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.

譯文

1、系好安全帶能夠挽救性命，它能將喪生和重傷的概率減少一半以上。

2、但是司機(jī)有責(zé)任確保14歲以下的孩子不要坐在前排，除非他們系好了安全帶。

3、當(dāng)然，如果有以下情況你可以不系安全帶：你在倒車(chē)時(shí)，或者你用一種特殊交通工具進(jìn)行當(dāng)?shù)氐呢浳镞\(yùn)送、收集時(shí)，或者你有合法的醫(yī)學(xué)證明你不能系安全帶時(shí)。

4、注意你如果不這么做（系安全帶）的話，你有可能被告上法庭，而且你有可能被處以罰款除非你能證明你有不帶安全帶的理由。

5、Taiju Matsuzawa 教授想找出為什么日本北部的健康農(nóng)民在相對(duì)年輕的年齡就顯得開(kāi)始失去思考與推理的能力的原因以及怎樣才能延緩老化過(guò)程。

6、在東京國(guó)立大學(xué)的同事們的幫助下，他開(kāi)始對(duì)一千來(lái)自不同職業(yè)的人群進(jìn)行了大腦體積的測(cè)量。

7、計(jì)算機(jī)技術(shù)幫助研究人員獲得人腦前部和側(cè)部的準(zhǔn)確體積，這是與人的智能和情緒有關(guān)的部分，而且也決定人的性格特點(diǎn)。

8、有的人(大腦)前部和側(cè)部的收縮——隨著細(xì)胞的死亡——在三十多歲時(shí)就能被觀察到了，但是也有些人直到六七歲依然不明顯。

9、研究結(jié)果表明在農(nóng)村的人大腦收縮基本上比城市里的人要早。

10、在政府部門(mén)從事簡(jiǎn)單重復(fù)工作的白領(lǐng)也像農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人、公共汽車(chē)司機(jī)和商店職員一樣大腦細(xì)胞容易收縮。