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.

译文

1、系好安全带能够挽救性命，它能将丧生和重伤的概率减少一半以上。

2、但是司机有责任确保14岁以下的孩子不要坐在前排，除非他们系好了安全带。

3、当然，如果有以下情况你可以不系安全带：你在倒车时，或者你用一种特殊交通工具进行当地的货物运送、收集时，或者你有合法的医学证明你不能系安全带时。

4、注意你如果不这么做（系安全带）的话，你有可能被告上法庭，而且你有可能被处以罚款除非你能证明你有不带安全带的理由。

5、Taiju Matsuzawa 教授想找出为什么日本北部的健康农民在相对年轻的年龄就显得开始失去思考与推理的能力的原因以及怎样才能延缓老化过程。

6、在东京国立大学的同事们的帮助下，他开始对一千来自不同职业的人群进行了大脑体积的测量。

7、计算机技术帮助研究人员获得人脑前部和侧部的准确体积，这是与人的智能和情绪有关的部分，而且也决定人的性格特点。

8、有的人(大脑)前部和侧部的收缩——随着细胞的死亡——在三十多岁时就能被观察到了，但是也有些人直到六七岁依然不明显。

9、研究结果表明在农村的人大脑收缩基本上比城市里的人要早。

10、在政府部门从事简单重复工作的白领也像农场工人、公共汽车司机和商店职员一样大脑细胞容易收缩。