EigoPro 1級 読解 — The Hijacked Circuit: Why Addiction Resists the Language of Blame

Few human afflictions are so persistently misread as addiction. Popular intuition casts it as a lapse of resolve, a failure of the will that discipline alone should rectify. Neuroscience tells a starkly different story. The brain's mesolimbic dopamine pathway evolved to flag survival-relevant rewards—food, intimacy, social standing—by surging in anticipation of them and thereby etching certain behaviours into memory. Addictive substances do not merely mimic this signal; they commandeer it, releasing dopamine in quantities that natural rewards cannot rival. Repeated exposure recalibrates the circuit: the brain attenuates its own receptors, so that the ordinary pleasures of life fade while the drug-linked cue grows ever more salient. A glimpse of a syringe, a familiar street corner, the chime of a particular hour—each can trigger a surge of wanting that the conscious mind neither summoned nor sanctioned. The consequence is not weakness but a corruption of learning itself. The prefrontal cortex, which ordinarily appraises consequences and vetoes impulse, is progressively undermined, while the striatum drives compulsive pursuit with diminishing regard for outcome. Craving, in this framework, is not a chosen indulgence but a pathological misfiring of the very machinery that once kept our ancestors alive. To demand that an addict simply resist is to mistake a hijacked reward system for a slack character. This misdiagnosis is not benign. When society frames addiction as moral delinquency, it gravitates towards punishment, ostracism and shame—responses that aggravate the stress states known to precipitate relapse. The disease model, by contrast, points towards pharmacological and behavioural therapies that recruit the same plasticity through which dependence took hold, gradually restoring the prefrontal regulation that the disorder erodes. None of this absolves the addict of responsibility for seeking help, nor does it reduce a complex person to a passive victim of chemistry. But it does relocate the problem from the courtroom to the clinic, where the relevant question is not how much someone deserves to suffer but what is most likely to restore their agency. To persist in the idiom of blame, the evidence suggests, is not merely unkind; it is therapeutically self-defeating, obstructing the very interventions most likely to work.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

Which statement best captures the central argument of the passage?

  • The dopamine pathway evolved solely to make humans vulnerable to addictive substances.
  • Punishment and shame are the most reliable means of helping addicts achieve recovery.
  • Addiction is a disorder of the brain's learning and reward systems, and treating it as a moral failing impedes effective treatment.
  • Addiction is primarily a failure of willpower that can be overcome through greater personal discipline.
Phrase

a hijacked reward system for a slack character

1級読解主旨把握論旨
⚡ひとことで

依存症は学習・報酬系の障害であり、道徳的堕落とみなす枠組みは治療を妨げる。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Addiction is a disorder of the brain's learning and reward systems, and treating it as a moral failing impedes effective treatment.」

正解

本文は依存症を「a corruption of learning itself」「a hijacked reward system」と神経科学的に説明し、意志の弱さではないと論じる。さらに「To persist in the idiom of blame... is therapeutically self-defeating」と非難の枠組みが治療を妨げると結論づける。したがって脳の障害という側面と非難の有害性の両方を含む選択肢が主旨に最も合致する。

  • 「Addiction is primarily a failure of willpower that can be overcome through greater personal discipline and effort.」

    = 依存は規律で克服できる意志の弱さだとする見方 ━ 本文はこの俗説を冒頭で挙げた上で『Neuroscience tells a starkly different story』と明確に否定しているため主旨に反する。

  • 「The dopamine pathway evolved solely to make humans vulnerable to addictive substances.」

    = ドーパミン経路は依存させるためだけに進化したという主張 ━ 本文では報酬経路は生存に関わる報酬を記憶に刻むため進化したと述べ、薬物がそれを乗っ取ると説明しており目的が逆。

  • 「Punishment and shame are the most reliable means of helping addicts achieve recovery.」

    = 罰と恥が回復に最も有効な手段だとする主張 ━ 本文は罰・追放・恥は『aggravate the stress states known to precipitate relapse』として再発を悪化させると批判している。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
frame X as YXをYとして枠づけるSociety tends to frame addiction as a moral failing.
impede treatment治療を妨げるStigma can severely impede treatment and recovery.
a disorder of learning学習の障害Researchers describe it as a disorder of learning, not weakness.
resist temptation誘惑に抗うTelling an addict merely to resist temptation misreads the problem.
central argument中心的論点The central argument is restated in the final paragraph.
❝例文

  • The author's central claim is that blame obstructs recovery.

    著者の中心的主張は、非難が回復を妨げるということだ。

  • Reframing addiction as a disease shifts it from courtroom to clinic.

    依存症を病気と捉え直すことで、法廷から臨床へと問題が移る。

  • Willpower alone cannot reverse a recalibrated reward circuit.

    意志だけでは再調整された報酬回路を元に戻せない。

  • The passage links moral framing to worse clinical outcomes.

    本文は道徳的枠組みをより悪い臨床結果と結びつけている。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨問題は冒頭の『俗説 → しかし科学は別の話』という転換と、最終段落の結論文の両方を押さえると、二側面を含む正解を選びやすい。

問 2

According to the passage, how do addictive substances differ from natural rewards in their effect on dopamine?

  • They release smaller but more frequent amounts of dopamine than food or intimacy do.
  • They strengthen the brain's dopamine receptors rather than weakening them.
  • They create an entirely new dopamine pathway separate from the one used by natural rewards.
  • They release dopamine in quantities that natural rewards cannot match, taking over the existing signal.
Phrase

releasing dopamine in quantities that natural rewards cannot rival

1級読解詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

薬物は自然報酬が及ばない量のドーパミンを放出し、既存の信号を乗っ取る。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「They release dopamine in quantities that natural rewards cannot match, taking over the existing signal.」

正解

本文は『they commandeer it, releasing dopamine in quantities that natural rewards cannot rival』と述べる。すなわち薬物は新しい経路を作るのではなく、既存の信号を量で圧倒して乗っ取る。したがって『自然報酬が及ばない量』を放出するという選択肢が正しい。

  • 「They create an entirely new dopamine pathway separate from the one used by natural rewards.」

    = 薬物は別個の新しいドーパミン経路を作るとする説 ━ 本文は『commandeer it』(既存の信号を乗っ取る)と述べており、新経路の創出ではない。

  • 「They release smaller but more frequent amounts of dopamine than food or intimacy do.」

    = 食物や親密さより少量だが高頻度に放出するとする説 ━ 本文は『quantities that natural rewards cannot rival』と量で凌駕すると明言しており少量ではない。

  • 「They strengthen the brain's dopamine receptors rather than weakening them.」

    = 薬物はドーパミン受容体を強化するとする説 ━ 本文は『the brain attenuates its own receptors』と受容体が減弱すると述べており逆。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
release dopamineドーパミンを放出するSugar can release dopamine, but far less than cocaine.
cannot rival及ばない・匹敵しないOrdinary pleasures cannot rival the drug-linked surge.
commandeer a signal信号を乗っ取るThe drug commandeers a signal meant for survival.
natural rewards自然な報酬Natural rewards like food activate the same pathway.
in vast quantities膨大な量でDopamine is flooded in vast quantities during intoxication.
❝例文

  • Cocaine floods the synapse with dopamine that food never could.

    コカインは食物では決して及ばない量のドーパミンをシナプスに溢れさせる。

  • Natural rewards produce a modest, self

    limiting surge. — 自然な報酬は穏やかで自己限定的な高まりを生む。

  • The drug does not invent a circuit; it captures one.

    薬物は回路を発明するのではなく、奪い取る。

  • Repeated highs make ordinary joys feel flat by comparison.

    繰り返しの高揚は、比較すると日常の喜びを味気なく感じさせる。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

『commandeer』『rival』のような動詞の含意(乗っ取る・匹敵する)を正確に取ると、量と機序の両方を問う詳細問題に強くなる。

問 3

What does the passage say happens to the prefrontal cortex and striatum as addiction develops?

  • The prefrontal cortex is progressively undermined while the striatum drives compulsive pursuit regardless of outcome.
  • The striatum vetoes impulses while the prefrontal cortex compels repetitive behaviour.
  • Both the prefrontal cortex and the striatum are strengthened, improving self-control.
  • Both regions shut down entirely, leaving the addict without any reward response.
Phrase

the striatum drives compulsive pursuit with diminishing regard for outcome

1級読解詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

前頭前皮質は弱体化し、線条体は結果を顧みず強迫的追求を駆動する。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「The prefrontal cortex is progressively undermined while the striatum drives compulsive pursuit regardless of outcome.」

正解

本文は『The prefrontal cortex... is progressively undermined, while the striatum drives compulsive pursuit with diminishing regard for outcome』と述べる。すなわち抑制を担う前頭前皮質は損なわれ、線条体は結果を無視して強迫的に追求を駆動する。よって両者の役割を正しく対比した選択肢が正解。

  • 「Both the prefrontal cortex and the striatum are strengthened, improving self-control.」

    = 両領域が強化され自制が向上するとする説 ━ 本文は前頭前皮質が『undermined』(弱体化)すると述べており自制は損なわれる。

  • 「The striatum vetoes the impulses while the prefrontal cortex compels all the repetitive behaviour.」

    = 線条体が衝動を抑え、前頭前皮質が反復行動を強いるとする説 ━ 本文では抑制は前頭前皮質、強迫的追求は線条体であり役割が逆。

  • 「Both regions shut down entirely, leaving the addict without any reward response.」

    = 両領域が完全に停止し報酬反応が消失するとする説 ━ 本文は線条体が活発に追求を駆動すると述べており停止ではない。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
veto an impulse衝動を抑制するA healthy prefrontal cortex can veto an impulse.
compulsive pursuit強迫的な追求Addiction is marked by compulsive pursuit of the drug.
progressively undermined次第に損なわれるSelf-control is progressively undermined over time.
regard for outcome結果への配慮The striatum acts with little regard for outcome.
appraise consequences結果を評価するThe prefrontal cortex appraises consequences before acting.
❝例文

  • The prefrontal brake fails just as the striatal accelerator jams open.

    線条体のアクセルが開いたまま固まると同時に、前頭前皮質のブレーキが効かなくなる。

  • Compulsion persists even when the addict foresees the harm.

    当人が害を予見していても強迫は続く。

  • A weakened cortex can no longer override the craving.

    弱った皮質はもはや渇望を抑え込めない。

  • The striatum keeps demanding the drug despite mounting losses.

    損失が増えても線条体は薬物を求め続ける。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

二つの脳領域が対比される文では『A while B』の構造に注目し、どちらが抑制側でどちらが駆動側かを取り違えないこと。

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