Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.

The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.

“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.

“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”

What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.

“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.

The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.

The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.

A. health              B. long life             C. ageing              D. effect

The text mainly talks about ________.

A. men’s heart cells                           B. women’s ageing process、

C. the gender difference                     D. hearts and long life

according to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.

A. women have more cells than men when they are born

B. women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat

C. the female heart loses few of the cells with age

D. women never lose their pumping power with age

If you want to live longer, you should ________.

A. enable your heart to beat much faster      

B. find out the reason for ageing

C. exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy 

D. prevent your cells from being lost

We can know from the passage that ________.

A. the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out

B. scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells

C. the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss

D. women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20

Students who want to study in the United States may find that their chances for financial aid are limited. They often have to pay for their education with their own savings or their family's money.
A recent report from the Institute of International Education in New York looked at 2008-2009 school year.
Colleges and universities in the United States had more than half a million foreign students. 63% of them paid for school mostly by themselves or with family help. 26% percent were supported by the school they attended.
There are other sources of financial aid for international students. These include a student's home government or university, or the United States government. Private sponsors, international organizations and employers may also provide support. Yet during the last school year, not many students were able to depend on any of these other sources. Current employers provided the most help. Still, they represented the main support for just four percent of international students.
Those at the graduate level, however, are more likely than undergraduates to receive financial aid in the United States. More than 80% percent of foreign undergraduates depended mostly on personal and family money to pay for school last year. The same was true of less than half of graduate students. Most of the others received financial aid from their college or university in the United States.
A list of American schools that offer financial aid to foreign students can be found at a useful Web site. The address is edupass.org. This site also provides information about scholarship programs. But it warns foreign students not to pay if there is any charge for scholarship application forms. You could be cheated out of your money.
【小题1】Most foreign students depend on _______ to pay for their education.

A.the home universitiesB.personal or family money
C.the American schoolsD.international organization
【小题2】How many sources of financial aid are mentioned in the text?
A.9B.3 C.6D.12
【小题3】Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
A.Foreign students have no chance to get money from American schools.
B.Most foreign graduate students depend on their own savings.
C.Edupass.org offers financial aid and scholarship information.
D.Usually the present employers provide the most financial help.
【小题4】The text mainly talks about ________.
A.financial aid for foreign students in US
B.the hard life for foreign students in US
C.the variety of educational choices in US
D.the disadvantages of studying in US.

Since 1950, the amount of information about the nutrition of food has increased by nearly 900 percent. Besides this fact, obesity has risen by 214 percent and nearly two out of every three adults in America are overweight or obese. Being overweight is not only an appearance problem, and it also increases the risk of various diseases including diabetes, sleep disorder and cancer.

With so much nutritional knowledge easy to find, we cannot simply ignore our present obesity epidemic(流行病). We know that fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin. Though we are overweight, many of us choose junk food over healthy food out of habits. One explanation for our strong desire for junk food is that we learn to connect junk food with positive feelings when we are young, and changing this attitude requires a huge amount of confidence and determination. Fortunately, new research published in May 2012 has shown a simple and accessible way to make healthier food choices- the one that doesn’t rely on great determination.

The research was based on two separate studies and it was carried out by T. Bettina Cornwell of the University of Oregon and Anna R. McAlister of Michigan State University. In the first study, 60 adults between the ages of 19 and 23 were questioned about the role of food and drinks. The survey tells us that adults prefer sweetened drinks with high-calorie, salty foods, to sweetened drinks with vegetables.

In the second study, 75 children between the ages of 3 and 5 were gathered for some experiments including drinks served with vegetables. The preschooler experiments were carried out under different situations and on different days. The researchers found that the children chose to take more green vegetables when they were served with water instead of a sweetened drink.

According to Cornwell, children learn to connect high calorie, sugary drinks such as cola, with high fat foods such as French fries, from a very early age. McAlister adds that early taste development appears to play an important role in food choices later in life. Meals served at home and meals offered at restaurants, set the stage for this idea and for the preference to choose junk food over healthy food, when beginning to take sweetened drinks.

“Our taste preferences are heavily influenced by regularly eating particular food and drinking particular drink,” states Cornwell. “If the drink on the table goes against both adults and children eating their vegetables, then perhaps it is time to change that drink… and to serve water with all meals. Restaurants could easily use water as free drink for children’s meals and charge extra money for other drinks.” Both McAlister and Cornwell are confident that serving water with meals could effectively reduce the nation’s obesity rates, diabetes rates and ever rising healthcare costs.

1.What may cause the risk of diseases according to the text?

A.Over nutrition.     B.Obesity.           C.Unbalance diets.    D.Junk food.

2.What makes many of us choose junk food according to the author?

A.Positive feelings about food.               B.High calorie of junk food.

C.Nice taste.                             D.Eating habits.

3.The underlined word “accessible” in Paragraph 2 means”_________”.

A.quick             B.useful            C.easy to change     D.easy to get

4.From Paragraph5, we know that __________.

A.children may like sugary and high-calorie drinks even from an early age

B.early preference for food and drink may influence food choices later in life

C.easy preference for drinks should not be allowed in most of the restaurants

D.restaurants should provide the same food and drink as those at home

5.Which would be the best title for this text?

A.Stop children drinking sugary drinks

B.Drink water to eat more healthy

C.Change eating habits to lose weight

D.Eat healthy food at home

 

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