Question

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 hardly 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(性别)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 heahhy 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.
【小题1】The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to _____.

A．health

B．long life

C．ageing

D．effect

【小题2】The text mainly talks about ______.

A．men’s heart cells	B．women’s ageing process
C．the gender difference	D．hearts and long life

【小题3】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

【小题4】 We can know from the passage that ______.

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

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

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

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

Answer 1

【小题1】B
【小题2】D
【小题3】C
【小题4】A

解析试题分析：本文介绍了女性的长寿现象出现的原因，以及男性的寿命较短的原因。并提出了具体的建议。
【小题1】B 推理题。根据文章1,2段Why do men die earlier than women?
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 hardly lose their pumping power with age.可知这里的longevity就是指女性的长寿现象。故B正确。
【小题2】D 主旨大意题。根据文章第一段2,3行The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
可知女性长寿的原因在于女性的心脏随着年龄变大，并没有明显的衰竭。故D项正确。
【小题3】C 细节题。根据文章第四段1,2行What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells.可知随着年龄增加，女性的心脏的cell的损失很小。故C正确。
【小题4】A 推理题。根据文章倒数第二段The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink.可知现在还没有完全弄明白为什么男性会有更多的cell的损失，故A正确。
考点：考查科普类短文阅读
点评：本文介绍了女性的长寿现象出现的原因，以及男性的寿命较短的原因。并提出了具体的建议。测试考生在阅读基础上的逻辑推理能力，要求考生根据文章所述事件的逻辑关系，对未说明的趋势或结局作出合理的推断；或根据作者所阐述的观点理论，对文章未涉及的现象、事例给以解释。考生首先要仔细阅读短文，完整了解信息，准确把握作者观点。