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 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

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

Dolphins are interesting animals and researchers find them interesting to watch. They don’t have hands, but can use tools to solve problems, just like us. Scientists have observed a dolphin trying to get a shy eel(鳝鱼) to come out of its hole by poking(捅)it with a dead fish. Many species of dolphin live in large societies. They have many different relationships and need a good communication system; they use a variety of sounds to communicate with each other.
There is currently no evidence that dolphins have a language of their own. But scientists still have a lot to find out about these animals and so there are certain to be a few surprises in the future.
At Kewalo Basin Marine Laboratory in Hawaii, the dolphin team have developed a sign langue to communicate with the dolphins, and the results are amazing. Not only do the dolphins understand the meaning of individual words, they also understand the significance of word order in a sentence. For example, when they were asked to ‘touch the ball with your tail and then jump over it’ they generally responded correctly and straight away, which showed that they understood the langue.
Most mammals seem to enjoy play—but dolphins seems to like making their games as challenging as possible. On a beautiful day in 1997, researchers working at a beach, off the southern coast of Brazil, observed a little dog going into the sea and swimming towards the dolphins. To their surprise, the dolphins approached the dog and then started throwing it into the air. The dog seemed to enjoy the ‘game’ and continued playing with the dolphins for more than an hour. From then on, different dogs were seem trying to interact with the dolphins.
Dolphins live in a very different world to ourselves, but they are very good at our ‘intelligence tests’. For example, they will jump out of the water when they hear a whistle noise. They do this because they will get a fish as a reward. There is still much to learn about these flexible(灵活的)problem-solvers, but from the evidence so far, it would seem as though dolphins are very intelligent.
【小题1】To get a shy eel to come out of its hole , a dolphin would poke it with____.

A.a toolB.its tailC.a dead fishD.its mouth
【小题2】At a laboratory in Hawaii, the dolphin team have developed a ____ to communicate with the dolphins.
A.variety of soundsB.sign language
C.special word orderD.dolphin’s language
【小题3】Dolphins not only understand the meaning of individual words, they also understand the importance of ______ in a sentence.
A.the subjectB.the verbsC.the main structureD.word order
【小题4】When they play, dolphins seems to like making their games as ______ as possible.
A.difficultB.easyC.interestingD.relaxing
【小题5】Dolphins will jump out of the water when they hear a whistle noise in order to _______.
A.watch peopleB.breathe fresh air
C.enjoy themselvesD.get some food

Cleveland has won the distinction of being the worst city in the United States, according to a new survey. The city has high unemployment, terrible weather, heavy taxes, and ordinary sports teams, all of which have pushed it to the No. 1 position in the Forbes.com list.

"Cleveland was the only city that fell in the bottom half of rankings in all nine categories. And it has been entitled with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the lake," Forbes said on its website,

The economic downturn hit cities across the United States last year particularly in the mid-west section of the country. Crime and unemployment secured the No. 2 spot for Stockton, which held the top position in last year's ranking. Memphis got third place thanks to its violent crime rate and the number of officials who are guilty, while the poor auto industry drove the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint into the top five.

"A lot of the cities that showed up on our list are going through hard times fight now, dealing with high unemployment, with declining producing bases. Many have experienced strong movement out of the city over the last 20 and 30 years."

Despite (尽管) its fine weather, Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in commuting (上下班往返) time, and violent crime which sent it into sixth place.

"One of the biggest surprises is Miami. The good weather and no state income taxes blur some of the severe problems that Miami has related to crime as well as long commutes," Badenhausen added.

Florida was followed in the poor ranking by St Louis, Buffalo, Canton, Ohio and Chicago, which has the country's highest sales tax at 10.25 percent. New York, the nation's biggest city, is rich in culture but its lengthy commuting time and high income taxes pushed it into 16th place.

1.From the text we can learn that ______.

A.Cleveland has been entitled a lovely nickname

B.the economic downturn hit cities in the mid-east section

C.Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in all nine categories

D.commuting time in New York is too long

2.What information can be inferred according to the text?

A.The number of officials who are guilty is large in Memphis.

B.Stockton got second place in last year's ranking.

C.High income taxes made New York get 16th place.

D.Ohio has the country's highest sales tax.

3.The word "blur" underlined in the last paragraph but one probably means ______.

A.make it possible    B.make it unclear     C.make if obvious     D.make it important

4.Which of the following is the correct ranking order?

A.Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, Buffalo, Florida.

B.Stockton, Miami, Flint, Florida, Canton.

C.Cleveland, Stockton, Miami, Chicago, Florida.

D.Stockton, Detroit, Miami, Florida, St Louis.

 

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