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.

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

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

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

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

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

Are you interested in country music? I like it very much! It will take me away for a while after I am tired .The guitars and songs will take me to mountains and fields.

Country music usually talks of everyday life and feelings. It’s the spirit of America, easy to understand, slow and simple.

Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of American countryside. Many of songs tell about the lives of famers .They talk about love, crops or death.

The life of the countryside can be hard, so the words in country music are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular later. In the 1920s, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records.

When people in the countryside moved to towns and cities to look for work, they took their music with them. Country music continued to change and became popular across America.

John Denver was one of America’s most famous country singers in the 1970s.His song “Take Me home, Country Roads” is well-known and people still play it today.

1.Country music is usually about _______.

A. everyday life and feelings       

B. farmers’ feelings       

C. the lives of workers          

D. the lives of farmers

2. People began to make country song records _______.

A. in the 1920s                 B. in 1920  

C. in the 1970s                 D. in 1970

3. Why did Country music become popular in America?

A. Because city people liked the music.

B. Because farmers moved to cities with their music and it continued to change. C. Because country music talked about city people’s lives.

D. Because country music developed in the Southern Africa

4. Who is famous for the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”?

A. A farmer in the countryside.     

B.A person who moved to towns

C. John Denver.               

D. John Denver’s brother

I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.
Years later, during her final illness, mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she said again, “is for Elizabeth.”
I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter.
They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional(易动感情的)”. But she lived “on the surface”.
As years passed and I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.
I posted the letter and waited for her answer, none came.
My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace. It seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.
Now the present of her desk told me that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work though she’d never been able to. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside — a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded(折叠) and refolded many times.
Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose, Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.
【小题1】The writer began to love her mother’s desk _______.

Are you interested in country music? I like it very much! It will take me away for a while after I am tired .The guitars and songs will take me to mountains and fields.

Country music usually talks of everyday life and feelings. It’s the spirit of America, easy to understand, slow and simple.

Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of American countryside. Many of songs tell about the lives of farmers .They talk about love, crops or death.

The life of the countryside can be hard, so the words in country music are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular later. In the 1920s, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records.

When people in the countryside moved to towns and cities to look for work, they took their music with them. Country music continued to change and became popular across America.

John Denver was one of America’s most famous country singers in the 1970s.His song “Take Me home, Country Roads” is well-known and people still play it today.

1.Country music is usually about _______.

A．everyday life and feelings

B．farmers’ feelings

C．the lives of workers

D．the lives of farmers

2.People began to make country song records _______.

A．in the 1920s                           B．in 1920

C．in the 1970s                           D．in 1970

3.Why did Country music become popular in America?

A．Because city people liked the music.

B．Because farmers moved to cities with their music and it continued to change.

C．Because country music talked about city people’s lives.

D．Because country music developed in the Southern Africa

4.Who is famous for the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”?

A．A farmer in the countryside

B．A person who moved to towns

C．John Denver

D．John Denver’s brother

Cyberspace,data superhighway,multimedia,for those who have seen the future,and the linking of computers,televisions and telephones will change our lives for ever.Yet for all the talks of a forthcoming technological utopia,little attention has been given to the implications of these developments for the poor.As for all the new high technology,the West concerns itself with the “how”,while the question of “for whom” is put aside once again.

Economists are only now realizing the full extent to which the communication revolution has affected the world economy.Information technology allows the extension of trade across geographical and industrial boundaries,and transnational corporations take full advantage of it.Terms of trade and exchange,interest rates and money movements are more important than the production of goods.The electronic economy made by information technology allows the haves to increase their control on global markets — with a destructive impact on the have­nots.

For them the result is unstable.Developing countries which rely on the production of a small range of goods for export are made to feel like small parts in the international economic machine.As “futures” are traded on computer screens,developing countries simply have less and less control of their destinies.

So what are the options of regaining control？One alternative for developing countries is to buy in the latest computers and telecommunications.Yet this leads to long-term dependency and perhaps permanent constraints on developing countries’ economies.

Communication technology is generally exported from the US,Europe or Japan；the patents,skills and ability remain in the hands of a few industrialized countries.It is also expensive,therefore imported products and services must be bought on credit usually provided by the very countries whose companies stand to gain.

1. From the passage we know that the development of high technology is in the interests of________.

A．the rich countries                                         B．scientific development

C．the local elites                                                 D．the world economy

2．It can be inferred from the passage that________.

A．international trade should be expanded

B．the interests of the poor countries have not been given enough consideration

C．the exports of the poor countries should be increased

D．communication technology in developing countries should be modernized

3．Why does the author say that the electronic economy may have a destructive impact on developing countries?

A．Because it enables the developed countries to control the international market.

B．Because it destroys the economic balance of the poor countries.

C．Because it violates the national boundaries of the poor countries.

D．Because it inhibits the industrial growth of developing countries.

4．The development of modern communication technology in developing countries may________.

A．hinder their industrial production

B．cause them to lose control of their trade

C．force them to reduce their share of exports

D．cost them their economic independence

5．The author’s attitude towards the communication revolution is________.

A．positive                                                              B．critical

C．indifferent                                                       D．tolerant