Do you know that 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(变老) 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 aging 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.
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: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小题5: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
小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:C
小题4:C
小题5:B
题目分析：本文介绍女性比男性长寿的原因主要是基因问题，还有男性可以通过锻炼延长自己的寿命。
小题1:猜词题：从第一段的句子：Do you know that men die earlier than women?可知这个单词指的是女性的长寿。选B
小题2:主旨大意题。根据文章第 1 段的第 2 句…the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age 和第 2 段中的 women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age 及全文内容可知，本题的正确答案选 D。
小题3:事实细节题。根据文章第 5 段的第 1 句 What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells 可知，本题的正确答案选 C。
小题4:细节题：从最后一段的句子：The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise.可知锻炼可以保持心脏健康。答案是C
小题5:推理判断题。根据文章倒数第 2 段中的 The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart 可推知，本题的正确答案选B。
点评：本文介绍女性比男性长寿的原因主要是基因问题，还有男性可以通过锻炼延长自己的寿命。属于科普类的短文，需要考生在阅读的时候有足够的耐心。要养成在上下文串联中猜测词义的能力，根据上下文中出现的同义词，近义词，反义词，以及词义的解释来理解生词。同时要抓住文章的中心，要根据题目及选项以及文章的上下文串联合理的判断推理。