Short people, studies have shown , are more likely to have a stroke , suffer from high blood pressures and heart disease and be bullied in school .
Now, researchers report that short people—at least in the past—were also more likely to die at a younger age than their taller peers.
Their study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology (流行病学) and Community Health , found that short bones have something to do with short life for more than 1,000 years. The conclusion was based on 490 sets of adult skeletal(骨架) remains from an archaeological(考古学的) site in northeastern England , YC dating from the 9th century to about 1850 .
About 55% of men and 73% of women died before the age of 45, and 39% of men and 56% of women died before age 30. The risk of death before age 30 declined as bone length increased.
“This study provides evidence from an archaeological sample that long bone length is connected with age at death—those with smaller bones tend to die younger,” according to Dr. D.J. Gunnell of the university of Bristol in the UK and colleagues .
While it is not clear why short stature(身材) might be linked to earlier death , the researchers point out that height is an indicator of childhood nutrition, which may have long-lasting effect on health .
“Mechanism (身体结构) for height-mortality(死亡) associations in the past may differ from those today , for example , short stature may have increased the risk of death in childbirth and this may explain the higher risk of premature(未成熟的) mortality in women,” Gunnell and colleagues write .
“However, short bones, it would appear, have always been a marker of a short life,” the authors conclude.
小题1:The title of the passage should be .
A．Short people and their taller peers
B．Men and women
C．Short stature and short life
D．Long life and short life小题2:“An indicator” in Paragraph 6 means .
A．a study
B．a marker
C．a risk
D．an age小题3:Which of the following statements is Not true according to the passage?
A．People with smaller bones were more likely to die younger.
B．Women were more likely to die at a young age.
C．Short-stature women bear higher risk of death in giving birth to babies.
D．Most people were more likely to die at the age of 30 in the past.小题4:Short stature may be caused by .
A．less childhood nutrition
B．heart disease
C．some illnesses
D．high blood pressure小题5:The topic in this passage is probably connected with
A．space medicine
B．sports medicine
C．social medicine
D．industrial medicine
小题1:C
小题2:B
小题3:D
小题4:A
小题5:C
题目分析：这篇文章主要讲了研究表明，身高越矮小，越容易患脑溢血、高血压、心脏病等疾病，因此寿命也越短。
小题1:根据全文内容以及Now, researchers report that short people—at least in the past—were also more likely to die at a younger age than their taller peers.
故选C。
小题2:根据which may have long-lasting effect on health .可猜测出an indicator意思是指示器，故答案应为B。
小题3:根据About 55% of men and 73% of women died before the age of 45, and 39% of men and 56% of women died before age 30. The risk of death before age 30 declined as bone length increased.故选D。
小题4:根据While it is not clear why short stature(身材) might be linked to earlier death , the researchers point out that height is an indicator of childhood nutrition, which may have long-lasting effect on health ，故选A。
小题5:这篇文章主要讲了身高和寿命的关系，这属于社会医学，故选C。
点评：本题型考查了对文章段落或某一板块的理解概括能力。先阅读问题，然后带着问题，再读全文，找出答题所需要的依据，完成阅读。在词义与句义理解的基础上，结合上下文总结归纳某一段或几段的大意，对于把握文章主旨，分析全文结构都是至关重要的。