Why do men live a shorter life than women? The latest research indicates that men’s hearts going into a rapid decline when they reach middle age could be the cause.
The research of ageing on the heart has shown that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose much pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 20 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, Samantha of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells which make it beat.Between the ages of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men ,” said Samantha.“This is part of the ageing process.”
What amazes scientists is that the female heart suffers very little loss of these cells.A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could work almost as perfectly as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender （性别）difference might give the reason why men live shorter than women,”said Samantha.They studied over 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 17 and 80, who are mainly healthy persons so as to reduce the influence of disease.“The team has yet to think about why ageing suffers a greater loss on the male heart,” said Samantha.
But there is also good news -- men can enjoy the health of their hearts with regular exercise.Samantha stressed that women should also take regular exercise to stop their leg muscles getting weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph means “________”.
| 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．men have fewer cells than women when they are born |
| B．women can produce the cells that make the heart beat |
| C．the female heart suffers less loss of the cells with age |
| D．women will never suffer the loss of pumping power with age |
If you want to live a long life, you should ________.
| A．enable your heart to beat much faster |
| B．think about the reason for ageing |
| C．take regular exercise to keep your heart healthy |
| D．stop your cells from being lost |
Watercolor is the o
ldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colors found in the earth with water.
Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolor. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster （灰泥）. Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolor painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go downhill, and for the next several centuries watercolor was used mainly for doing sketches（草图）or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolor as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolor had a remarkably strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolor continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolor, producing such well-known watercolor artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.The purpose of the passage is to introduce ________.
| A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting |
| B．oil’s power or influence over watercolor |
| C．the discovery of watercolor in England |
| D．the start and development of watercolor |
In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought ________.
| A．watercolor was softer, and thus better. |
B．Oil pai nting lasted longer, and was better. |
| C．Watercolor wasn’t fit for finished works |
| D．Watercolor was too hard to use in any works. |
According to the passage, watercolor painting was put back in England because ______.
| A．it was easy to use outdoors | B．it was a strong medium（媒介） |
| C．it was extremely bright in color. | D．it was suited for popular tastes |
What would the next paragraph most probably talk about?
| A．The works of famous US watercolor artists. |
| B．Modern American oil painters. |
| C．The weaknesses of oil as popular paints |
| D．Techniques of producing watercolor |
Mr Ling lives in China. He worked in a factory and last year he retired. His wife died five years ago and his son works in Japan. He always has sports and he is in good health.
One day his son called him and asked him to have a journey to Tokyo. He was very happy. He was afraid to travel by plane and took the ship.
On the firs
t morning on the ship Mr Ling met an Englishman at table. The man said to him, “Good morning!” He thought the Englishman told his name to him. So he stood up and said, “Ling Bing!” And it was repe
ated a few mornings and Mr Ling told a teacher about it. Hearing him, the teacher began to laugh and said, “He says hello to you in the morning.”
The next morning, when Mr Ling met the Englishman, he said, “Good morning!” And the Englishman stood up and said, “Ling Bing, sir.” Mr Ling stays at home ______________.
| A．with his wife | B．with his son | C．with his daughter | D．by himself |
Mr Ling went to Japan by ship because ______________.
| A．he thought it was safer |
| B．he wanted to have sports on the ship |
| C．he had little money to take a plane |
| D．he had enough time to do so |
The old man told his name to the Englishman because ________.
| A．he hoped to make friends with him. |
| B．he wanted to say hello to him, too. |
| C．he wanted him to teach him English |
| D．he thought “Good morning” was his name |
Which of the following is right?
| A．Mr Ling began to study English on the ship. |
| B．The Englishman thought “Ling Bing” meant “Good morning” in Chinese |
| C．The Englishman learned much Chinese on the ship. |
| D．The old woman began to teach Mr Ling English. |
任务型阅读: 下面的五个人都想找房子,以下各题是他们的个人情况介绍.阅读所给出的六则广告简介(A---F).选出符合个人需要的最佳选项.选项中有一项是多余的.
__Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have four children. They haven't got a car, so they want to live downtown. They can pay $500 a month, but they can't pay more than that.
Mr. Smith has been retired and he is alone. He is now not in good health. He wants a house in the country which is very quiet and near to see the doctor.
__The Williams are very rich, and they want to find a clean and comfortable house. They have a lot of friends and often invite them to spend the weekend in their house.
__ Mrs. White has a young daughter who is only seven years old, but she doesn't want to spend too much time sending her child to school. And she also likes a house near a park or the forest.
__ Mr. Jackson is a truck driver and he has two children, one of whom has a car and is going to get married. So they want to find a house where they can park their car and truck easily.
A: A small house in the country, two miles from a village but near a hospital, 450 dollars a month. Call 821-7146 for an evening or Sunday appointment.
B: Now available at Franklin Park, one block from a primary school. Two bedrooms at $225. Utilities included except electricity. One month's deposit(押金）required.
C: A flat of 120 square meters, with three bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen is in a building on New Street, which is not far from the center of the city. In each bedroom there is a bed, a sofa, a desk and two chairs. The rent is $480 per month. Five or six buses take you straight to the school, the hospital, the supermarket, and the train station.
D: Nice modern apartment with nine bedrooms, a swimming pool and lovely gardens, start Jan. 1, partly furnished, with water and dryer, central air conditioning, 1800 dollars a month.
E: A house available for rent-furnished. Street Croix, Virgin, pool, wide ocean view. No buses but a parking lot nearby, $200 weekly. November--April. SR Box Y---680.
A new study（研究）warns that about thirty percent of the world’s people may not have enough water by the year 2025.
A private American organization called Population Action International did the new study. It says more than three hundred thirty-five million people lack enough water now. The people live in twenty-eight countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.
Population Action International researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about three thousand million people may lack water. At least 18 more countries are expected to have severe water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet, the amount of water on earth stays the same.
Mr. Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.
The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking water is not safe. Mr. Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases, such as cholera, which is carried in water. Lack of water may also result in more international conflict. Countries may have to compete for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability of developing to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need a large amount of water when they are beginning.
The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.
The report also says long-term solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth, It says countries can't provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have. According to the writer’s opinion, the first serious problem caused by lack of water is ______.
| A．health problem | B．war | C．economy | D．industry |
Robert Engelman may be _______.
| A．an Englishman | B．an American | C．a Japanese | D．an Australian |
Which of the following is NOT the way to solve the water problem?
| A．To control population growth |
| B．To teach people not to waste water. |
| C．To find ways to use water for only one purpose. |
| D．To use less water of agriculture. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．How to get more water in the future. | B．Problems caused by water |
| C．The Lack of water | D．A new study of water |
Creativity(创造力) is the key to a brighter future, say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.
Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily an indicator(标志) of high intelligen
ce(智力). Just because a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using his resources to produce new ideas that are good for something.
It is important to let children choose. From an early age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it's choosing food for lunch, making decision helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should let their children decide how to use their time or spend their money, but not help them too much if they make the wrong decision. The child may have a hard time, but that is all right. This is because the most important characteristic of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.Creativity is something ______.
| A．that people are born with |
| B．that depends on intelligence |
| C．that is a way of using what one has learnt to work out new problems |
| D．that is not important |
What should the parents do when their children decide how to spend their money?
| A．Try to help them as much as possible. |
| B．Take no notice of whatever they do. |
| C．Help them if their decision is wrong, but not too much. |
| D．Leave them as they are. |
What is the proper title of the passage?
| A．The Problems in Education | B．Let Children Choose |
| C．Children Need Creativity | D．A Brighter Future |
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