A new study has found that all women need to lower their stress levels is a strong and happy marriage．A team of researchers led by Jamesa. Coan, a University of Virginia neuroscientist （神经学家） has found that women under threat who hold their husbands' hands show signs of immediate relief, which can clearly be seen on their brain scans．

Coan, an assistant professor in the U．V A．Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Department of Psychology, and his team conducted a study involving several couples who rated themselves as highly satisfied with their marriages．

The researchers designed a functional MRI（magnetic resonance imaging 磁共振成像） study in which 16 married women were subjected to the threat of a very mild electric shock while they by turns held their husband's hand, the hand of a stranger（male） or no hand at all．

They found that the MRI was able to show how these women's brains responded to this handholding while in a threatening situation．The researchers noted a large decrease in the brain response to threat as a function of partner handholding, and a limited decrease in this response as a function of stranger handholding．

Moreover, partner handholding effects varied as a function of marital quality, with women in the very highest quality marriages benefiting from a very powerful decrease in threat-related brain activity．"This is the first study of the neurological reactions to human touch in a threatening situation．" said Dr．Coan．

1．The study shows that _____can be the best way to lessen stress for women．

       A．high-quality marriages                   B．holding their husband's hand

       C．getting married                    D．being strong and happy

2．How do the researchers create the threatening situation in the experiment?

       A．Forcing the women to hold the hand of a stranger．

       B．Giving the women a very mild electric shock．

       C．Putting the women in a dark and silent room．

       D．Telling the story of sad marriage．

3．According to the study, the larger decrease in the brain response to the threat, __

       A．the more satisfied you'll be with the marriage．

       B．the more disappointed you'll be with the marriage

       C．the more eager you'll be to get married．

       D．the less reliable husband you'll have．

4．We can infer that the passage could be published in            ．

      A．a book about love and marriage             B．a magazine on entertainment

      C．a section of home news in the newspaper  D．a science journal on psychology