（八）

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 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 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 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.

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. 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

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

八、完形填空

　　James was a famous writer. Once he wrote a play for a television about a family who came to England from Pakistan, and the problem they had was 1 down in England.

　　The play was 2 and it was bought by an American TV company. And James was invited to go to New York to 3 the production. He lived in Oulwich, 4 is an hour’ s journey 5 Heathrow(an air port in London).The flight was to leave at 8:30 a.m., 6 he had to be a the airport about 7:30 in the morning.

　　He ordered a taxi for 6:30, 7 his alarm clock for 5:45 and went to bed. 8 he forgot to wind the clock,and it stopped shortly after midnight. Also the taxi-driver had to work very late that night and overslept.

　　James woke with the terrible feeling that 9 was wrong.He looked at his alarm clock.It. 10 there there silently with the hands 11 to ten past twelve.He turned on the radio and discovered 12 .He swore（咒骂）quietly and switched on the electric kettle（电壶）.

　　He was just 13 the boiling water into the teapot 14 the nine o’clock pips(报时声) sounded on the radio. The announcer began to read the news.“...reports are coming in o a crash（坠毁）near Heathrow Airport. A Boeing 707 left for New York crashed shortly after after taking 15 this morning. Flight number 2234...” James turned pale.

　　“My flight.”he said out loud. “If I hadn’t overslept, I would have been on that plane.”

1.A.settling B. visiting C. getting D. moving

2.A. surprising success B. surprisingly successful

C. successfully surprising D. successful surprise

3.A. carry out B. help out C. bring out D. help with

4.A. that B. which C. it D. as

5.A. out of B. far from C. away from D. away off

6.A. for B. so C. because D. since

7.A. sets B. being set C. set D. setting

8.A. fortunately B. Luckily C. Unfortunately D. Happily

9.A. he B. it C. anything D. something

10.A. went B. stopped C. struck D. looked

11.A. pointing B. going C. set D. raised

12.A. that it was, in fact, ten o’ clock 

　 B. it was in fact that ten o’ clock

   C. hat it was ,in fact ,ten to nine 

   D. in fact ,that was ten to nine

13.A. putting B. sending C. pouring D. entering

14.A. while B. as C. during D. when

15.A. off B. down C. away D. out