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 hardly 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 (性别)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 being smaller and weaker as they age.
【小题1】The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to .A．healthB．long lifeC．ageingD．effect【小题2】The text mainly talks about .A．men’s heart cellsB．women’s ageing processC．the gender differenceD．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 bornB．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beatC．the female heart loses few of the cells with ageD．women never lose their pumping power with age【小题4】We can know from the passage that .A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found outB．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cellsC．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater lossD．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20B
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(答案→)B
解析：
【小题1】联系下文that their hearts hardly lose their pumping power with age.可知这个单词指的是长寿，故选B。
【小题1】根据The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.及下文描述，可知本文主要谈论的是寿命和心脏的问题，故选D。
【小题1】根据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.描述，可知选C。
【小题1】根据The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink.及下文描述，可知科学家们正在查明为什么男性的心脏丧失更多细胞的原因。故选B。