A previous theory of why women outlive men suggested that the female sex hormone, oestrogen, could have a protective effect on the heart. But Dr. Goldspink dismisses this idea, saying that there is no discernible dropoff in female heart function after menopause （更年期）, when oestrogen （雌激素） levels decrease dramatically. However, oestrogen does have a beneficial effect on blood vessels. The study found that blood flow to the muscles and skin of the limbs decreases with age in both sexes. The changes in the structure of the blood vessels occur earlier in men, but women catch up soon after menopause.
It’s not all bad news for men, though. In a related study, the team found that the hearts of veteran male athletes were as powerful as those of inactive 20yearold male undergraduates. But can men really recover lost heart function after a lifetime of inactivity and poor diet? Is it ever too late to start exercising? “I think the answer is no,” says Dr. Goldspink. “The health benefits to be gained from sensible exercise are to be recommended, regardless of age.” So if you are male and getting on, get on with it
31. A medical explanation as to the question why women live longer than men is that .
A) women have to live long enough to look after grandchildren
B) women’s hearts hardly grow old
C) women have more endurance than men
D) women are superior at evolutionary scale
32. The power of the female heart remains undiminished between the ages of 18 and 70 probably because .
A) women almost lose no contractile muscle cells in the walls of their hearts
B) women’s oestrogen has a protective effect on their heart
C) the size of their heart chambers is different from men’s
D) the thickness of the female heart’s muscular wall is different from men’s
33. Dr. Goldspink disagrees with the proposal that oestrogen could protect heart because .
A) female sex hormone can increase blood flow
B) female sex hormone can be beneficial to blood vessels
C) female heart function hardly drops when oestrogen levels fall greatly
D) female heart function improves though not obviously
34. What Dr. Goldspink says to men is that .
A) men can’t recover lost heart function in any way
B) men can recover lost heart function at any age
C) proper exercise does good to the heart at any age
D) it’s too late to start exercise when men are getting old
35. The best title of the passage is .
A) Exercise and the Health of Heart
B) The Difference between Men and Women
C) Heart and Health
D) Why Do Women Live Longer than Men
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming: in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.
