4．The faces of the elderly，happily-married people sometimes look like each other．Dr．Aiken studied a number of couples who had been married for at least twenty-five years．Each couple provided four photographs-one photo of each partner at the time of their marriage and another photo to remove any clues．The photos were then displayed in groups：a random（随意的）grouping of the persons at the time of their marriage and another random grouping of the same persons who took photographs later．Some judges were asked to pick out the partners．They failed totally with the first group．Their judgments were no better than chance．But with the photos taken twenty-five or more years after the marriage，the judges were quite successful at deciding who was married to whom．They were particularly successful with the most happily-married couples．
Dr．Aiken believes there are several reasons why couples grow alike．One reason has something to do with imitation．One person tends to copy or do the same as someone else without knowing it．He says human beings copy the expressions of the faces of their loved ones．Another possible reason，he says，is the common experience of the couples．There is a tendency for people who have the same life experience to change their faces in similar ways．For example，if a couple suffered a lot of sad experiences，their faces are likely to change in a similar way．
21．The main purpose of the passage is toC．
A．tell how couples look like each other
B．show the life experience of husband and wife
C．explain why couples grow alike
D．describe the study on a number of married people
22．The judges failed toA．
A．tell couples by looking at their photos taken when they got married
B．tell happily-married couples from sadly-married couples
C．discover the difference of each partner
D．understand Dr．Aiken's study
23．The underlined sentence"Their judgments were no better than chance．"meansC．
A．quite successful
B．based on facts
C．only by luck
D．totally wrong
24．From the passage we can draw a conclusion that．C
A．happily-married couples are often richer than other couples
B．couples who look alike can live longer
C．the influence between couples can be quite strong
D．all couples have been proved to grow alike．
分析 短文主要讲了Dr．Aiken 通过照片的对比，解释了为什么夫妻会越长越相像．
解答 21．C，主旨大意题，短文主要讲了Dr．Aiken 通过照片的对比，解释了为什么夫妻会越长越相像，故答案为C．
22．A，细节理解题，根据句子The photos were then displayed in groups：a random（随意的）grouping of the persons at the time of their marriage and another random grouping of the same persons who took photographs later．Some judges were asked to pick out the partners．They failed totally with the first group．可知，那些裁判看那些刚结婚的照片没法分辨出谁与谁是夫妻，故答案为A．
23．C，句意猜测题，根据前一句They failed totally with the first group，他们没法辨别出这些夫妻，可以推测他们是靠运气挑选的，故答案为C．
24．C，推理判断题，短文最后一段Dr．Aiken believes there are several reasons why couples grow alike．Dr．Aiken 解释了为什么夫妻会越长越像，可见夫妻俩的影响是很大的，故答案为C．
点评 解答任务型阅读理解题，首先对原文材料迅速浏览，掌握全文的主旨大意．因为阅读理解题一般没有标题，所以，速读全文，抓住中心主旨很有必要，在速读的过程中，应尽可能多地捕获信息材料．其次，细读题材，各个击破．掌握全文的大意之后，细细阅读每篇材料后的问题，弄清每题要求后，带着问题，再回到原文中去寻找、捕获有关信息．最后，要善于抓住每段的主题句，阅读时，要有较强的针对性．对于捕获到的信息，要做认真分析，仔细推敲，理解透彻，只有这样，针对题目要求，才能做到稳、准．
