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. w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m

“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

Ⅱ. 写作（共两节，满分35分）

第一节：短文填词（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

阅读下面短文，根据以下提示：1）汉语提示，2）首字母提示，3）语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上。所填单词要求意义准确，拼写正确。

注意：本题分A、B两篇，A篇为一级达标学校学生应答题，B篇为非一级达标学校学生应答题。

(A)

Once an American and a Frenchman decided to cross the

sea _____ France and England in balloon in 1784. When they flew                        81. ________

high over the w     , they suddenly discovered a hole in the                                82. ________

balloon. What was_____ (更糟糕), the hole became bigger and bigger.                  83. ________

The air keeping the balloon_____ was escaping quickly and the                              84. ________

balloon was coming down. _____ (看到) this, the two men threw                          85. ________

a      their equipment away to make the balloon lighter. It started                             86. ________

to r     higher again. But soon it again was too close to the water.                       87. ________

Finally, the men had _____ choice but to throw away most of                          88. ________

their clothes to s      themselves. The crowd was very surprised                         89. ________

to see this when the balloon_____(降落)in front of them.                                     90. ________

请认真阅读下列短文，按要求填出符合短文意思的正确英语单词，注意：其中有的所缺单词已给出首字母，有的已给出中文意思，有的要求考生按上下文的意思填出完整、正确形式的单词。所填单词要求拼写正确和形式符合英语写作要求，使短文通顺、流畅，并将正确答案写在试题右边的相对应的横线中。
February 14 is a day for people who have fallen in love.
【小题1】On this day, these men and women often send c    to each other
【小题2】for Valentine’s Day. This day has been popular      people in love
【小题3】for a long time. At first, this holiday was called Lupercalia. T    the
【小题4】name of the day was changed       Saint Valentine’s Day. The man
【小题5】    (命名) Saint Valentine was killed on February 14, 270 AD, because
【小题6】he was a Christian.    Saint Valentine was killed, February 14 was
【小题7】the old Roman holiday, Lupercalia. The church w    people to think
【小题8】of       Christian holiday on this day, so the church changed the
【小题9】the name of the holiday. This change did not s      people in love
【小题10】from giving gifts to each other, like       （手套）, handkerchiefs
or underwear.

请认真阅读下列短文，按要求填出符合短文意思的正确英语单词，注意：其中有的所缺单词已给出首字母，有的已给出中文意思，有的要求考生按上下文的意思填出完整、正确形式的单词。所填单词要求拼写正确和形式符合英语写作要求，使短文通顺、流畅，并将正确答案写在试题右边的相对应的横线中。

February 14 is a day for people who have fallen in love.

1.On this day, these men and women often send c    to each other

2.for Valentine’s Day. This day has been popular      people in love

3.for a long time. At first, this holiday was called Lupercalia. T    the

4.name of the day was changed       Saint Valentine’s Day. The man

5.    (命名) Saint Valentine was killed on February 14, 270 AD, because

6.he was a Christian.    Saint Valentine was killed, February 14 was

7.the old Roman holiday, Lupercalia. The church w    people to think

8.of       Christian holiday on this day, so the church changed the

9.the name of the holiday. This change did not s      people in love

10.from giving gifts to each other, like       （手套）, handkerchiefs

or underwear.

On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas.

Vice President Al Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U. S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said.

They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running mate, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House.

The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gore’s unprecedented fight to claw a come-from-behind electoral victory in the pivotal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down.

“The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,” William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement.

Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with top advisers including Mr. Daley.

He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved gingerly, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps.

Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on sleepless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms form Miami to Tallahassee to Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43d U. S. president.

The news of Mr. Gore’s plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U. S. presidential election in more than a century, one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country.

It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 271votes to 267—the narrowest Electoral College victory since the turbulent election of 1876.

Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nation’s highest court.

The 5-to –4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 12 deadline for states to select their presidential electors.

James Baker 3rd, the former secretary of state who represented Mr. Bush in the Florida dispute, issued a short statement after the U. S. high court ruling, saying that the governor was “very pleased and gratified.”

Mr. Bush was planning a nationwide speech aimed at trying to begin to heal the country’s deep, aching and varied divisions. He then was expected to meet with congressional leaders, including Democrats. Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush’s ruing mate, was meeting with congressmen Wednesday in Washington.

When Mr. Bush, who is 54, is sworn into office on Jan.20, he will be only the second son of  a president to follow his father to the White House, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams in the early 19th century.

Mr. Gore, in his speech, was expected to thank his supporters, defend his hive-week battle as an effort to ensure, as a matter of principle, that every vote be counted, and call for the nation to join behind the new president. He was described by an aide as “resolved and resigned.”

While some constitutional experts had said they believed states could present electors as late as Dec. 18, the U. S. high court made clear that it saw no such leeway.

The U.S. high court sent back “for revision” to the Florida court its order allowing recounts but made clear that for all practical purposes the election was over.

In its unsigned main opinion, the court declared, “The recount process, in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter.”

That decision, by a court fractured along philosophical lines, left one liberal justice charging that the high court’s proceedings bore a political taint.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in an angry dissent:” Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law.”

But at the end of five seemingly endless weeks, during which the physical, legal and constitutional machines of the U. S. election were pressed and sorely tested in ways unseen in more than a century, the system finally produced a result, and one most Americans appeared to be willing at lease provisionally to support.

The Bush team welcomed the news with an outward show of restraint and aplomb. The governor’s hopes had risen and fallen so many times since Election night, and the legal warriors of each side suffered through so many dramatic reversals, that there was little energy left for celebration.

The main idea of this passage is

[A]. Bush’s victory in presidential election bore a political taint.

[B]. The process of the American presidential election.

[C]. The Supreme Court plays a very important part in the presidential election.

[D]. Gore is distressed.

     What does the sentence “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step” mean

[A]. Bush hopes Gore to join his administration.

[B]. Bush hopes Gore to concede defeat and to support him.

[C]. Bush hopes Gore to congraduate him.

[D]. Bush hopes Gore go on fighting with him.

     Why couldn’t Mr. Gore win the presidential election after he outpolled Mr. Bush in the popular vote? Because

[A]. the American president is decided by the supreme court’s decision.

[B]. people can’t directly elect their president.

[C]. the American president is elected by a slate of presidential electors.

[D]. the people of each state support Mr. Bush.

     What was the result of the 5—4 decision of the supreme court?

[A]. It was in fact for the vote recount.

[B]. It had nothing to do with the presidential election.

[C]. It decided the fate of the winner.

[D]. It was in essence against the vote recount.

     What did the “turbulent election of 1876” imply?

[A]. The process of presidential election of 2000 was the same as that.

[B]. There were great similarities between the two presidential elections (2000 and 1876).

[C]. It was compared to presidential election of 2000.

[D]. It was given an example.