While still catching up to men in some fields of modern life, women appear to be far ahead in at least one undesirable aspect. "Women are particularly liable to developing depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress compared to men." according to Dr. Yehuda, chief psychiatrist at New York's Veteran's Administration Hospital. Studies of both animals and humans have shown that sex hormone (荷尔蒙) somehow affect the stress response, causing females under stress to produce more of the trigger chemicals than do males under the same conditions. In several of the studies, when stressed-out female rats had their ovaries (the female reproductive organs) removed, their chemical responses became equal to those of the males. Adding to a woman's increased dose of stress chemicals, are her increased "opportunities" for stress. "It's not necessarily that women don't cope as well. It's just that they have so much more to cope with." says Dr.Yehuda. "Their capacity for tolerating stress may even be greater than men's," she observes, " it's just that they' re dealing with so many more things that they become worn out from it more visibly and sooner." Dr.Yehuda notes another difference between the sexes. "I think that the kinds of things that women are exposed to tend to be in a chronic or repeated nature. Men go to war and are exposed to combat stress. Men are exposed to more acts of random physical violence. The kinds of interpersonal violence that women are exposed to tend to be in domestic situations, by, unfortunately, parents or other family members, and they tend not to be one-shot deals. The wear-and-tear that comes from these longer relationships can be quite devastating." Adeline Alvarez married at 18 and gave birth to a son, but was determined to finish college. "I struggled a lot to get the college degree. I was living in so much frustration that that was my escape, to go to school, and get ahead and do better." Later, her marriage ended and she became a single mother. "It's the hardest thing to take care of a teenager, have a job, pay the rent, pay the car payment, and pay the debt. I lived from paycheck to paycheck." Not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses Alvarez describes. But most women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and feeling the strain. Alvarez's experience demonstrates the importance of finding ways to diffuse stress before it threatens your health and your ability to function.
单选题 Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:细节题。第一段首句指出,在一个不太好的方面,女人似乎超过了男人。接着引用Yehuda医生的话指出,女人在面临压力时,更容易患病。第二段解释了为什么女人在面临压力时更容易患病,并指出性荷尔蒙是罪魁祸首。因此A项为正确答案。
单选题 Dr. Yehuda's research suggests that women_________.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:细节题。第三段第二、三句引用了Yehuda医生的话。她指出,女人应对压力的能力不一定比男人差,只是因为她们面临更多的压力,因此对压力的反应更明显,D项为正确答案。
单选题 According to Paragraph 4, the stress women confront tends to be_________.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:细节题。第四段第二句是段落主题句,该句指出,女性面对的压力通常具有周期长和单调重复的特点。因此C项为正确答案。
单选题 The sentence "I lived from paycheck to paycheck." ( Para. 5) shows that_________.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:句意题。应该根据上下文来理解句意。文中上一句指出,Alverez承担着各种家庭责任,包括照顾孩子、工作、付房租、养车以及偿还债务等。本句话应顺接上一句,进一步论述Alverez所承受的压力。选项中只有B和上一句衔接通顺、连贯,同时也和“Alverez承受着巨大的压力”这个段落主旨相符。因此B项为正确答案。paycheck并非一般支票,而是工资支票,这里指工资,薪水。“从工资到工资”意思是仅靠工资生活。
单选题 Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:主旨题。文章第一段通过两性比较引入了“女性在面临压力时更容易受到伤害”这个主题。第二、三、四段分别探讨了造成这种现象的原因:女性在面临压力时分泌更多化学物质,女性承受的压力更多,女性承受的压力具有周期长、重复性的特点。最后两段论述了女性承受巨大压力的现状。“女性”和“压力”这两个关键词贯穿全文,D项最适合做文章的标题。