单选题 People born in autumn live longer than those born in spring and are less likely to fall chronically ill when they are older, according to an Austrian scientist. Using census(人口普查)data for more than one million people in Austrian, Denmark and Australia, scientists at the Max Plank Institute for Demographic(人口统计的)Research found the month of birth was related to life expectancy over the age of 50. Seasonal differences in what mothers ate during pregnancy, and infections occurring at different times of the year could both have an impact on the health of a new-born baby and could influence its life expectancy in old age. "A mother giving birth in spring spends the last stage of her pregnancy in winter, when she will eat fewer vitamins than in summer," said one of the scientists. "When she stops breast-feeding and starts giving her baby normal food, it"s in the hot weeks of summer when babies are inclined to infections of the digestive system. " In Austria, adults born in autumn lived about seven months longer than those born in spring, and in Denmark adults with birthdays in autumn outlived those born in spring by about four months. In the southern hemisphere, the picture is similar. Adults born in the Australian autumn lived about four months longer than those born in the Australian spring. The study focused on people born at the beginning of the 20th century, using death certificates and census data. Although nutrition at all times of the year has improved since then, the seasonal pattern persists.

单选题 People born in autumn live longer than those born in spring because______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：这是一道细节题，要求回答秋季出生的人比春季出生的人长寿的原因。文章的中间部分引用了一位科学家的观点：她在这个时期摄入的维生素要少于夏季。也就是说孕妇在夏季摄人的维生素要多于冬季，而秋季分娩的孕妇恰好在夏季度过孕期的最后阶段。这种维生素摄入量的差异影响了新生儿的健康及其长大后的平均寿命，因此选择D。而选项A“秋季出生的婴儿从不感染任何传染病”、选项B“春季出生的婴儿对传染病没有抵抗力”和选项C“春季分娩的母亲怀孕期间摄入较少营养”在文章中都没有提及。

单选题 The term "life expectancy"(Line 5)refers to______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：这是一道语义题。通过构词法，我们知道这是个由life和expectancy构成的复合词。life表示“生活，生命，活力等”，而expectancy源自动词expect(预计，预期)。因此可以推断“life expectancy”表示人的平均寿命，也就是选项A所表示的内容。

单选题 Which of the following terms is EXCLUDED from the scientists" demographic research?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：这是一道细节判断题。答题时可以从文章中寻找相应的句子和段落，并从中得出答案。这道题的题干是“以下哪个术语被排除在科学家的人口统计研究之外”，也就是说文章中一定提到了人口统计研究中的三个术语。本文的倒数第二句话(该研究将焦点对准20世纪初出生的人，以死亡证明和人口普查数据为参考)提到两个术语：出生统计学和死亡统计学(选项A、B)。而文章中提到孕妇孕期所吃的东西因季节而变化，一年之中不同时期流行的传染病也不一样，两者都会对新生儿的健康产生影响，并进而影响他们到老年时的平均寿命。因此，疾病统计学(选项C)也在科学家的考虑之内。由此可见，选项D(母乳喂养统计学)被排除在科学家的人口统计研究之外。

单选题 The last sentence of the passage implies that______.

A、 the seasonal pattern determines a person"s life expectancy
B、 the seasonal pattern still influences life expectancy even if nutrition improves at all times of the year
C、 the seasonal pattern has an impact on food values
D、 the seasonal pattern will not change even if nutrition has improved much in modern age

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：这是一道推理题，要求推断文章最后一句话所暗示的内容。文章最后一句话告诉我们：尽管人们在一年中各个时期的营养状况与那时相比都已经有所改善，这样的季节性差异却依然存在。也就是说季节性差异这种模式仍然影响新生儿健康及其长大后的平均寿命，因此选择B。选项A“季节模式决定人的平均寿命”夸大了季节性差异的作用；文章没有提及选项C“季节模式影响食物价值”；选项D“即使人们在当代的营养状况比那时改善很多，季节性差异却依然存在”是文章的原意，不是暗示的内容，也应排除。

单选题 The passage is mainly about______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：这是一道主旨题。通览全文，我们发现本文讲述了科学家的一项研究发现，即人们50岁以后的平均寿命与出生月份有关，并解释其原因。因此选择C。文章没有提及选项A“为什么秋季出生的人不患慢性疾病”和选项D“不同季节的营养如何影响平均寿命”。选项B“季节模式如何影响新生儿的健康”只涉及文章的部分内容。