阅读理解 If you are a male and you are reading this, congratulations; you are a survivor. According to statistics, you are more than twice as likely to die of skin cancer than a woman, and nine times more likely to die of AIDS. Assuming you make it to the end of your natural term, about 78 years for men in Australia, you will die on average five years before a woman.
There are many reasons for this—typically, men take more risks than women and are more likely to drink and smoke—but perhaps more importantly, men don' t go to the doctor.
" Men aren' t seeing doctors as often as they should," says Dr. Cullotta. " This is particularly so for the over-40s, when diseases tend to strike.
Gullotta says a healthy man should visit the doctor every year or two. For those over 45, it should be at least once a year.
Two months ago Gullotta saw a 50-year-old man who had delayed doing anything about his smoker' s cough for a year.
"When I finally saw him it had already spread and he has since died from lung cancer," he says. "Earlier detection and treatment may not have cured him, but it would have prolonged his life. "
According to a recent survey, 95% of women aged between 15 and early 40s see a doctor once a year, compared to 70% of men in the same age group.
"A lot of men think they are invincible(不可战胜的)," Gullotta says. "They only come in when a friend drops dead on the golf course and they think ' Geez, if it could happen to him, ...'"
Then there is the ostrich approach. " Some men are seared of what might be there and would rather not know," says Dr. Ross Cartmill.
" Most men get their cars serviced more regularly than they service their bodies," Cartmill says. He believes most diseases that commonly affect men could be addressed by preventive check-ups.
" Regular check-ups for men would inevitably place strain on the public purse," Cartmill says. " But prevention is cheaper in the long run than having to treat the diseases. Besides, the ultimate cost is far greater; it is called premature death. "
单选题 1.Why does the author congratulate his male readers at the beginning of the passage?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】文章第一段一句话说到“如果你是一个男性,如果你正在读这篇文章,那么恭喜你:你是幸存者”。第一段第二句“男性更容易得皮肤癌,死于艾滋病的几率要比女性高九倍。”因此男性有幸活足够长来看到这篇文章,所以选项C正确。
单选题 2.What does the author state is the most important reason men die five years earlier on average than women?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第二段说到“有许多原因…但也许更为重要的原因是男性不去看医生”,选项B说“男性不像女性一样经常做医疗检查”,与原文意思最为贴切,故为正确答案。
单选题 3.Which of the following best completes the sentence " Geez, if it could happen to him, ..."(Line 2, Para. 8)?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】结合第九段原文,“They only come in when…they think‘Geez,if it could happen tohim,…’”,他们只有在看到朋友突然在高尔夫球场晕死,才会想到自己也去看医生,因为他们会想“哎呀,如果这事发生在我身上…”,所以A为正确选项。
单选题 4.What does Dr. Ross Cartmill mean by "the ostrich approach"(Line 1, Para. 9)?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】结合第九段原文“Some men are seared of what might be there and would rather notknow,”一些男性害怕自己会有某些疾病,因而情愿选择不去知道它。可见,这些男性是由于害怕而不愿意查出疾病。选项D正确。
单选题 5.What does Cartmill say about regular check-ups for men?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】最后一段Cartmill说到,男性定期的身体检查将必然带来经济上的紧张,但长远来看,预防要比治疗便宜得多。可见,选项B正确。