Question

    The arm bones of women who lived 7,000 years ago show a surprising level of strength--even higher than today's professional athletes. That's according to a first-ever study comparing prehistoric(史前的) bones to those of living people. The finding suggests a revision of history- the everyday lives of prehistoric women were filled with hard labor, rather than just sitting at home doing lighter tasks while the men struggled and fought for life.

“Before the study, there are no clear records describing how our ancient ancestors lived. It can be easy to forget that bone is a living tissue, one that responds to the difficulties we put our bodies through,” said lead author Alison Macintosh. “Physical force and muscle activity both put pressure on the bone. The bone reacts by changing in shape, thickness and other aspects over time.”

Previous studies only compared female bones to contemporary male bones, the researchers said-and that's a problem, because the response of male bones to stress and change is much bigger than that of women. For instance, as humans moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle constantly on the move to a more settled agrarian(农耕的) one, changes can be observed in the structure of the shinbone(胫骨)- and these changes were much more evident in men.

However, a comparison of the bones of prehistoric women to the bones of living female athletes can help us work out a more accurate picture of what those prehistoric women were doing. "By analyzing the bones of living people and comparing them to the ancient bones, we can start to explain the kinds of labor our ancestors were reforming, Macintosh said. What they found was that women's leg strength hasn't changed a great deal, but their arms used to be very powerful. Prehistoric women, the researchers found, had arm strength 11-16 percent stronger than those of modern rowers(桨手), and 30 percent stronger than those of non-athletes.

1.What does the study tell about prehistoric women?

A.They were stronger than men. B.They had lighter bones than men.

C.They did tough tasks as the men. D.They spent most time staying at home.

2.What problem did previous studies on prehistoric bones have?

A.They lacked enough comparison. B.They only studied men' s bones.

C.They focused little on bones. D.They ignored the lifestyles.

3.What does the underlined word "that" in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A.Bones’ structure. B.Bones' thickness.

C.Bones’ response to stress. D.Bones’ stress from hard labor.

4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A.It's still hard to explain our ancestors' lifestyle.

B.Prehistoric women went through much suffering.

C.Women's arms have become much stronger over time.

D.Prehistoric women are stronger than contemporary females.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

本文是说明文。根据一项针对7000年前生活的女性骨骼研究显示，这些史前女性的手臂力量大于如今的女性。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段The finding suggests a revision of history- the everyday lives of prehistoric women were filled with hard labor, rather than just sitting at home doing lighter tasks while the men struggled and fought for life.得知研究发现史前女性所从事的体力劳动和男性一样艰苦。故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第三段Previous studies only compared female bones to contemporary male bones, the researchers said-and that's a problem,得知问题是：此前的研究只是将女性骨骼和男性骨骼对比，但这种方法很可能低估了女性的工作强度，可以推断出缺乏比较。故选A。

3.词义猜测题。根据because the response of male bones to stress and change is much bigger than that of women.得知男性骨骼相对于女性骨骼来说对压力作出的反应更明显，前后在对比the response of bones to stress。故选C。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段Prehistoric women, the researchers found, had arm strength 11-16 percent stronger than those of modern rowers, and 30 percent stronger than those of non-athletes.得知研究发现史前女性比现代女性更强壮。故选D。