Question

    A research by the National Center for Health Statistics is seen as an important confirmation of the “Hispanic mortality paradox (西班牙裔死亡率悖论).”

On average, Hispanics outlive whites by 2.5 years and blacks by 7.7 years. Their life expectancy at birth in 2006 was 80.6 years, compared with 78.1 for whites, 72.9 for blacks and 77.7 years for the total population.

The report shows that the Hispanic population has higher life expectancy at birth and at almost every age despite a socioeconomic status lower than that of whites. “Mortality is very correlated with income, education and health care access,” says Elizabeth Arias, author of the report. “You would expect the Hispanic population would have higher mortality, in line with the black population.”

The Hispanic paradox has been documented for more than two decades, but this is the first time the government has had enough data to issue national numbers. Researchers are struggling to explain why Hispanics live longer.

“We don’t know,” says David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “We thought it was a problem in the data, but we can pretty much say this is real.”

Potential factors:

·Culture and lifestyle. Support from extended family and lower rates of smoking and drinking. Latino groups in particular have very strong family and social ties.

·Migration. The “healthy migrant effect” argues that healthy people are more likely to emigrate. And when immigrants become ill, they might return home and die there.

“Solving the puzzle may help the nation deal with health care issues because Hispanics use health services less—they make fewer doctors visits and spend less time in hospitals,” Hayes Bautista says. “It’s clearly something in the Latino culture,” he says.

1.In 2006, Hispanics’ life expectancy is   years longer than the average of the total population.

A.2. 5 B.7. 7 C.2. 9 D.80. 6

2.What does the underlined word “outlive” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A.To live longer than.

B.To live shorter than.

C.To die out.

D.To expect to live.

3.What is the main idea of paragraph three?

A.Hispanics were born better than whites.

B.Morality is closely related with health care access.

C.Whites should have longer life expectancy.

D.Even experts can’t explain the phenomenon.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了西班牙裔死亡率悖论，即尽管社会经济地位低于白人，西班牙裔人寿命更长。

1.

细节理解题。有第二段中的“Their life expectancy at birth in 2006 was 80.6 years, compared with 78.1 for whites, 72.9 for blacks and 77.7 years for the total population.”（2006年，他们出生时的预期寿命为80.6岁，而白人为78.1岁，黑人为72.9岁，总人口平均寿命为77.7岁。）可知80.6岁-77.7岁=2.9岁，西班牙裔预期寿命比总人口的平均值长了2.9年。故选C项。

2.

词义猜测题。由第二段“On average, Hispanics outlive whites by 2.5 years and blacks by 7.7 years. Their life expectancy at birth in 2006 was 80.6 years, compared with 78.1 for whites, 72.9 for blacks and 77.7 years for the total population.”（平均来说，西班牙裔比白人多活2.5年，比黑人多活7.7年。2006年，他们出生时的预期寿命为80.6岁，而白人为78.1岁，黑人为72.9岁，总人口为77.7岁。）可知西班牙裔比白人活得久，outlive在此处意为“To live longer than”。故选A项。

3.

主旨大意题。由第三段“The report shows that the Hispanic population has higher life expectancy at birth and at almost every age despite a socioeconomic status lower than that of whites. “Mortality is very correlated with income, education and health care access,” says Elizabeth Arias, author of the report. “You would expect the Hispanic population would have higher mortality, in line with the black population.””（报告显示，西班牙裔人口在出生时和几乎每个年龄段都有较高的预期寿命，尽管社会经济地位低于白人。该报告的作者伊丽莎白·阿里亚斯说：“死亡率与收入、教育和医疗保健机会密切相关。”“你会认为西班牙裔人口的死亡率会更高，与黑人人口一样。”）可知西班牙裔人口的死亡率会与黑人人口一样，但事实是西班牙裔人口拥有更长的寿命，报告作者也弄不明白了，可推断出第三段主要讲即使是专家也无法解释这种现象。故选D项。