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

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.

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

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.

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.

What is Mr.Hayes-Bautista’s opinion about the paradox？

A. He supports there is a problem with the data.

B. He intends to trust the cultural factor.

C. He believes in the“healthy migrant effect”.

D. He thinks health care the most important factor.

Which of the following inferences is true according to the passage？

A. Black people suffer the lowest social status in America.

B. Hispanics might have healthier ways of life.

C. Only healthy people can immigrate into America.

D. White people don’t have strong family ties.

Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values—this can’t be repeated too often—are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering(干涉) with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.

Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car, it needs more mechanical maintenance(機(jī)械維修，保養(yǎng)) as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experiences, however good the results will be. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by seeking the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You can’t ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel bound to give them a try, on the principle that while there’s life, there’s hope.

When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The values are different between the old and the young.

B. The moral problems raised by old people.

C. The personal freedom for the old.

D. Old people’s viewpoint on life.

2. We can know from the first paragraph that________.

A. Very old people would like to live alone to have more personal freedom.

B. Very old people are able to keep their room clean.

C. Very old people like to live with their children.

D. Social services have nothing to do with very old people.

3. According to the author, which of the following is right?

A. The older a person, the more care he needs.

B. Too much emphasis has been put on old people’s values.

C. The human body can’t be compared to a car.

D. It is easy to provide spare parts for old people.

4.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to “________”.

A. their money or their health

B. the conclusion you come to

C. your talk to the old people

D. whether age is happy or unpleasant

Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values—this can’t be repeated too often—are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering(干涉) with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.

Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car, it needs more mechanical maintenance(機(jī)械維修，保養(yǎng)) as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experiences, however good the results will be. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by seeking the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You can’t ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel bound to give them a try, on the principle that while there’s life, there’s hope.

When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The values are different between the old and the young.

B. The moral problems raised by old people.

C. The personal freedom for the old.

D. Old people’s viewpoint on life.

2. We can know from the first paragraph that________.

A. Very old people would like to live alone to have more personal freedom.

B. Very old people are able to keep their room clean.

C. Very old people like to live with their children.

D. Social services have nothing to do with very old people.

3. According to the author, which of the following is right?

A. The older a person, the more care he needs.

B. Too much emphasis has been put on old people’s values.

C. The human body can’t be compared to a car.

D. It is easy to provide spare parts for old people.

4.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to “________”.

A. their money or their health

B. the conclusion you come to

C. your talk to the old people

D. whether age is happy or unpleasant

Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values—this can’t be repeated too often—are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering(干涉) with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.

Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car, it needs more mechanical maintenance(機(jī)械維修，保養(yǎng)) as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experiences, however good the results will be. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by seeking the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You can’t ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel bound to give them a try, on the principle that while there’s life, there’s hope.

When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.

5. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The values are different between the old and the young.

B. The moral problems raised by old people.

C. The personal freedom for the old.

D. Old people’s viewpoint on life.

6. We can know from the first paragraph that________.

A. Very old people would like to live alone to have more personal freedom.

B. Very old people are able to keep their room clean.

C. Very old people like to live with their children.

D. Social services have nothing to do with very old people.

7. According to the author, which of the following is right?

A. The older a person, the more care he needs.

B. Too much emphasis has been put on old people’s values.

C. The human body can’t be compared to a car.

D. It is easy to provide spare parts for old people.

8.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to “________”.

A. their money or their health

B. the conclusion you come to

C. your talk to the old people

D. whether age is happy or unpleasant

Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values—this can’t be repeated too often—are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering(干涉) with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.

Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car, it needs more mechanical maintenance(機(jī)械維修，保養(yǎng)) as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experiences, however good the results will be. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by seeking the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You can’t ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel bound to give them a try, on the principle that while there’s life, there’s hope. w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m

When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The values are different between the old and the young.  B. The moral problems raised by old people.

C. The personal freedom for the old.                    D. Old people’s viewpoint on life.

2. We can know from the first paragraph that________.

A. Very old people would like to live alone to have more personal freedom.

B. Very old people are able to keep their room clean.

C. Very old people like to live with their children.

D. Social services have nothing to do with very old people.

3. According to the author, which of the following is right?

A. The older a person, the more care he needs.  B. Too much emphasis has been put on old people’s values.

C. The human body can’t be compared to a car.  D. It is easy to provide spare parts for old people.

4.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to “________”.

A. their money or their health          B. the conclusion you come to

C. your talk to the old people          D. whether age is happy or unpleasant