Question 19 is based on the recording you have just heard.

Recording Two

听力原文

        Ageing is a curious thing, and people’s desire to beat it and death has become an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Despite the huge investment into research, ageing remains somewhat obscure, although there are certain things researchers do understand. They know that women tend to have longer lifespans, living on average six years longer than men. (19) [No one is really certain of the reason for this, although the speculation centers around the idea that women are more capable of surviving or handling disease than men.] For virtually every disease, the effects are greater on men than they are on women. Some suggest that women’s immune systems benefit from their tendency to prioritize and nurture social connections. But for me, this explanation is hardly convincing.

        Researchers also know, to an extent, what causes ageing. For 60 years, it was believed that cells would continue to divide forever. It was only uncovered in relatively recent times that older people’s cells divide a smaller number of times than younger people’s. Only cancer cells, in fact, are capable of dividing forever. (20) [Human cells have a limited reproductive ability.] To an extent, we can postpone the eventual stop of cells dividing through nutrition, exercise, good sleep and even relaxation techniques, but we cannot stop the ageing process.

       And researchers are yet to answer the ultimate question of ageing: why does the body ultimately fall to pieces? In the opinion of some of the world’s best scientific minds on the subject, part of the reason we don’t yet have an answer is because many researchers are looking in the wrong direction. (21) [Many public health policymakers believe that the resolution of age-associated disease will tell us something fundamental about the ageing process,] but, say some top scientists, “that’s completely erroneous.” They point to when the diseases of childhood were eliminated, but this did not provide any insight into childhood development. In the same way, the idea that the resolution of age-associated disease like heart disease and stroke will inform us about ageing is not based on sound science or logic. At best, if the major causes of death in developed countries were eliminated, this would only add a decade to average life expectancy. But while there is money available to be spent on it, the search to understand the secrets of ageing will be ongoing.

19. What do we learn about the possible reason why women tend to live longer?（关于女性更长寿可能的原因，我们了解到了什么？）

解析：D。录音中表示，尽管人们已经围绕着女性比男性更有能力生存或应对疾病的想法展开猜测，没有人能够真正确定这其中的原因。由此可知，女性更有能力生存或应对疾病可能是其长寿的原因，D项中的are better able to survive or handle disease是对录音中are more capable of surviving or handling disease的同义替换，故D项正确。

错项排除：A项在录音中未提及，故排除。录音中说人们猜测女性更有能力生存或应对疾病可能是其长寿的原因，倾向于将发展社会关系（social connections）放在首位有益于她们的免疫系统，B项的social responsibilities和C项的a stronger ability to socialize皆是利用录音中的social connections进行干扰，但都与录音内容不符，故均可排除。