Question

Songs that make our hearts happy can make them stronger too, US researchers reported on Tuesday.

They found that when people listened to their favorite music, their blood vessels (血管) dilated in much the same way as when they are laughing, or taking blood medications.

"We have a pretty impressive effect," said Dr Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology (心脏病学) at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

"Blood vessel diameter improved," he said. "The vessel opened up pretty significantly. You can see the vessels opening up with other activities such as exercise." A similar effect is seen with drugs such as statins.

When blood vessels open up more, blood flows more smoothly and is less likely to form the clots (凝块) that cause heart attacks and strokes. "We are not saying to stop your statins or not to exercise but rather to add this to an overall program of heart health," said Miller, who presented his findings to a meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans.

Miller's team tested 10 healthy, non-smoking men and women, who were told to bring their favorite music. They spent half an hour listening to the recordings and half an hour listening to music they said made them feel anxious while the researchers did ultrasound tests designed to show blood vessel function.

Compared to their normal baseline measurements, blood vessel diameter increased 26 percent on average when the volunteers heard their joyful music. Listening to music they disliked — in most cases in this group heavy metal — blood vessels narrowed by six percent, Miller said.

Miller said he came up with the idea after discovering that laughter caused blood to literally flow more smoothly. "I asked myself what other things make us feel really good, besides calories from dark chocolate of course. Music came to mind. ... It makes me feel really good," he said.

Most of the volunteers chose country music but Miller said the style is not so important rather than what pleases each individual.

1.The underlined word dilate (in paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “_____”.

A. widen    B. move    C. change    D. increase

2.According to the passage, which of the following will NOT cause blood vessels to open up?

A. Taking exercise.    B. Listening to unpleasant music.

C. Bursting into laughter.    D. Taking drugs like statins.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

A. blood clots are caused by heart attacks and strokes

B. music is better than chocolate for your health

C. the style of music has different effects on different people

D. a person’s overall health is more influenced by how much exercise he gets

4.What is the passage possibly taken out from?

A. A scientific journal.    B. A school textbook.

C. A medical brochure.    D. A local newspaper.

5.What’the best title of the passage?

A. Pleasant Music Cures    B. Research into Blood Vessel

C. Music and Heart Attack    D. Music and Happiness

Answer

1. A

2. B

3. C

4. D

5. A

【解析】

此文为说明文，文章主要介绍了音乐对人身体健康有很大影响。

1.词义猜测题。从第二段可以看出，当人们在欣赏自己喜欢的音乐时，血管扩张就像人们笑或吃血管治疗类药物一样，也可根据第四段Blood vessel diameter improved,” he said.“The vessel opened up pretty significantly. You can see the vessels opening up with other activities such as exercise.得出答案，所以选A。

2.细节理解题。根据文章第二段以及第四段内容可知ACD三项都会使血管扩张，所以选B。

3.推理判断题。通读全文可知，音乐对人们的健康有很重要的作用，喜欢的音乐能有益于健康，而不喜欢的音乐则会对身体有不利的影响，所以选C项。

4.推理判断题。这是一篇科普类文章，但又不是专业性科普文章，所以排除A，它属于通俗类大众科普，所以最大的可能是出现在报纸上，为大众服务，所以选D项。

5.主旨大意题。从文章总体来看，这是一篇讲述音乐对人身体健康有很大影响的文章，所以选A项。