为了提高广大学生的英语水平，提高英语专业学生的专四通过率，特提供以下英语阅读理解及答案详解：
At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous. It has yet to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence; but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier, we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable; later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigor and resistance which, though imperceptible at first, will finally become so steep that we can live no longer, however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us.
This decline in vigor with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this way, that if we escape wars, accidents and disease we shall eventually "die of old age", and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person, so that there are heavy odds in favor of our dying between the ages of sixty-five and eighty. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer--on into a ninth or tenth decade. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are.
Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are reminded of it. We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that people have for years assumed that the process of losing vigor with time, of becoming more likely to die the older we get, was something self-evident, like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearing-out of a pair of shoes. They have also assumed that all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe itself, must in the nature of things "wear out".
Most animals we commonly observe do in fact age as we do, if given the chance to live long enough; and mechanical systems like a wound watch, or the sun, do in fact an out of energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (热力学) (whether the whole universe does so is a moot point at present). But these are not analogous to what happens when man ages. A run-down watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not worth mending. But a watch could never repair itself--it does not consist of living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction. We could,at one time, repair ourselves--well enough, at least, to overcome all but the most instantly fatal illnesses and accidents. Between twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power; an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 for the survivors to be reduced by half again.
1. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A. Our first twelve years represent the peak of human development.
B. People usually are unhappy when reminded of ageing.
C. Normally only a few of us can live to the eighties and nineties.
D. People are usually less likely to die at twelve years old.
2. The word "it" in the last sentence of Paragraph Two refers to
A. remaining alive until 65.
B. remaining alive after 80.
C. dying before 65 or after 80.
D. dying between 65 and 80.
3. What is ageing?
A. It is usually a phenomenon of dying at an old age.
B. It is a fact that people cannot live any longer.
C. It is a gradual loss of vigor and resistance.
D. It is a phase when people are easily attacked by illness.
4. What do the examples of watch show?
A. Normally people are quite familiar with the ageing process.
B. All animals and other organisms undergo the ageing process.
C. The law of thermodynamics functions in the ageing process.
D. Human's ageing process is different from that of mechanisms.
5. Which of the following best fits the style of this passage?
A. Argumentation.
B. Exposition.
C. Narration.
D. Description.
【文章概要】
本文围绕“衰老”这一话题展开叙述。首段指出人体生命力变化的抛物线趋势，12岁最为旺盛;第2-3段讲到了人类衰老的不可抗拒性;最后一段以例证说明人类和手表等机械装置的“衰老”过程有较大的区别。
【答案解析】
1.[A]细节推断题。根据各选项内容定位到第1、2段。根据第1段第2句可知，人在长到12岁时身体各个方面包括身材、力量和智力都还有待发展和完 善，所以A(人在12岁发育达到顶峰)的说法不正确，故为本题答案。根据第1段第2句句末的内容可推测。D的表述与原文一致，可排除;根据第2段第2旬及 第3段首句可知，B的表述正确，可排除;第2段段末指出：活到90岁以上的人很少，可能性也很小，故C正确，可排除。
2.[B]代词指代题。第2段段末说“有些人逝去得早些，而少数人可以活到90多岁至100岁”，it所在句出现的But以及下文“我们所能期望的寿命实际上是有限度的”提示，it应该指代前面出现的“长寿”。故B正确。
3.[C]根据ageing及各选项内容定位到第1、2段。细节概括题。根据第2段第1句对ageing的概括以及第l段第3句后半部分对 ageing的诠释，可知C为本题答案。A、D实际上是衰老过程的两个方面，因此A、D表述都是相对片面的，可排除;通过文中的叙述可知，衰老是一个过程，而不仅是一个简单事实，故B项不恰当，也可排除。
4.[D]细节推断题。根据题干中的watch定位到第4段。第4段中间部分指出： 破损的手表也有不能修理的时候，由于自身的金属构造，手表不能像人类的身体那样进行自我修复，而人类的自我修复还可以在一定程度上缓解病痛、延长生命。这 就表明人类和手表等机械装置的“衰老”过程有较大的区别，故选D。A、B与手表的例子无关.可首先排除;虽然热力学定律适用于手表等机械装置，但文中例子 并没有传达出C的意思，故C也可排除。
5.[B]文体判断题。本文从衰老起始时间入手，主要介绍了衰老过程的相关内容。文中通过引用一些数据和使用对比等手段，说明了衰老的过程、必然性及其与机械装置损耗的区别所在。据此分析，本文属于说明文体，B为本题答案。A是本题的干扰项，文中没有出现独立的论点以及通过论据证明论点的表述，故将其划归议论文体不恰当，排除A。