2008年Text 1

　　While still catching-up to men in some spheres of modern life, women appear to be way ahead in at least one undesirable category. "Women are particularly susceptible to developing depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress compared to men," according to Dr. Yehuda, chief psychiatrist at New York's Veteran's Administration Hospital.

　　Studies of both animals and humans have shown that sex hormones somehow affects the stress response, causing females under stress to produce more of the trigger chemicals than do males under the same conditions. In several of the studies, when stressed-out female rats had their ovaries (the female reproductive organs) removed, their chemical responses became equal to those of the males.

　　Adding to a woman's increased dose of stress chemicals, are her increased "opportunities" for stress. "It's not necessarily that women don't cope as well. It's just that they have so much more to cope with," says Dr. Yehuda. "Their capacity for tolerating stress may even be greater than men's," she observes, "It's just that they're dealing with so many more things that they become worn out from it more visibly and sooner."

　　Dr. Yehuda notes another difference between the sexes. "I think that the kinds of things that women are exposed to tend to be in more of a chronic or repeated nature. Men go to war and are exposed to combat stress. Men are exposed to more acts of random physical violence. The kinds of interpersonal violence that women are exposed to tend to be in domestic situations, by, unfortunately, parents or other family numbers, and they tend not to be one-shot deals. The wear-and-tear that comes from these longer relationships can be quite devastating."

　　Adeline Alvarez married at 18 and gave birth to a son, but wad determined to finish college. "I struggled a lot to get the college degree. I was living in so much frustration that that was my escape, to go to school, and get ahead and do better." Later her marriage ended and she became a single mother. "It's the hardest thing to take care of a teenager, have a job, pay the rent, pay the car payment, and pay the debt. I lived from paycheck to paycheck."

　　Not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses Alvarez describes. But most women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and feeling the strain. Alvarez's experience demonstrates the importance of finding ways to diffuse stress before it threatens your health and your ability to function.

　　25. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

　　[A] Strain of Stress: No Way Out?

　　[B] Responses to Stress: Gender Difference

　　[C] Stress Analysis: What Chemicals Say

　　[D] Gender Inequality: Women Under Stress

　　[答案] D

　　[解題思路]

　　本題可以采用排除法來選出文章最好的標題。這篇文章主要講述的是女性所面臨的壓力以及在壓力下的表現。A選項的表述過于寬泛，沒有突出文章中關注女性的特點。B選項提高了不同性別對于壓力的不同反應，但是文章以女性為側重點，但選項中沒有體現這一特點，因此也是錯誤選項。C選項提高的chemicals只是文章提到的一個小方面，不足以概括全文，也可排除。而D選項既描述了不同性別對于壓力的不同反應，又重點強調了女性，比較確切地概括了原文內容，因而是正確選項。

　　[題目譯文]

　　下面哪一項是本文最好的標題?

　　[A] 壓力無處釋放?

　　[B] 壓力下的反應：性別不同

　　[C] 壓力分析：化學物質說了什么

　　[D] 性別不等：女性在壓力下