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Reading Comprehension & Précis II - Pr EL HAMZAOUI Ahmed

Reading Comprehension

The numbers don’t lie: women tend to live longer than men. The average American man will live to age 76, according to the latest CDC figures, while the average woman in America will live to age 81.

And a woman’s extra years tend to be healthy ones. The World Health Organization’s HALE index, which calculates the number of years a man or woman can expect to live without a major disease or injury, finds that American men can look forward to 67 healthy years, while American women will enjoy 70 years of “full heath.”

This male-female lifespan gap is not a new phenomenon; experts have known about it for decades. It’s also not restricted to Americans. “This gender gap in life expectancy is true for all societies, and it is also true for the great apes,” says Dr. Perminder Sachdev, a professor of neuropsychiatry at the University of New South Wales in Australia who has studied human longevity.

Why do women tend to outlive men? Sachdev says there are a few popular theories—some to do with biology, and some to do with behavior.

“Men are more likely to smoke, drink excessively and be overweight,” he says. “They are also less likely to seek medical help early, and, if diagnosed with a disease, they are more likely to be non-adherent to treatment.” On top of all that, he says, men are more likely to take life-threatening risks and to die in car accidents, brawls or gun fights.

There’s evidence that a man’s biology—namely, his elevated levels of the male sex hormone testosterone—may lead him into the kind of trouble that could shorten his life. Research from Duke University has found that elevated testosterone levels are associated with risky behaviors. Experts say testosterone may abbreviate a man’s lifespan in other ways.

“Male sex hormones decrease immune function and increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases,” says Kyung-Jin Min, a professor of biological sciences at Inha University in South Korea.

In a 2012 study published in the journal Current Biology, Min and his colleagues examined the historical health records of 81 Korean eunuchs: men who were castrated as children, and who therefore stopped producing much testosterone. They found the eunuchs tended to live about 14 to 19 years longer than uncastrated men who shared their same socio-economic status.

While the links between testosterone and immune function aren’t clear, Min’s study points to lab research showing that testosterone may block the release of some disease-fighting immune cells. On the other hand, there’s also a good amount of research linking low levels of testosterone to heart disease and poor health outcomes in men, so the relationships between testosterone and a

man’s health are complex.

Section 1

Give a title to the text

Section 2

Are the following statements true or false? If false, then rewrite them to make them true.

1.       Stats disprove the notion that men outlive women.

2.       According to the Center for Death Control, the average American woman lives longer than woman.

3.       The gender gap in life expectancy is peculiar to the American society.

4.       Dr. Perminder Sachdev believes that boozing is likely to increase man’s life expectancy.

5.       He also thinks that men are more likely to take their state of health seriously.

6.       Man’s short lifespan hinges on his low level of testosterone.  

7.       According to medical experts, male sex hormones taper off the danger and probability of cardiovascular diseases.

8.       Min and his team discovered that eunuchs live longer than castrated guys.

9.       Min’s experiment reveals that testosterone actually thwarts the discharge of several disease-fighting immune cells

10. The correlation between man’s health  and testosterone has proven to be unequivocal.

Section 3

Circle the appropriate answer, basing your response on meaning in context.

1.     tend

a.      to be less disposed to

b.     to be inclined to

c.      to handle

d.     to conduce

 

2.     average

a.      degree

b.     typical of a group of people

c.      quality

d.     level

 

3.     look forward to

a.      to search

b.     to gaze

c.      to anticipate

d.     to admire

 

4.     to do with

a.      concerned with

b.     unrelated to

c.      connected to

d.     to have no bearing on

 

5.     brawls

a.      a loud party

b.     a noisy scuffle

c.      a peaceful squabble

d.     an orgy

 

6.     eunuch

a.      a powerless man

b.     an adult male

c.      an impotent man

d.     an intellectual man

7.     immune

a.      exempt

b.     unresponsive to

c.      susceptible to

d.     unprotected from

Section IV

 

What do the underlined words refer to in the text? 

 

Section V

 

Paraphrase the statements in bold type, using your own style.

 

Section VI

From “Men are more likely to smoke, to “…their same socio-economic status.” Write a Summary in not more than 25 words.

 

 

(1)                 The governor of Kentucky on Thursday side-stepped calls for gun control in the wake of a school shooting that left 17 people dead and more than a dozen more wounded after a teen opened fire with a legally purchased AR-15. Instead, Republican Governor Matt Bevin called for an "honest conversation" about violence and pointed the blame at video games and music. 

 "We need to have an honest conversation as to what should and should not be allowed in the United States as it relates to the things being put in the hands of our young people," he told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

(2)                 Just a day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Bevin limited his public criticism to the First Amendment, not the Second.

 "I'm a big believer in the First Amendment and right to free speech, but there are certain things that are so graphic that it relates to violence, and things that are so pornographic on a whole another front that we allow to pass under the guise of free speech, which arguably are," he told the Enquirer. "But there is zero redemptive value. There is zero upside to any of this being in the public domain, let alone in the minds and hands and homes of our young people." (3) In a Facebook address, Bevin called on a litany of people—from President Donald Trump and Congress, to video game and music producers—to find a solution to violence in the United States, though he refrained from mentioning anything about guns.

"Our culture is crumbling from within.... All of you, we've got to step up. We're the adults, lets act like it," he implored. "Let's step forward, let's start a conversation and let's try to figure out how to try to repair this fabric of America that's getting shredded beyond recognition."

(4)                 Bevin has been a staunch opponent to gun control measures and has tauted his relationship with the National Rifle Association. He spoke at the annual Leadership Forum for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action—the group's lobbying wing—in 2016, a year after the organization endorsed him for governor.

(5)                 Gun violence, however, has not spared his state. Just three weeks ago, a 15-year-old shooter, identified by the Courier Journal as Gabe Parker, allegedly opened fire at Marshall County High School in rural town of Benton. The shooting left two students, Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope, both also 15, dead and more than a dozen others wounded. 

(6)                 Within hours of that incident, Bevin urged the community to come together but said nothing of stymying such tragedy in the future, whether by gun control or video game restriction. 

"This is a tremendous tragedy and speaks to the heartbreak present in our communities. It is unbelievable that this would happen in a small, close-knit community like Marshall County," Bevin said in a statement. "As there is still much unknown, I encourage people to love on each other at this time. Do not speculate, but come alongside each other in support and allow the facts to come out."

(7)                 After the Las Vegas shooting that left 58 people dead and hundreds wounded, Bevin said gun control would not have stopped massacre. "To all those political opportunists who are seizing on the tragedy in Las Vegas to call for more gun regs...You can't regulate evil," he tweeted.  

(8)                 Bevin's opposition to gun control appears to stem from personal anecdotes and dubious data. As a student, USA Today reported, Bevin said some of his peers would bring guns to school for show-and-tell. "Sometimes they'd be in kids' lockers," he said. "Nobody even thought about shooting other people with them. So it's not a gun problem."

(9)                 He also said guns per capita have dropped over the past 50 to 100 years, according to the newspaper. It's unclear where he got that information, but it likely didn't come from the federal government.

(10)             According to a report commissioned by Congress and published by the Congressional Research Service, there were about twice as many guns per capita in 2010 than in 1968. Firearm manufacturing has also spiked, according to a 2015 report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agency reported that nearly 11 million guns were manufactured in 2013, more than double the number manufactured just five years earlier. 

(11)             Despite that reported increase in tools of war available in the country, Bevin turned to the media rather than gun manufactures to act.

"Something has to be done," he said in his Facebook plea. "Let's start a dialogue !"

 

 

Section 1

Give a title to the text

Section 2

Comprehension Questions (Answer the following  questions using your own words)

1.     Was Matt Bevin adamant that the government had to take decisive action on gun control?

2.     Did the governor of Kentucky lay the blame on Congress & the White House?

3.     Why did Matt Bevin restrict his criticism to the first amendment and not to the second?

4.     According to Matt Bevin, what needs to be done to save the country from tumbling down?

5.     Why wasn’t he staunchly opposed to gun control in 2O16?

6.     Did Matt Bevin believe that gun manufacturers had more responsibility to take on for the prevalence of violence and massacre in the U.S.?

Section 3

Circle the appropriate answer, basing your response on meaning in context.

1. sidestep:

a.                      step up

b.                      step down

c.                      dodge

d.                      curtail 2. call for:

a.      call up

b.     call in

c.      call off

d.     require

3.       graphic

a.      representational

b.     sexually explicit

c.      diagrammatic

d.     vivid

4.       arguably

a.      conventionally

b.     debatably

c.      unquestionably

d.     convincingly

5.       litany

a.      a prayer consisting of a series of invocations

b.     address

c.      list

d.     tale

6.       step up

a.      to resign from a high post

b.     to step in

c.      to increase

d.     to take on more responsibility

7.       shredded

a.      abandoned

b.     sliced

c.      cut into cubes

d.     torn into pieces

8.       endorse

a.      to write one’s signature on the back of a check

b.     to acknowledge

c.      to express approval or support of, esp. publicly

d.     to sign a document

9.       spare

a.      to withhold

b.     to avoid

c.      to refrain from harming

d.     to hold back 

10.   stymie

a.      to thwart

b.     to swing

c.      to collide

d.     to swerve

 

 

Section IV

 

What do the underlined words refer to in the text? 

 

 

Section V

 

Paraphrase the following statements, using your own style.

1.     "But there is zero redemptive value. There is zero upside to any of this being in the public domain, let alone in the minds and hands and homes of our young people."

2.     Bevin urged the community to come together but said nothing of stymying such tragedy in the future, whether by gun control or video game restriction. 

3.     Despite that reported increase in tools of war available in the country, Bevin turned to the media rather than gun manufactures to act.

 

Section VI

Summarize the following Paragraphs (1,2,3,4,5,6 & 7) in not more than 50 words.

 


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