People are living longer than ever, but for some
reason, women are living longer than men. A baby boy born in the United States
in 2003 can expect to live to be about 73, a baby girl, about 79. This is indeed
a wide gap, and no one really knows why it exists. The greater longevity (长寿) of
women, however, has been known for centuries. It was, for example, described in
the seventeenth century. However, the difference was smaller then—the gap is
growing. A number of reasons have been proposed to account for
the differences. The gap is greatest in industrialised societies, so it has been
suggested that women are less susceptible to work strains that may raise the
risk of heart disease and alcoholism. Sociologists also tell us that women are
encouraged to be less adventurous than men (and this may be why they are more
careful drivers, involved in fewer accidents). Even smoking has
been implicated in the age discrepancy. It was once suggested that working women
are more likely to smoke and as more women entered the work force, the age gap
would begin to close, because smoking is related to earlier deaths. Now,
however, we see more women smoking and they still tend to live longer although
their lung cancer rate is climbing sharply. One puzzling aspect
of the problem is that women do not appear to be as healthy as men. That is,
they report far more illnesses. But when a man reports an illness, it is more
likely to be serious. Some researchers have suggested that men
may die earlier because their health is more strongly related to their emotions.
For example, men tend to die sooner after losing a spouse than women do. Men
even seem to be more weakened by loss of a job. (Both of these are linked with a
marked decrease in the effectiveness of the immune system.) Among men, death
follows retirement with an alarming promptness. Perhaps we are
searching for the answers too close to the surface of the problem. Perhaps the
answers lie deeper in our biological heritage. After all, the phenomenon is not
isolated to humans. Females have the edge among virtually all mammalian (哺乳动物)
species, in that they generally live longer. Furthermore, in many of these
species the differences begin at the moment of conception; there are more male
miscarriages (流产). In humans, after birth, more baby boys than baby girls
die. Which of the following phenomena makes researchers puzzled
A. Quite a number of men die soon after their retirement.
B. Men’s health is more closely related to their emotions.
C. Though more liable to illnesses, women still live longer.
D. Men show worse symptoms than women when they fall ill.