英国百岁老人的长寿秘诀是什么？

“Easy to find and hard to leave.” That is how Sidmouth’s tourism website describes the small seaside town in East Devon， where the red cliffs turn the ocean water pink. The tagline could apply to lives as well as holidays. Almost a third of residents are over 75; locals refer to Sidmouth as “God’s Waiting Room”. “We get a lot of people well into their 90s， 100s，” says a woman in a funeral parlour as an undertaker in a top hat tiptoes past. A card shop has sold “three or four” 100th-birthday cards since it opened in November.

The sea air must help， says Graham Brooks， a 76-year-old who helps look after Sidmouth’s antiques shop and whose mother， Audrey， turned 100 last November. （Mrs Brooks probably owes more to genes， luck and the fact that she never smoked and does not drink， with the exception of half a glass of wine at Christmas.）

There are lots of opportunities in Sidmouth for old people to stay active and socially connected， both good ways to delay the grim reaper. At Fields， the local department store， the café is music-free， the better to hear elderly friends. There are brass-rubbing classes， a ukulele club and jazz evenings.

But places like Sidmouth are the silver lining to a darker story. Although some of its citizens enjoy very long lives， Britain excels at producing much shorter ones， too. Britain’s middling life-expectancy figures disguise extremes. Centenarians tend to cluster more on the south coast， in areas like Bournemouth and Bognor Regis as well as in East Devon. But in many other coastal towns， such as Blackpool， life expectancy is much lower than the national average. London is also not a place for the very old： of the eight local authorities in England and Wales with fewer than ten centenarians per 100，000 population， six are in the capital.

（材料来自The Economist，有删改）

1.What’s the function of the first paragraph？

A. To introduce the topic.

B. To summarize the passage.

C. To explain the author’s opinion.

D. To give background information.

2. Which of the following isn’t the reason why Mrs Brooks is long-lived？

A. She has good genes. B. She is lucky.

C. She never smoked. D. She never drinks.

3. Why does the author mention the example of Fields in paragraph 3？

A. To show old people are living a happy life there.

B. To prove the old have chances to stay active and socialize.

C. To demonstrate old people have a positive attitude to life.

D. To show the reason why people are long-lived there.

4. How is the last paragraph mainly developed？

A. By asking and answering.

B. By the time order.

C. By making comparisons.

D. By giving examples.

1.A。解析：推理判断题。材料第一段先提出一句标语并对此做出解释，然后提到西德茅斯近三分之一的居民年龄在75岁以上；紧接着再借殡仪馆里一位妇女之口说出这里有很多90 多岁和 100 多岁的老人。由此引出文章的话题——英国百岁老人为什么会长寿，故选A。

2.D。解析：细节理解题。材料第二段括号部分的大意为“布鲁克斯夫人可能更多地归功于基因、运气和她从不吸烟、不喝酒的事实，除了圣诞节时喝半杯葡萄酒”。由此可见，D选项“她从不喝酒”与材料内容不符，故选D。

3. B。解析：推理判断题。材料第三段的第一句提到“在西德茅斯，老年人有很多机会保持活跃和社交联系”，第二句则以菲尔兹百货公司为例论证老年人有很多机会保持活跃和社交联系，故选B。

4. C。解析：推理判断题。材料最后一段的第二句提到“尽管英国的一些公民寿命很长，但英国也擅长生产寿命更短的人”。随后作者分别介绍了百岁老人和平均寿命短的老人居住的不同地点，因此这一段材料主要采用了对比的写作手法来展开叙述，故选C。