大多数女性都比男性要长寿，这是千百年来让人类不解的现象之一。难道女同胞们有独家长寿秘方？还是上天给了女性特别的钟爱？科学研究的结果往往出人意料。

The age-old riddle of why many women live longer than men has been solved. It's their pumping power, British researchers have found.

On average, women live five years longer than men and women over the age of 60 are now the fastest-growing section of the British population. The average male heart becomes weaker with age, and by the age of 70 its power to pump blood around the body could have decreased by up to a quarter of its youthful strength.

The research shows that women's longevity is linked to the strength of their hearts. Unlike men, they pump just as strongly at 70 as they do at 20. The power of the male heart falls by 20-25 per cent between 18 and 70 years of age. In stark contrast, over the same period there was no age-related decline in the power of the female heart, meaning that the heart of a healthy 70-year-old woman could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old's. The dramatic difference between the sexes might explain why women live longer. The good news is that men of any age can improve the health of their heart simply by taking more regular exercise.

（北京林业大学通讯员刑元媛供稿 英语点津 Annabel 编辑）