23、Women with an hour-glass figure have brains to go with their curves（曲線）, scientists claim. Going in at the waist is said to be a sign of intelligence which leads to brighter children, too. Women such as Nigella Lawson with a big difference between their waist and hip measurements scored significantly better in tests than those with thinner, straighter frames. Researchers concluded that it was not necessary for a woman to be skinny-what mattered was that her waist should be smaller than her hips. A ratio of 3:5 was found to be ideal.

The study, by the Universities of Pittsburgh and California, involved 16,000 women and girls.

According to the scientists, the results are no mere quirk of nature. They claim that the fat around curvy hips and thighs（大腿）holds higher levels of -3 fatty acids which are essential for the growth of the brain during pregnancy. The fat which collects around the waist, however, is more likely to contain -6 fatty acids, which are less suited to brain growth.

Rrporting in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, the researchers found that the children of curvy mothers are more likely to do well in cognitive tests than others. They claim that this could help explain why the children of teenage mothers-who might not yet be physically mature enough to have developed real curves-tend to do less well in school.

As well as boosting（提升）brainpower, -3 fatty acids found in oily fish are considered to be of huge health benefit.

Although the study analysed women’s bodies only, -3 fatty acids are also stored in men’s hips. However, it is not known whether men with wide hips benefit from the same brainpower boost.

1．Which shows the possible shape of an hour-glass?

      

2．Suppose the following measurements are taken of four women. Which of them is more likely to have bright children?

       A．Waist: 60cm; Hip: 100cm                      B．Waist: 60cm ; Hip 80cm

       C．Waist: 55cm; Hip: 60cm                       D．Waist: 120cm; Hip 110cm

3．The underlined sentence “the results are no mere quirk of nature ” possibly tells us the results          .

      A．can be explained scientifically                B．a(chǎn)re strange and hard to explain

       C．have just come about by chance            D．a(chǎn)re very interesting

4．We can infer from the article that          .

       A．-3 fatty acids take up more space than -6

       B．there’re more -3 fatty acids in brighter children’s brain

       C．a(chǎn) fetus（胎兒）needs no -6 fatty acids if there’re -3

       D．a(chǎn) brighter brain needs more -3 fatty acids to develop 

5．According the researchers, teenage mothers tend to have less bright children because

          .

       A．they aren’t so good at childcare

       B．they usually have less fat than mature women

       C．they aren’t physically strong enough

       D．their waist and hip measurements differ less