By the time we get old, our hearing fails, arthritis develops, and the heart and many other

organs such
as the kidneys and intestines do not perform as well as they used to. The heart, despite working hard
throughout life, can in most cases still manage its normal everyday job of pumping and circulating blood
around the body. But under physical strain, when the muscles need more blood and the heart must
pump faster, problems might develop.

Hearing typically deteriorates with age, primarily because throughout life, we lose some of the ear’s
small hair cells. It is high notes that we find particularly difficult to hear, which affects our ability to
interpret consonants such as f, s and t no matter how loudly people speak. As this continues, most
elderly people find it easier to understand deeper voices of men than the higher and lighter voices of
women and children.

The intestine also deteriorates in function as we age, producing fewer digestion enzymes, which can
lead to the elderly person becoming bloated – swollen with fluid. The kidneys also function less
effectively, producing too much water and too few salts, so we can easily become dehydrated. The
function of the bladder and the urinary system is very often affected, so that the elderly people need the
bathroom more often and begin to experience involuntary urination.

Similarly, under pressure of age, the risk of heart failure, blood clots and stroke rises considerably. Here
are a couple of common heart problems that might trouble a person as he reaches his advanced years.

Cardiac walls become thicker

 The muscular cardiac wall becomes
thicker with age, as connective tissue
grows between muscle cells. The
thickening means that the heart
ventricles contracts and have less
capacity for blood, influencing the
heart's overall pumping capacity.
Electrical system short-circuits
 The cardiac rhythm is maintained by a
small built-in pacemaker, the
sinoatrial node, which sends electrical
signals to the muscles of the heart.
With age, this system becomes
weaker, and the cardiac rhythm can
become irregular.
Blood vessels become inflexible
 With age, connective tissues displace
the flexible proteins of elastin in the
blood vessels, making them stiff and
causing blood pressure to rise. If
cholesterols settle on the inside of
the blood vessels and builds up, these
can become constricted, and the risk
of blood clots will increase.
SOURCE: Science illustrated, issue 87, Nov 1st 2021
1. What is true about the human body when it gets old?
A. The body works harder than it used to.
B. Most of its organs stop functioning.
C. Many organs start to malfunction.
D. The body fails to perform basic functions.
2. Whose voice might old people find it hard to hear?
A. Women’s
B. Men’s
C. Everyone’s
D. Other old people’s
3. What happens when the kidneys fail to work at its best?
A. The body produces few digestion enzymes.
B. The body loses water quickly.
C. The body produces too much salt.
D. The body becomes swollen.
4. The word “contracts” in line….is closest in meaning to
A. Shrinks
B. Expands
C. Minimizes
D. Extracts
5. What regulates the cardiac rhythm?
A. The muscular cardiac wall
B. The sinoatrial node
C. System short-circuits
D. The heart muscles
6. What does the word “them” in line…. refer to?
A. Connective tissues
B. Proteins of elastin
C. Blood vessels
D. Cholesterols
7. What title fits the passage best?
A. What happens to the body when we age
B. How to have a healthier heart
C. How the heart wears out with age
D. What to do when the heart fails