British women are happy nowadays to wear mini-skirts up until the age of 40, according to research by Debenhams.

    Just 20 years ago, few women would dare to wear a mini-skirt after the age of 33, the store said. “It shows that women now have an increasing confidence in their bodies and are happy to dress accordingly,” it added in a statement. “If this trend continues, there’s no doubt that, within the next decade, women in their mid 40s and early 50s will rightly regard a mini-skirt as an essential pan of their everyday wardrobe.”

    The figures emerged when the store examined the latest age profile of women buying short, 36-cm skirts over the past six months. Their results show that it has jumped from an average age of 36-years-old at the start of millennium ¹ to 40 today. Figures from 1980 showed that on average women stopped buying minis when they reached 33 years old -- a figure unchanged from the mid-1960s.
    The store noted that experts believe that the popularity of intensive gym culture ², providing women with well toned bodies ³ for longer may be the reason The increasing number of British women living on their own may also be a fac tor.

    The Debenhams’ study showed that a modern woman’s love affair with a mini-skin begins at the age of 14 but that she doesn’t buy her first one until the age of 16 Instead, she flouts school roles by rolling up the waistband of the school uniform to give the impression of wearing a mini skirt.

    Skirts get shorter between the ages of 16 and 19, reducing in size from 46 to 36 cm before reaching their shortest, a mere 32 cm, at the age of 23. Skirt .length increases slightly between the ages of 23 and 27, rising to 37 cm, possibly due to girls being in their first stable relationship, with no desire to attract attention, the store said.

    However, it found short skirt suddenly zoom in popularity between the ages of 27 and 34, as those early relationships break down, and new relationships are formed. The move into longer skins begins irreversibly at 40 years old, when 46-cm skins, still slightly above the knee are the norm. From then on, skirt length increases dramatically, falling below the knee for the very first time since school days at the age of 42.

词汇：

millennium [mɪ"lenɪəm] n. 千禧年

gym [dʒɪm] n. 健身房

注释：

1.这里指公元2000年。

2.gym culture:指英国现在流行的去健身房健身的趋势。

3.well toned bodies:指结实而线条良好的体形。

Which of the following statements about the length of the mini-skirts is true?

A:At the age of 14,girls often wear mini-skirts which are about 46cm in size B:Girls at the age of 19 wear the shortest mini-skirts C:At the age of 23,most girls wear mini-skirts which are 37cm long D:From the age of 23,skirt length increases because girls are in their first stable relationship

int型public成员变量MAX_LENGTH，该值保持为常数100，则定义这个变量的语句是

A:public int MAX_LENGTH=100 B:final int MAX_LENGTH=100 C:public const int MAX_LENGTH=100 D:public final int MAX_LENGTH=100

执行下列程序后，输出结果为( )。
public class Test
public static void main (String[] args)
StringBuffer sb ＝ new StringBuffer("北京 2008" );
System. out. println ("length ＝" + sb. length ( ) );

A:length = 8 B:length = 10 C:length = 6 D:length = 20

int型public成员变量MAX LENGTH，该值保持为常数100，则定义这个变量的语句是( )。

A:publicintMAX_LENGTH=100 B:finalintMAX LENGTH=100 C:publicconstintMAX_LENGTH=100 D:publicfinalintMAX_LENGTH=100

执行下列程序后，输出结果为( )。 public class Test { public static void main (String[] args) { StringBuffer sb ＝ new StringBuffer("北京 2008" ); System. out. println ("length ＝" + sb. length ( ) ); } }

A:length = 8 B:length = 10 C:length = 6 D:length = 20

int型public成员变量MAX_LENGTH，该值保持为常数100，则定义这个变量的语句是（）

A:public int MAX_LENGTH=100 B:final int MAX_LENGTH=100 C:public const int MAX_LENGTH=100 D:public final int MAX_LENGTH=100