In this paper, we study the global existence and the asymptotic behavior of the solutions to the Cauchy problem for the following nonlinear evolution equations with ellipticity and dissipative effects {psi(t) = -(1 - alpha)psi-theta(x) + alphapsi(xx), theta(t) = -(1 - alpha)theta +nupsi(x) + 2psitheta(x) + alphatheta(xx), (E) with initial data (psi,theta)(x, 0) = (psi(0)(x),theta(0)( x)) --> (psi+/-, theta+/-) as x --> +/-infinity, ( I) where alpha and nu are positive constants such that alpha < 1, ν < alpha( 1 - alpha). Through constructing a correct function (θ) over cap (x, t) defined by (2.13) and using the energy method, we show sup(xis an element ofR) (|(psi, theta)(x, t)|+ |(psi(x),theta(x))(x, t)|) --> 0 as t --> infinity and the solutions decay with exponential rates. The same problem is studied by Tang and Zhao [10] for the case of (psi+/-, theta+/-) = (0, 0).