Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day. World Tuberculosis (肺结核) Day is on Saturday March 24th.
Tuberculosis was once terribly fashionable. Dying of “consumption” seems to have been a favorite activity of 19th-century artists, which has, however, been neglected of late. Researchers in the field never tire of pointing out that TB kills a lot of people. According to figures released earlier this week by the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005, compared with about 3m for AIDS and 1m for malaria. But it receives only a fraction of the research budget devoted to AIDS. America’s National Institutes of Health, for example, spends 20 times as much on AIDS as on TB. Nevertheless, everyone seems to be getting in on the TB-day act this year.
The Global Fund, an international organization responsible for fighting all three diseases but best known for its work on AIDS, claims that its anti-TB activities since 2002 have saved the lives of over 1m people. The World Health Organization has issued a report that contains some good news. Although the number of TB cases is still rising, the rate of illness is growing only because the population itself is going up.
Even drug companies are involved. Eli Lilly announced a $50m boost to its MDRTB Global Partnership. MDR stands for multi-drug resistance, and it is one of the reasons why TB is back in the spotlight. Careless treatment has caused drug-resistant problems to evolve all over the world. The course of drugs needed to clear the disease completely takes six months, and persuading people to stay that course once their symptoms have gone is hard. Unfortunately, those infected with MDR have to be treated with less effective, more poisonous and more costly drugs.
The other reason TB is back is its relationship to AIDS. AIDS does not kill directly. Rather, HIV weakens the body’s immune system and exposes the sufferer to secondary infections. Of these, TB is one of the most serious. Some anti-TB drugs interfere with the effect of some anti-HIV drugs. Conversely, in about 20% of cases where a patient has both diseases, anti-HIV drugs make the tuberculosis worse. The upshot is that 125 years after human beings worked out what caused TB, it is still a serious threat.
18. The first sentence “Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day.” means __________.
A.every dog enjoys good luck or success sooner or later |
B.human beings can deal with problems caused by disease |
C.tuberculosis becomes a serious infection disease |
D.people attach importance to tuberculosis recently |
19. By referring to AIDS in Paragraph 2, the author intends to show _________.
A.the US government is reluctant to spend millions of dollars on tuberculosis |
B.the death rate of AIDS is higher than that of tuberculosis |
C.the officials don’t pay much attention to the research of tuberculosis |
D.compared with AIDS, tuberculosis can be cured effectively |
20. Which of the following is best defines the word “upshot” (Para 5)?
A.Outcome. | B.Reason. | C.Achievement. | D.Project. |
21. Which of the following proverbs is closest in meaning to the message the passage tries to convey?
A.Forgive and forget. |
B.Forgotten, but not gone. |
C.When the wound is healed, the pain is forgotten. |
D.Every dog is brave at his own door. |