It’s been well over a year since COVID-19 first appeared. Although the virus continues to be a problem in many parts of the world, things are starting to turn back in our favor with the help of vaccines(疫苗).
Vaccine development started in February 2020, when it became clear to scientists that a solution to the pandemic would need a global effort to vaccinate as many people as possible. The CO—VAX（COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access）mechanism was then created to ensure equal access to safe and effective vaccines for all countries and regions, according to Business World.
Of course，this would take great effort，since vaccines typically take years to develop. However，COVID—19 needed faster development. The first COVID vaccine—the Pfizer vaccine—was approved by UK health authorities on Dec 2, 2020, according to science journal Nature.
This was made possible through the use of mRNA (信使核糖核酸). Vaccines developed with mRNA use the virus' spike protein (棘突蛋白) to create antibodies (抗体) that can fight the virus. Companies like Moderna and Pfizer have created their own mRNA vaccines, according to the BBC.
However，these vaccines must be stored at very low temperatures, which is not possible everywhere. In response, Chinese companies like Sinopharm and Sinovac have developed vaccines using dead viruses instead of spike proteins. These vaccines can be kept at regular temperatures.
Although there have been rumors about vaccines being unsafe, the majority of people seem to realize the importance of vaccination for building mass immunity in order to stop the virus from spreading.
Zhang Wenhong，China’s leading expert on infectious diseases，said it’s good that the world has come to understand that the vaccines will protect us, according to Global Times. Zhang added that human beings belong to one family. Vaccines are a kind of medicine that we all must share in order to stay safe and healthy.
1. Why was COVAX created？| A．To create more COVID—19 vaccines. |
| B．To protect people with COVID—19. |
| C．To help countries produce their own vaccines. |
| D．To make sure more people can get vaccines. |
| A．Who made the first COVID—19 vaccine. |
| B．How to prevent COVID—19. |
| C．How mRNA vaccines work. |
| D．Why scientists use mRNA to make spike proteins. |
| A．Chinese vaccines use viruses from spike proteins. |
| B．Chinese vaccines can be kept at a normal temperature. |
| C．The Pfizer vaccine is based on a Chinese vaccine. |
| D．The Pfizer vaccine is suitable for children. |
| A．Medicine is the only way to deal with infectious diseases. |
| B．Some vaccines might be unsafe. |
| C．Mass immunity can't stop the virus from spreading. |
| D．Vaccines can keep all of us safe from COVID—19. |
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【推荐1】Mrs. Jones was my first patient when I started medical school—and I owe her a lot.
She was under my care for the first two years of my medical training, yet I knew very little about her, except that she was thin, perhaps in her mid 70s. It might seem rather negligent not to know the basic facts of my patient, but I had a valid reason—Mrs. Jones was dead, and had been dead for about three years before I made a patient of her. Mrs. Jones was the dead body that I dissected（解剖）over the first two years of my medical training.
Of course, her name wasn’t really Mrs. Jones, but it seemed a little impolite to be conducting research into someone’s body without even knowing its name, so out of courtesy, I thought she should have one. “Me and Mrs. Jones, we’ve got a thing going on,” went the song coming out of the radio as I unzipped the bag of her on my first day — and so she was christened.
As the months passed, I soon forgot that Mrs. Jones had, in fact, once been alive. One day, though, she suddenly became very human again. I’d been dissecting Mrs. Jones a good 18 months before I got around to the uterus（子宫）. After I’d removed it, the professor came up to me, “If you look at the opening carefully, you’ll see that the angle indicates that this woman has had several children, probably three.” I stared at it, and I suddenly felt very strange. This woman, who had given me something incredibly precious that I’d begun to take for granted, wasn’t a dead body. She was a person, a mother, in fact.
At my graduation, the same professor came over to congratulate me. I explained the story about Mrs. Jones to him, and recalled what he’d told me about her having children and how that had affected me all those years ago.
“Well,” he said, “at the beginning of your training you had a dead body and managed to turn it into a person. Now you’re a doctor, the trick is to have a person and not turn them into a dead body,” and he laughed, shook my hand and walked away.
1. Why didn’t the author know much about Mrs. Jones?| A．Because he was irresponsible for his patients. |
| B．Because he wasn’t allowed to ask for her privacy. |
| C．Because he didn’t know her until she passed away. |
| D．Because he was too careless while dissecting her. |
| A．It was passed down from the seniors of my school. |
| B．It came from a song being played when we first met. |
| C．She was named after a well-known singer I liked best. |
| D．It just occurred to me when I opened the bag of her. |
| A．Grateful. | B．Pitiless. |
| C．Hateful. | D．Guilty. |
| A．Medical students are able to bring the dead back to life. |
| B．Being a doctor has nothing to do with the medical training. |
| C．Good doctors never fail to save their patients from dying. |
| D．Medical staff ought to have respect for life and humanity. |
【推荐2】Britain is launching the world’s largest ever clinical trial of the Galleri test, which picks up pieces of genetic code from DNA before symptoms such as lumps (肿块) appear. The test is a game-changer for early cancer detection, which can detect more than 50 types of the disease in the very early stages. It has been developed by GRAIL, a healthcare company focusing on early cancer detection.
National Health Service (NHS) chief executive Amanda Pritchard said, “This quick and simple blood test could mark the beginning of a revolution in cancer detection and treatment here and around the world. By finding cancer before signs and symptoms appear, we have the best chance of treating it and we can give people the best chance of survival.
NHS has sent out invites across the country offering the test to 140,000 people aged 50 to 77 with no cancer symptoms. Another 6,000 with suspected signs have been offered to speed up their diagnosis (诊断). Blood samples will be taken at mobile clinics in retail parks and community locations. Laboratory analysis produces a result in a fortnight. Each test costs € 620 but NHS has negotiated a discounted price. Half the participants will have their blood screened with the Galleri test right away and samples from the rest will be stored and tested in the future. This will allow scientists to compare the stage at which any tumours (肿瘤) are detected between the two groups.
“The Galleri test can not only detect a wide range of cancer types but can also predict where the cancer is in the body with a high degree of accuracy. Earlier trial results showed it can detect 68% of 12 deadly cancers,” Health Secretary Sajid Javid said. In England 56% of cancers are diagnosed at stage one or two. NHS aims to increase that to three quarters by 2028. If found early there are a broader range of treatment options available, which can be curative and are often less aggressive.
1. What can be learned about the Galleri test?| A．It can spot early-stage cancers. | B．It has been developed by NHS. |
| C．It is an effective cure for diseases. | D．It has been completed in Britain. |
| A．The test is carried out free of charge. |
| B．NHS has offered the test to people from home and abroad. |
| C．Some blood samples will be saved for future use. |
| D．The test results will come out the following night. |
| A．To explain the purpose of NHS. | B．To prove the necessity of the test. |
| C．To show the testing process. | D．To stress the harm caused by cancer. |
| A．GRAIL Developed the Galleri Test | B．NHS Found a Solution to Cancer |
| C．Britain Saved Money in Curing Cancer | D．A Blood Test Helps Save Cancer Patients |
【推荐3】In the ancient world, the practice of medicine was inescapably linked to supernatural belief and magic. That was until the Greeks made advances in the field and brilliant figures such as Hippocrates laid the foundations for our medicine today. Recognized as the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates realised what seems obvious to us today -- that the observation and noting of symptoms is primary. He travelled across Greece teaching medicine, encouraging the view that disease had physical, not super-natural, explanations.
Medical students still take the Hippocratic Oath, a formal promise made by new doctors that they will follow the standards set by their profession and try to preserve life, swearing to use their skills to heal and do no harm. One of Hippocrates' theories was of the 'four humours', a belief that disease was caused by an imbalance of the four liquids supposedly contained in the human body -- blood, phlegm, and black and yellow bile (a liquid produced by your organ which helps you to digest fat).
Blood-letting was a common response to illness and was used until only 150 years ago in the mistaken belief that it would restore the body's internal balance. But while the Greeks may have been wrong about the bleeding and the bile, they were still the first civilization to understand that diseases could be treated by using carefully observation and logical thought.
Aristotle, political theorist, philosopher and teacher, also studied the natural world from a scientific point of view. He was the first to classify organisms, and although his method may seem simple now, he divided them into two basic categories, as either plant or animal -- he was the first to do so. Aristotle valued experimentation are discovered that evaporation, the process of becoming a vapour, turned salt water into fresh water. He was also believer in the theory that all matter is composed of four elements -- fire, earth, water and air.
Hippocrates believed the four humours, related to the four liquids in the body, were each in line with organ, a season and with different moods. The four were based on the Greeks' idea of four base elements ( water, fire, earth). Although discredited now, the humours formed the basis of western medicine until the century. They were:
- Blood from the liver; associated with Spring; with courage and hope
- Phlegm from brain and lungs; Winter; calm and unemotional
- Yellow bile from gall bladder（胆囊）: Summer; anger and bad temper
- Black bile from spleen（脾脏）: Autumn; with blue and dark mood
1. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?| A．It was the Greeks that made advances in the field of practice of medicine in the ancient world. |
| B．The Hippocratic Oath is a formal promise made by new doctors to swear their responsibilities. |
| C．Hippocrates thought disease was caused by imbalance of the four liquids contained in the human body. |
| D．Hippocrates was the first to believe diseases could be treated by careful observation and logical thought. |
| A．the blood was polluted by viruses |
| B．the human body was not evenly balanced |
| C．the patient was in a bad humour |
| D．too much blood was bad for people |
| A．He studied many books from a scientific point of view. |
| B．He drew the conclusion according to the two basic categories. |
| C．He made the discovery based on conducting experiments himself. |
| D．He believed that all matter consists of four base elements. |
| A．He proved that there are four base elements in all matter in the world. |
| B．He showed the procedure of how the four bodily liquids affected moods. |
| C．He insisted that almost all diseases had supernatural explanations. |
| D．He recognized the importance of the observation and noting of symptoms. |
A long-term American study shows the importance of early education for poor children. The study is known as the Abecedarian Project. It involved more than one-hundred young children from poor families in North Carolina.
Half of the children attended an all-day program at a high-quality child-care center. The center offered educational, health and social programs. Children took part in games and activities to increase their thinking and language skills and social and emotional development. The program also included health foods for the children.
The children attended the program from when they were a few weeks old until the age of five years. The other group of children did not attend the child-care center. After the age of five, both groups attended public school.
Researchers compared the two groups of children. When they were babies, both groups had similar results in tests for mental and physical skills. However, from the age of eighteen months, the children in the educational child-care program did much better in tests.
The researchers tested the children again when they were twelve and fifteen years old. The tests found that the children who had been in the child-care center continued to have higher average test results. These children did much better on tests of reading and mathematics.
A few years ago, organizers of the Abecedarian Project tested the students again. At the time, each student was twenty-one years old. They were tested for thinking and educational ability, employment, parenting and social skills. The researchers found that the young adults who had the early education still did better in reading and mathematics tests. They were more than two times as likely to be attending college or to have completed college. In addition, the children who received early education were older on average, when their first child was born.
The study offers more evidence that learning during the first months and years of life is important for all later development.
The researchers of the Abecedarian Project believe their study shows a need for lawmakers to spend money on public early education. They believe these kinds of programs could reduce the number of children who do not complete school and are unemployed.
1. The Abecedarian Project has lasted _______.
| A．almost one year | B．about five years |
| C．more than 20 years | D．no more than 15 years |
| A．have their children at later ages |
| B．get more help from other people |
| C．have no parenting or social skills |
| D．are poorer at reading and mathematics |
| A．What the children learned at the child-care center. |
| B．How important early education is for poor children. |
| C．How many children are involved in the Abecedarian Project. |
| D．Whether lawmakers will spend money on public early education. |
| A．costs a lot of money |
| B．leads to a lower birthrate |
| C．can improve the life of poor children |
| D．is not important for later development |
【推荐2】The Earth is facing a climate crisis, but it’s also getting greener. According to a new research, the rise is largely because of China and India. A study by NASA, based on extensive satellite imagery, has revealed that the two countries with the world’s biggest populations are also responsible for the largest increase in green plants.
A third of the leaf increase is attributable to China and India, due to the implementation of major tree planting projects as well as a vast increase in agriculture. “China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9% of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation-a surprising finding, considering the large populations in the countries need much land, ” Chi Chen, the study’s lead author said in a statement.
Between 2000 and 2017, a NASA sensor gathered data of the Earth’s surface from aboard two satellites, the Terra and the Aqua. Using the data, researchers discovered that China is the source of a quarter of the increase in green leaf area, despite possessing only 6. 6% of the world’s vegetated area. Forests ac- count for 42% of that increase, while croplands make up a further 32%. China’s increase in forest area is the result of forest conservation and expansion programs, established to combat the impacts of climate change and air pollution.
Rama Nemani, a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said in a statement, “When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to more leaf growth in northern forests, for instance. Now, with the data, we see that humans are also contributing,” Nemani said. “This will help scientists make better pre- dictions about the behavior of different Earth systems, which will help countries make better decisions a- bout how and when to lake action. ”
1. What can we get from the new research by NASA?| A．China and India should be responsible for the world’s climate crisis. |
| B．China and India make a contribution to the Earth’s increasing greening. |
| C．China and India have the biggest populations and the most green plaints. |
| D．The Earth no longer faces a climate crisis because of China and India’s efforts. |
| A．The greening of the Earth. |
| B．The increased croplands. |
| C．The protection of the forests. |
| D．The impacts of climate. |
| A．The Earth is Facing a Climate Crisis |
| B．China and India Cause the Climate Change |
| C．China and India are Making the Earth Greener |
| D．NASA Released a Report on Air Pollution |
| A．Sports. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Business. | D．Environment. |
【推荐3】Facial recognition cameras are everywhere, including in your smartphone. Many people rely on this technology to unlock their phones, open doors or make quick payments, but there is a problem: Everyone is wearing mask. What a hassle!
Now, tech companies have updated their software. Facial recognition technology can now identify people even if they are wearing a mask.
Beijing-based tech company Hanwang has announced a software which can correctly recognize 95 percent of people wearing masks, Engineering & Technology（E&T）reported. What's the secret? It's all about your eyes.
Marios Savvides, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, US, studies facial recognition technology. “As we get older,” he said, “our faces change shape, but not the area around our eyes. It stays the same—even if we put on weight.”
Another company has also been working on this kind of software. Tech5 has AI that measures the shape of your face. It also scans your iris（the colored part of your eyes）. Tech5 hopes to ignore all of the face below the nose.
Facial recognition software is about more than just unlocking your phone. It's about public safety. Touchless verification（验证）has become extremely important due to the COVID-19. More than that，facial recognition can be used to fight crime（犯罪）. “It can detect crime suspects,” said Huang Lei, Hanwang's president. Hanwang's technology is used by police in high-security settings. This means places like government buildings, subway stations and airports. Huang admits one big weakness of this new technology: It fails when people wear both masks and sunglasses. “In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost, but I believe we can overcome the weakness in the future,” said Huang.
1. What does the underlined word “hassle” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Habit. | B．Trouble. | C．Rule. | D．Mistake. |
| A．The forehead. | B．The facial expression. |
| C．The shape of face. | D．The eye region. |
| A．Worried. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．There is room for improvement in it. | B．It cannot store key facial information. |
| C．It will lose popularity in the future. | D．It won't work if people wear glasses. |
【推荐1】President Joe Biden’s declaration that “the pandemic is over” raised eyebrows and the anger of some experts who think such messaging could be too early. But to many Americans who have returned to pre-COVID 19 activities and are now being forced back into the office, the remark may ring true.
The problem is that what “back to normal“ feels like may differ from person to person, depending on the individual’s circumstances and by what standard they are judging the pandemic to be over. Two scholars were asked to evaluate just how the pandemic is ”over“ in their fields. This is what they said.
Lisa Miller, a professor of epidemiology said, “President Biden has answered the question whether the pandemic is over with a clear ‘yes’, but this is not a black and white issue. It is true that, thanks to widespread immunity from vaccines and infections, the U.S. is in a very different place compared to a year ago. But as an epidemiologist, I think the continued occurrence of between 350 and 400 deaths in the U.S. every day and hundreds of deaths per week in other countries around the world still constitutes a pandemic. Public health experts are still in a situation where no one can predict how the virus will mutate (变异). These mutations may make the virus less dangerous, but it is also possible that the next variant could be more harmful.”,
As an economic researcher, William Hauk said, “The good news is that the worst of the pandemic’s impact on the economy ended some time ago. After quickly rising to a postwar high of 14.7% in April 2020 as the destruction of the pandemic was taking its toll, the unemployment rate has been at 4% or lower for all of 2022. Especially, in the August employment report, the total number of employed workers in the U.S. was more than its pre-pandemic high for the first time.
While the labor market has largely recovered, there are still small economic waves from the pandemic that the U.S. will be feeling for some time. There are still supply-chain difficulties in some key areas, like computer chips. As a result, a full recovery may not occur for a while.
1. What is the purpose of the text?| A．To declare the pandemic is over. |
| B．To provide the measures for the pandemic. |
| C．To raise money for medical research. |
| D．To discuss whether the pandemic is over. |
| A．This is not a black or white issue. |
| B．The number of deaths due to the pandemic is still high. |
| C．Public health experts predict how the virus will mutate. |
| D．The virus is neither dangerous nor harmful. |
| A．Causing a lot of damage. | B．Using a tool. |
| C．Charging a fee. | D．Making it away. |
| A．Biden’s declaration that “the pandemic is over” was well received. |
| B．The pandemic’s impact on the economy completely ended some time ago. |
| C．The total number of employed workers in the U.S. has largely recovered. |
| D．The U.S. is feeling small economic waves from the pandemic sometimes. |
•________ A number of studies have shown playing video games can lead to structural changes in the brain, including increasing the size of some regions, or to functional changes, such as activating areas responsible for attention or visual-spatial skills. New research from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya has gone further, showing how cognitive changes can take place even years after people stop playing. According to Marc Palaus, the author of the study, what most video games have in common are elements that make people want to continue playing, and that they gradually get harder and present a constant challenge. “These two things are enough to make it an attractive and motivating activity, which, in turn, requires constant and intense use of our brain’s resources. Video games are a perfect recipe for strengthening our cognitive skills, almost without our noticing.” |
·Birds sing softly in pandemic San Francisco birds started singing differently in the quiet of the coronavirus lockdown, according to a study in Science. Before, the urban white-crowned sparrow’s breeding territories were almost three times as loud as rural territories, the study found. But during the pandemic, researchers noted noise levels in urban areas were drastically lower. In fact, they were consistent with traffic flow in the mid-1950s. “We found birds sang more softly when noise levels were lower,” researchers said. Even though the birds were singing more softly, the study found communication distances nearly doubled, elevating species fitness and increasing mating potential. “In addition, the signal-to- noise ratio doubled, which helps explain media reports suggesting bird songs sounded louder during the shutdown,” the researchers said. |
·Visitor sued over negative review An American has been sued by an island resort in Thailand over a negative TripAdvisor review and could face up to two years in prison if found guilty. A recent visit to the Resort on Koh Chang Island landed Wesley Barnes in trouble after he wrote unflattering online reviews about his holiday. Barnes was accused of causing “damage to the reputation of the hotel”, and of quarrelling with staff over not paying a corkage fee for alcohol brought to the hotel. According to the review Barnes posted in July, he encountered “unfriendly staff“ who “act like they don’t want anyone here”. The Sea View Resort said legal action was only taken because Barnes penned multiple reviews on different sites over the past few weeks. |
| A．Playing games improves memory. | B．Playing games enhances brain structure. |
| C．Playing games attracts everyone. | D．Playing games faces a great challenge. |
| A．The noises of traffic flow. |
| B．The influence of pandemic. |
| C．The quietness because of the coronavirus lockdown. |
| D．The signals in the urban areas. |
| A．neutral | B．negative | C．subjective | D．favourable |
【推荐3】Nowadays, we are very worried about such COVID-19 variants as Delta and Omicron. To relieve our anxieties, we should have a look at our own cell and the original COVID-19 virus.
First of all, our cell isn’t stupid. If any virus wants to enter our cell, it must figure out a way for its spike (触手) to hold tightly to the spike on the cell’s surface. You can imagine this connecting as a secret handshake.
At the early stage, the COVID-19 virus figured out a way to connect to a specific spike on the surface of human cell, called ACE2. But the connecting wasn’t perfect. However, it was good enough to trick the ACE2 to let it in.
Once the virus was inside the cell, it kept copying itself in order to find more cells to infect. During this time, the immune (免疫) system started making antibodies to fight back. Some of those antibodies acted like little caps that stick to the ends of the virus’s spike. Once “capped”, the infection couldn’t move forward, and the body won!
But every time the virus copies itself inside a cell, it has the chance of changing its spikes slightly. Most of the variations are actually harmful to the virus. So these variants disappear. However, once the virus hits upon a set of variations that actually help the virus to connect more tightly to the cell or more quickly, a person’s cell gets infected more easily.
Then what about the antibodies? Aren’t they coming to save us again? Well, yes... and no.
Scientists found that a person who was infected with the earlier version of the virus may not be protected as well against these new variants. He still can be infected, again. However, the antibodies’ spikes come in different shapes, too. So even though some antibodies become less useful, others will get the job done—or at least, hold back the infection long enough so the body can make new antibodies that fit perfectly on the changed spike.
1. What does the underlined word "it" in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The virus. | B．The cell. |
| C．The spike. | D．The connection. |
| A．How a virus enters the human cell. |
| B．How a virus copies itself inside a cell. |
| C．Why the immune system can fight back. |
| D．Why virus variants have different infection rates. |
| A．COVID-19 variants will become more and more infectious. |
| B．It is unlikely for COVID-19 patients to get infected again. |
| C．Old antibodies might be less effective against new variants. |
| D．It is hopeless to get rid of the COVID-19 in the near future. |
| A．Worries About the COVID-19 Variants |
| B．A Simple Guide to COVID-19 Variants |
| C．The Danger of the Deadly COVID-19 Virus |
| D．Ways to Protect Ourselves From COVID-19 Virus |
