When delivering medications to patients, one of the most effective methods is direct injection into the bloodstream using a needle. Now, researchers from China and Switzerland have designed a needle-free alternative: a tiny, drug-filled cup that sticks to the inside of the cheek like an octopus sucker (章鱼吸盘). The device is easily accessible, can be removed at any time and prevents saliva (唾液) from dissolving the drug, which gets absorbed through the lining of the inner cheek.
“Oral delivery is really kind of a holy grail,” says Arturo Vegas, a chemist at Boston University. “It’s still the preferred form of administration for patients… which means higher compliance, better outcomes for the patient, less adverse effects overall.”
Usually, delivering drugs through the dense, inner cheek tissue is not very effective. But the suction cup stretches the cheek, creating a larger surface area for the drug to pass through.
To test the design, the team 3D printed their rubber, 1.1-by 0.6-centimeter suckers. They loaded each with the diabetes drug desmopressin and stuck them inside the cheeks of three beagles (小猎兔犬), which have similar inner cheeks to humans. For comparison, they also delivered the drug to beagles via a pill and via injection. After three hours, the team found that drug plasma concentrations in dogs with the patch were more than 150 times higher than in the dogs that took a tablet.
“We were really impressed by the level of absorption that we would get with such a simple system,” said Jean-Christophe Leroux, a co-author of the study. However, the oral patches were less effective than drugs delivered via injection.
The team further tested the patches by filling them with the drug semaglutide, which has molecules (分子) four times larger than desmopressin does. After 30 minutes, they found that beagles with the patch had a similar amount of semaglutide absorbed by the bloodstream as those that took a tablet.
Though the patches need further testing to determine how repeated use affects patients, the researchers conclude that their technique is “non-invasive, simple and readily self-applicable by patients”.
1. Which of the following is the advantage of the device?| A．It is organic. | B．It is easy to use. |
| C．It is inexpensive. | D．It is free of side effects. |
| A．It is made from a special rubber. | B．It softens the dense, inner cheek tissue. |
| C．It prevents saliva from dissolving the drug. | D．It expands the area for the drug to be absorbed. |
| A．Drug plasma concentrations increase as time goes by. |
| B．The three beagles have similar inner cheeks to each other. |
| C．The device may work better for drugs with small molecules. |
| D．Researchers injected different drugs to beagles in the first test. |
| A．Whether it can be used repeatedly. | B．How it can help patients recover sooner. |
| C．When it can be put into wide application. | D．What can be done to improve its efficiency. |
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【推荐1】While some Chinese specialists suggest abolishing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), foreign pharmaceutical (制药的) institutions and industries are pursuing them. Of the global herbal (药草的) medicine sales volume, the Chinese mainland accounts for only 2 percent and Japan has the lion’s share of the market, far ahead of other countries. More than 100 countries and regions around the world have set up TCM institutions, with the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea spending millions of dollars in research and developing medicine. The UK-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced its first TCM medicine research and development program, which targets not just the Chinese market, but the global one as well.
“TCM is a well-built medical science based on thousands of years of clinical practices. It shows great promise treating complicated conditions that the single-target Western medicine has failed to handle,” says Zang Jingwu, senior vice-president and head of GlaxoSmithKline’s R&D in China. “Our focus is to transform TCM from an experience-based practice to evidence-based medicines through innovation,” he says.
Currently, a 10-person team in Shanghai is in charge of the program. However, TCM is different from Western medicine, so great innovation is required to combine the two sciences. In fact, many in Western medicine circles have recognized the importance of TCM, but the problem is how to prove and develop that. TCM is developed through practical experience and improvement of herbs but many people in the West don’t trust that. TCM, particularly herbal products, are largely available in the US and Europe, but questions like how to prove their effectiveness in the context of Western medicine and how to best use them remain unanswered.
Zhang Lingping, director of the international cooperation department of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, welcomed the emerging trend. “Their increasing interest shows Western medicine circles have begun to learn about the time-honored medical science, which originated in China,” she says.
1. Which country holds the biggest volume in the global herbal medicine sales?| A．The Chinese mainland. | B．Japan. |
| C．South Korea. | D．The United States. |
| A．Traditional Chinese medicine needs eagerly innovating. |
| B．Herbal products are effective in treating complex diseases. |
| C．A medication research and development program was set up. |
| D．Western medicine is evidence-based rather than experience-based. |
| A．She kept her neutral attitude towards it. | B．She conveyed her recognition about it. |
| C．She expressed her worry about it. | D．She attached no importance to it. |
| A．TCM Is Gaining Global Popularity. |
| B．TCM Is Facing an Awkward Situation. |
| C．TCM Has More Advantages over Western Medicine. |
| D．TCM’s Effectiveness Is Being Testified. |
【推荐2】William Cary said he has learned to appreciate small victories with his 17-year-old son Ben, who has autism and doesn’t speak, so he choked up while describing how proud he was when Ben buttoned his pants for the very first time after going to the bathroom. But one victory that Ben achieved long ago was surfing. Since the age of six, he has been participating in Surfers Healing surf camps for children with autism.
The annual event returned recently to Tourmaline Surf Park in California. More than 150 children took turns riding the waves with 15 professional surfers as well as a small group of volunteers. Ben could hardly wait to get in the water with surfer Graham. Within minutes of hitting the sand, Ben mounted a long board (冲浪板) and Graham gently pushed him out into the thigh-high surf. Graham, who has an 11-year-old son with autism, said he’s seen firsthand how children immediately transform when they’re rolling in the ocean waves.
Surfers Healing was started 20 years ago by surfer Izzy Paskowitz and his wife, Danielle. One day while in Hawaii, their son Isaiah had a meltdown (情绪失控) on the beach and Izzy tried to distract the boy by tossing him into the waves. Suddenly, the boy’s anger was replaced by smiles and wonder, and Surfers Healing was born. Each year, the foundation hosts 25 camps around the world serving more than 5,000 autistic children, ranging in age from 3 to 25. About half of the group participating recently was new to the sport.
Paskowitz said the ocean has a healing power on people with autism. The rhythm of the waves calms them, and the sounds, sights, textures and temperatures create such a sensory overload (负荷) that it forces the mind to focus. Many of the children arriving at the beach initially covered their ears from the crash of the waves, but gradually these sensitivities disappeared. One teen camper who traveled with her mom from Arizona wouldn’t get out of the car for more than an hour. Finally, she was coaxed (哄骗) to take a brief ten-minute ride in the knee-high waves on a body board. As she returned to shore, a volunteer awarded her a small trophy for participation.
1. What was most probably the reason why Cary choked up?| A．He was proud that his son was a good surfer. |
| B．He achieved a small victory. |
| C．He took pride in his autistic son learning to take care of himself. |
| D．He was too surprised to see his autistic son button his own pants. |
| A．Ben has suffered from autism since he was six. |
| B．Around 150 people took part in the recent surfing event in Tourmaline Surf Park. |
| C．Autistic people usually range in age from 3 to 25. |
| D．Surfing is so stimulating to our senses that it forces autistic children to focus. |
| A．It was initiated 20 years ago by a foundation. |
| B．A boy went crazy on the beach of Hawaii two decades ago. |
| C．Surfer Izzy Paskowitz and his wife realized the healing effects of surfing 20 years ago. |
| D．Surfer Izzy Paskowitz’s son was cured of autism by surfing two decades ago. |
| A．From Chaos to Peace | B．Surfing Washes Away Autism Symptoms |
| C．The Surfers’ Club | D．Transforming Powers of Surfing |
【推荐3】Tears not only deliver oxygen and nutrients to our eyes and remove waste, but also contain various chemicals originally present in blood, some of which serve as markers of some diseases. That's a primary reason why doctors order blood tests. But it also means that physicians — and maybe in the near future, you — can look for signs of illness by looking at your tears.
Scientists have already found that markers of many serious diseases including cancers are found in tears. And recently, a technology named Tear Exo has been developed for breast cancer screening using tears collected by patients themselves. That could offer a cheaper way of testing and aid in the earlier detection of deadly disease.
But the potential advantages of tears as indicators of health go beyond occasional testing. One tear-based technology is a small contact lens that continuously monitors a patient's biomarkers, significantly improving disease prevention and detection. It has attracted the attention of some major companies such as Novartis, and is currently under development in research laboratories around the world.
More recently, a smart contact lens has been successfully developed for continuous monitoring and treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Such a product probably won't be ready for commercial use in several years. But according to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, about 45 million people in the U.S. already wear contact lens to correct their sight. Switching to a smart version would be simple for them.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential in tears beyond crying. Tears can provide an inexpensive, rapid and easy-to-use choice to monitor health. Given the advantage of tear technology, such technology will almost certainly bring about more effective prevention of diseases—rather than having to deal with the difficulty of treating them.
1. In which way do people benefit from Tear Exo?| A．Preventing breast cancer. | B．Saving time for screening tests. |
| C．Reducing the costs of testing. | D．Detecting some diseases earlier. |
| A．It has a promising future. | B．It can improve patient's sight. |
| C．It is available on the market. | D．It monitors eyesight continuously. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Negative. | D．Cautious. |
| A．What role do tears play? | B．Tears contain high levels of chemical. |
| C．How can we prevent tears? | D．Your eyes may save your life someday. |
【推荐1】Facial recognition technology is mostly associated with uses of recognizing human faces, but scientists believe they’ve found a new use for it —saving seals (海豹).
A research team at Colgate University has developed SealNet, a database of seal faces created by taking pictures of dozens of harbor seals in Maine’s Casco Bay. The team found the tool’s accuracy in identifying the marine mammals (海洋哺乳动物) is close to 100%, which is no small achievement in an ecosystem home to thousands of seals.
The researchers are working on expanding their database to make it available to other scientists. Broadening the database to include rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal and Hawaiian monk seal could help conservation efforts to save those species.
“SealNet can help scientists get a better idea of where in the ocean seals are located,” said Krista Ingram, a team member. “Understanding their dispersal (分散) and patterns really helps conservation efforts for the coast,” she said. “For mobile marine mammals that move around a lot and are hard to photograph in the water, we need to be able to identify individuals.”
SealNet is designed to automatically detect the face in a picture, crop it and recognize it based on facial patterns such as eyes and nose shape, as it would do on a human. A similar tool called PrimNet had been used on seals previously, but SealNet outperformed it.
Seals and other marine mammals have long been studied by using satellite trackers. “But the use of facial recognition could provide more valuable data,” said Michelle Berger, a scientist who was not involved in the SealNet research.
“Once the system is perfected, I can picture lots of interesting ecological applications for it,” Berger said. “If they could recognize seals, and recognize them from year to year, that would give us lots of information about movement — how much they move from site to site.”
1. What is SealNet’s big achievement?| A．The creative way of taking pictures. |
| B．The large database of seal faces. |
| C．The perfect recognizing accuracy. |
| D．The proved value for ocean protection. |
| A．To explain SealNet’s potential value. |
| B．To show the difficulty of developing SealNet. |
| C．To stress the importance of coastal conservation. |
| D．To present a different view about coastal conservation. |
| A．By creating a brand new database of seal faces. |
| B．By following the same process on humans. |
| C．By making videos of the swimming seals’ tracks. |
| D．By working with another similar recognizing tool. |
| A．It is widely used. |
| B．It is highly profitable. |
| C．It raises a high expectation. |
| D．It takes time to see the result. |
【推荐2】The sporty all-electric car from the Netherlands resembles a BMW car, but is unique: It captures more carbon than it emits. “Our end goal is to create a more sustainable future,” said Jens Lahaije, finance manager for TU/ecomotive, the Eindhoven University of Technology student team that created the car. Called ZEM, for zero emission mobility, the two-seater houses a Cleantron lithium-ion battery (锂电池) pack, and most of its parts are 3D-printed from recycled plastics, Lahaije said. The target is to minimize carbon dioxide emitted during the car’s full lifespan, from manufacturing to recycling, he added.
Battery electric vehicles emit virtually no CO2 during operation compared with combustion-engine (燃烧式发动机) vehicles, but battery cell production can create so much pollution that it can take EVs tens of thousands of miles to achieve “carbon parity (相同)” with comparable fossil-fueled models.
“Direct air capture is a fairly new method of cleaning the air by capturing CO2 into a filter (过滤器). We have made use of this innovative technology and implemented this in our car. The idea is very simple: while driving, air will move through our self-designed filters and the CO2 will be captured and stored.” ZEM uses two filters that can capture up to 2 kilograms (4.41 lb) of CO2 over 20,000 miles of driving, the Eindhoven team estimated. They imagine a future when filters can be emptied at charging stations, based on the fact that there are a nationwide charging infrastructure, which includes residential, commercial and public chargers across the country installed by the Energy Department, automakers and private businesses.
The students are showing their vehicle on a US promotional tour to universities and companies from the East Coast to Silicon Valley, hoping to attract more financial support.
It is hard to tell where the future will take the electric vehicles, but it is clear that they hold a lot of potential for creating a more sustainable future. In the end, only time will tell what road electric vehicles will take in the future.
1. What advantage does the newly-designed car have?| A．It looks like a BMW car. | B．It is a drive-less car. |
| C．It’s a carbon-eating electric vehicle. | D．It purifies air automatically. |
| A．The function of filters. | B．The benefits of direct air capture. |
| C．The application prospect of the technology. | D．The operating principle of the technology. |
| A．Lack of research fund. | B．Unpredictable application prospect. |
| C．No permission from the government. | D．Strong objection from the car companies. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Confident. | C．Concerned. | D．Pessimistic. |
【推荐3】While inventions like the wheel and the Internet have changed the way the world works today, there are some creations that never quite got off the ground. Let’s look at the strangest inventions from across the globe.
THE TOMATO-FEEDING ROBOT
Japanese juice seller, Kagome, invented a robot that will feed you tomatoes with its long metal arms extended on either side of your face while you run. Originally created for the Tokyo Marathon, the robot even has a timer so that tomato-eating runners won’t use up their supply too quickly.
THE ROLLING BENCH
It’s lunchtime and many people may be looking for a park bench to sit on, but the rain has made every surface humid. This is when the rolling bench comes in. When one side is too wet, a handle on the side can roll up another dry side for better sitting conditions. The inventions come from designer Sung Woo Park, from Seoul in South Korea.
THE LED SLIPPERS(拖鞋)
We all hate hurting our toes in the dark, but a revolutionary footwear design can prevent this from happening again. The slightly strange LED slippers are designed to be comfortable, yet shine your path at night. With two in-built LED lights at the top of each slipper, the users can direct their toes at any area that needs light.
THE FOOT-POWERED BICYCLE
It’s the unusual invention of German designers Tom Hambrock and Juri Spetter. Besides an unusual appearance, its function is also slightly strange, as the user must run to get the bicycle moving. As soon as the riders have enough momentum(动力), they’re able to rest their feet on the back wheel and use the handlebars to control its direction.
1. What can we know about the tomato-feeding robot from the text?| A．It’s popular with lazy eaters. |
| B．It was the creation of a Korean. |
| C．It was designed for a sports event. |
| D．It has two plastic arms. |
| A．Dirty. | B．Wet. |
| C．Unsafe. | D．Uncomfortable. |
| A．The LED slippers. |
| B．The rolling bench. |
| C．The foot-powered bicycle. |
| D．The tomato-feeding robot. |
| A．They bring us speed improvement. |
| B．Their inventors are all from Asia. |
| C．They are powered by electricity. |
| D．They can serve us in different ways. |
【推荐1】THE 2018 VOYAGE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AND BEYOND
---A bestselling promotion by Reader Offers Ltd
12 NIGHTS DEPARTING 22TH FEBRUARY 2018
February 2018
Wed 22 Fly from London Gatwick or Manchester to Cape Town, South Africa.
Thu 23 Cape Town, South Africa
Upon arrival, transfer to the port and board Boudicca for your 21 night cruise beginning with overnight stay on board.
Fri 24 Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Africa and it's easy to see why. Ascend Table Mountain by cable car and enjoy breathtaking views of the city, surrounding suburbs and Atlantic Ocean.
Mon 27 Walvis Bay, Namibia
Walvis Bay is situated at a wide lagoon with innumerable sea birds. it's a great destination for hikings into the desert and dune regions, offering visions of unspoiled landscapes and compelling beauty.
Fri 28 Jamestown, St.Helena
The beautiful island of St.Helena is one of the world's most remote and secluded destinations. Here, history enthusiasts will enjoy hearing of the island's links with Napoleon-the French emperor was exiled here until his death.
MARCH 2018
Thu 2 Georgetown, Ascension Island
An isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, with beautiful views.
Fri 3 Praia, Cape Verde
Sun 5 Santa Cruz, Tenerife
Disembark and transfer to the airport for your flight to London Gatwick or Manchester.
Dates not mentioned will be spent relaxing at sea.
1. which of the following places may interest history lovers most?| A．Cape Town | B．Walvis Bay |
| C．Ascension Island | D．St. Helena Island |
| A．On Thursday 23 February | B．On Sunday 26 February |
| C．On Friday 24 February | D．On Sunday 5 March |
| A．A travel agency | B．A ship |
| C．An airline | D．A coach |
【推荐2】A robotic game of cat and mouse playing out in a lab provides a sight at future possibilities of robots carrying out search-and-rescue missions without much human guidance.
The Tianjicat robot developed by researchers at Tsinghua University in China uses a brain-inspired computing chip called TianjicX. The so-called neuromorphic chip (神经形态芯片) can run multiple artificial intelligence techniques at the same time in an energy-efficient manner. It is one example of experiments with neuromorphic systems that could allow small robots to make decisions using limited computing resources and power.
The researchers challenged the Tianjicat robot to chase (追逐) another robot that was set to move randomly in a room filled with obstacles. This required Tianjicat to track the mouse robot by using both visual recognition and sound detection, and to figure out the best path to chase down its pretend prey (假想猎物) without knocking on anything. The team says that the TianjicX chip reduced the amount of power required for the robot cat to make decisions during the chase by about. half compared with an NVIDIA chip designed for AI computing.
Performing a cat-and-mouse chase would be a step up in difficulty for most commercialized robots, which usually follow very predictable routines in warehouses or factories. Many robots that interact with more complex and unpredictable environments rely on remote control by human operators, or else must maintain wireless connections with distant data centres that have the computing power necessary for more intensive decision-making. Neuromorphic systems haven’t yet been commercialized in a big way, but their relatively low size, weight and power requirements could provide practical advantages or robotic deployment (部署).
The Tianjicat robot is worldwide acknowledged. “For robotics, this is very important because it allows the system to operate for longer durations in hard-to-reach environments with greater autonomy,” says Jeffrey Krichmar at the University of California, Irvine.
1. What do the researchers want the robot to do by testing it?| A．Do rescue-work. |
| B．Assist in research. |
| C．Help get rid of rats. |
| D．Save power. |
| A．Why the robot chases another robot. |
| B．What the robot’s pretend prey is like. |
| C．How researchers test the robot. |
| D．How much power the robot uses in an action. |
| A．Its small size. |
| B．Its mouse-like shape. |
| C．Its business value. |
| D．Its date center. |
| A．Negative. |
| B．Doubtful. |
| C．Unconcerned. |
| D．Favorable. |
【推荐3】A new study explores the custom of tipping in the United States. Many Americans give tips to people who perform a job for them, especially workers in the service industry. They pay a little extra to people cutting their hair, driving them across town or serving them a meal at a restaurant.
The researchers found that men give bigger tips to restaurant workers than women. And people who live in the northern US are more generous with tips than those living in the South. People who earn $ 50, 000 or more a year give bigger tips than those who earn less than $50, 000. There is one likely reason: the wealthier Americans have more money to spend.
Michael Lynn is a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in New York. In other words, he knows a lot about the issue of tipping. In earlier surveys, Lynn said he found mixed results on the generosity of men and women when it comes to tipping. In some studies, men gave bigger tips than women. In others, women gave more money.
Lynn’s own research in American restaurants found that men give bigger tips when the restaurant server is a woman and women give more when the server is a man. Tips are very important to service employees. People who work at restaurants often get most of their earnings from tips.
Nationwide, Americans generally tip between 15 to 20 percent at restaurants and leave from $2 to S 10 a day for the people who clean their hotel rooms. Tips of 15 percent of the reading on the meter (计价器) are also common for people who drive taxis.
But here is something to keep in mind. If you are able to give the person serving you a tip or a bigger one than what is expected, your generosity will be welcome. Many service workers do not make much money, and even an extra dollar or two can make a difference in their lives.
1. What is paragraph I mainly about?| A．A study in a restaurant. | B．A job offering a lot of tips. |
| C．The service industry in the US. | D．The custom of tipping in the US. |
| A．People give more tips to the opposite sex server. |
| B．People are always more generous to service employers. |
| C．Men give the same tips to the women restaurant servers as women. |
| D．Men always give more tips to the men restaurant servers than women. |
| A．$2. | B．$10. |
| C．$15. | D．$20. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Critical. |
| C．Uncaring. | D．Supportive. |
