4 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can onlybe used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A.function B.total C.worthwhile D.distinguishing E.achievements
F.flowing G.acknowledge H.promising I.treatment J.prescribed K.suffered |
Over the last 150 years, the field of medicine has accomplished many astonishing things. Some of these medical 1 are well-known, antibiotics, vaccines and organ transplants, for example. Here are three success stories in the world of medical science.
Surviving without a HeartOn July 2, 2008, D’Zhana Simmons from South Carolina was given a heart transplant. She 2 Kfroma condition called dilated cardiomyopathy(扩张型心肌病), which meant that her heart was weakened and her blood wasn’t being pumped efficiently. Her new heart failed to 3 properly, so doctors fitted two pumps to keep her blood 4 while they went looking for a new heart. It was almost four months later, on October 29, that another transplant was carried out successfully. In 5 , she’d lived without a heart for 118 days. This is thought to be the longest a pediatric patient has been kept alive without any heart at all.
Waking People from ComasIn1999, a patient in a persistent vegetative state(植物人状态) due to a motor accident was seen to be twitching(抽动) by one of his nurses. His doctor 6 a common sleeping pill, zolpidem, in case this twitching was caused by discomfort. The doctor crushed it on a spoon, fed it to the patient, and was shocked when just half an hour later, the comatose(昏迷的)person made a noise for the first time in five years. This simple 7 has since been tried with several other patients with marvelous results. Not all patients respond--in fact, around forty percent don’t show any improvement--but those who are successfully rescued from their comas are finally able to 8 their loved ones, and even have conversations.
Restoring Sight to the BlindBlindness is not a single, uniform condition; it can be variously caused by problems in the eyes, the nerves and the brain. Thanks to machine implants, people who were completely blind sometimes become capable of 9 colours and describing objects.
The device works like a digital camera, creating an image and then sending signals through nerve cells to the brain. Doctors were also able to restore sight to a man who had been blind for forty-three years; they did this with the help of stem cells, one of the most 10 fields in medicine. Neither of these treatments are yet perfect, but they show what science may be capable of in the future.
