| A．In a classroom. |
| B．In the forest. |
| C．In a hospital. |
2 . I have been a healthcare assistant with Marie Curie for four years. What led me to join this remarkable organization was a deeply personal experience.
Seven years ago, my father was in the hospital, and I was informed that he was in the end-of-life stage. He had wanted to be at home during his final moments, so I arranged for him to return home. He spent only one more night there, but he wasn’t alone. A Marie Curie nurse was by our side. Facing the emotions that come with knowing a loved one is at the end of their life can be heartbreaking. Having a nurse with us made it easier to deal with these feelings. That’s when I made the decision to join Marie Curie.
Working for the charity, I find myself on duty during most Christmases. We operate every single day, including holidays. You might assume that being with families during their last Christmas, knowing it’s a difficult time for the person they’re caring for, would be a sad experience. But what may surprise you is that it’s not. The families, in my experience, are not sad. They make the most of the time they have left and they remain positive for everyone knows what’s coming. They understand that their loved one is dying, but it’s not a time for sorrow, it’s a time of togetherness and warmth. I remember one particular family — three sisters — and the fourth was in the end-of-life stage. When I arrived, she was in a critical condition, and I knew she might not make it through the night. But sitting with the sisters, talking about their childhood, recalling what happened in the past was a special time. They mentioned that their sister had asked for peaches and cream earlier that day, and they made sure she got what she wanted. She went to sleep, and we lost her that night.
We can’t change what happens to us, but we can make a difference. We provide support through the stages of sadness and struggles. And, surprisingly, people may not suffer that much.
1. What can we learn about Marie Curie from the passage?| A．It is a remarkable healthcare organization for benefit. |
| B．It is one of the most volunteer organizations in the world. |
| C．It won’t offer the service during some important festivals. |
| D．It can be a big comfort to those facing their beloved ones’ death. |
| A．Because of the special relationship between them. |
| B．Because of their unusual and abnormal behaviour. |
| C．Because of the countless hardship the family has suffered. |
| D．Because of the family’s courage and calmness facing misfortune. |
| A．Actions speak louder than words. | B．Misfortune might be an actual blessing. |
| C．Where there is action, there is difference. | D．All things are difficult before they are easy. |
| A．Devoted and caring. | B．Gifted and generous. |
| C．Hardworking and honest. | D．Sensitive and determined. |
3 . You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Comedy on Referral has taken that idea and run with it, using stand-up comedy to help treat people struggling with trauma (精神创伤) and anxiety in partnership with the National Health Service (NHS).
The idea came from comedian Angie Belcher’s experiences teaching comedy at the University of Bristol. She found that students often told her how much stronger and more resilient (有适应力的) they were thanks to stand-up comedy.
Inspired, she teamed up with the NHS in Bristol to create a six-week comedy course for patients struggling with trauma in January 2022. Following the success of this initial course, Comedy on Referral won NHS funding to help men with trauma in London.
Belcher said, “Past traumas are perfect for comedy. Comedy doesn’t come from the happy, perfect moments of your life, but from our everyday struggles and major life events. People who’ve been through big life experiences such as losing a loved one and ill health often can’t wait to tell me their stories, mostly because there’s always something especially funny about the situation.”
Research has shown that laughter has positive psychological effects, such as decreasing levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and increasing endorphins (the hormone that reduces the feeling of pain). It can even have physiological benefits, although less research has been done in this area. Current research has linked laughter and humour with increased levels of pain tolerance as well as short-term cardiovascular (心血管的) benefits. More research is needed to prove these findings
Nonetheless, the mental health benefits of regular laughter are widely accepted, and using comedy to treat mental health struggles could be a real breakthrough in the treatment of mental health.
1. Why is the phrase mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To explain the harm trauma causes. | B．To stress the importance of laughter. |
| C．To show the effect of stand-up comedy. | D．To state the idea behind Comedy on Referral. |
| A．Effective. | B．Ambiguous. | C．Fruitless. | D．Controversial. |
| A．Struggling moments. | B．Funny moments. |
| C．Successful moments. | D．Boring moments. |
| A．Comedy is one thing that can make you struggle | B．Laughter is useful for people’s mental health |
| C．Anxiety can also make you feel better | D．Laughter will cure you of all diseases |
| A．At home. | B．In the waiting room. | C．At the doctor’s office. |
For thousands of years, an ancient Chinese medical practice, acupuncture(针灸),
Acupuncture,
6 . In recent years, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have brought both excitement and concerns to various fields. One area where AI is making a profound impact is the medical field, particularly in the domain of diagnostics.
Al-powered diagnostic systems leverage deep learning algorithms to analyze medical images, such as X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans. These algorithms can detect subtle patterns and anomalies that might be missed by human radiologists, potentially leading to earlier and more accurate diagnoses.
However, the integration of AI in medical diagnostics raises complex ethical questions. For instance, who should be held responsible if an AI system misdiagnoses a patient’s condition? Should AI algorithms be treated as medical professionals, with legal and liability implications? These questions become even more intricate when considering that AI systems learn from vast datasets of medical information, which might contain biases or inaccuracies.
Furthermore, the adoption of AI diagnostics could impact the role of healthcare professionals. Some argue that AI could enhance doctors’ capabilities by providing them with additional insights, while others fear that it might replace human expertise, leading to job losses and a potential decrease in the quality of patient care. Despite these challenges, proponents of AI diagnostics emphasize its potential to improve healthcare accessibility, especially in underserved regions where there is a shortage of skilled medical professionals. Al-powered diagnostics could provide preliminary assessments and recommendations, helping to bridge the gap between patients and healthcare providers.
1. What is the primary advantage of AI-powered diagnostic systems in the medical field?| A．They provide additional insights to doctors. |
| B．They replace the need for human radiologists. |
| C．They analyze medical images using deep learning algorithms. |
| D．They focus on detecting visible patterns in medical images. |
| A．The potential for AI algorithms to replace human doctors. |
| B．The reliability of AI algorithms in analyzing medical images. |
| C．The legal responsibility for misdiagnoses made by AI systems. |
| D．The biased data used for training AI algorithms. |
| A．AI could enhance doctors’ expertise and skills. |
| B．AI could lead to job losses in the medical field. |
| C．AI could decrease the quality of patient care. |
| D．AI could replace human doctors completely. |
| A．AI diagnostics could decrease the quality of patient care. |
| B．AI diagnostics could primarily serve regions with sufficient medical professionals. |
| C．AI diagnostics could bridge the gap in healthcare accessibility. |
| D．AI diagnostics could replace the need for skilled radiologists. |
7 . Phebe Cox grew up in what might seem an unlikely mental health danger zone for a kid: tony Palo Alto, California. But behind its surface of family success and wealth, she said, is an environment of heavy pressure on students to perform. By 2016, when Cox was in middle school, Palo Alto had a teen suicide (自杀) rate four times the national average.
Cox’s family lived by the railroad tracks where many of the suicides occurred. She got counseling (咨询). But that choice is not always easily available to teens in crisis — and she and her peers regarded school mental health services as their last choice because of concerns about privacy.
A new program provides an alternative. Called Allcove, it offers unattached health and wellness sites to those ages 12 to 25. Although Allcove is built to support a wide range of physical, emotional and social needs, its main goal is to deal with mental health challenges before they develop into deeper problems. Cox said, “I felt pretty helpless as a young teenager, but Allcove is all about the students and the students’ needs.”
About half of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14 and 75% before age 25, according to researchers. Yet access to mental health care in the U.S. is lacking. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, some 30 million adults and children with mental health conditions go without treatment, and 129 million people live in areas with shortages of mental health professionals.
Allcove provides fully staffed safe spaces for teens and young adults to discuss and deal with their health, both mental and physical. Dr. Steven Adelsheim, a psychiatrist, who created the Allcove in 2014, said, “There is a crying need in the U.S. to reach kids with early intervention and help.” Sometimes a kid may come in with a physical complaint, and only after a few visits is the mental suffering brought out into the open. When that happens, Alcove can make a “warm handoff” to a mental health specialist onsite. Success, say Adelsheim and Cox, would mean the establishment of hundreds of Allcove centers up and down the state and, eventually, around the country.
1. Why did Cox and her peers regard school mental health services as their last choice?| A．They were indifferent to the program. |
| B．They were concerned about their health. |
| C．They were upset about the occurrence of the suicides. |
| D．They were worried about their personal information leak. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By listing data. |
| C．By showing comparison. | D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．The sense of mental suffering. | B．Involvement of health experts. |
| C．Complaints about physical suffering. | D．The pressing call for assistance. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Short-lived. | C．Unidentifiable. | D．Significant. |
8 . When colds and flu hit, many people automatically turn to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to push through and treat their symptoms. Although these medicines are easily accessible and widely used, it might come as a surprise to many people to learn that they are not risk-free. A study estimated that every year, 26,735 people went to the emergency room for adverse (不利的) events related to OTC cold and cough medicines.
When two or more drugs are used together, their interactions can sometimes produce unexpected harmful effects. Physicians are typically knowledgeable about potential drug interactions, so it is very important for patients to ask their healthcare providers which OTC medicines are safe for them to use.
It is important to read the package ingredients of OTC medicines closely to avoid duplication of doses (剂量重复). Cold medicines are typically made up of multiple ingredients. A person who takes a single-ingredient medicine paired with one of these multi-ingredient medicines can receive an unsafe dose of that ingredient.
While everyone could potentially experience adverse effects from cold and flu medicines, some groups — including older adults, children and pregnant women — may be at greater risk. Older people who are using prescribed drugs to treat multiple health conditions may have a higher risk of drug interactions because of the higher number of medicines being used at the same time to treat different conditions. The aging body is not as expert at absorbing, distributing and clearing medicines as younger bodies are. This can put older adults at higher risk for an overdose and drug-1o-drug interactions with some medicines.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend giving cold medicines to children under age 4. Because of a variety of factors, young children have a higher risk of an accidental overdose and adverse events that could lead to death.
1. What does the author advise patients to do in paragraph 2?| A．Buy medicines from hospitals. | B．Take drugs as early as possible. |
| C．Ask for suggestions from doctors. | D．Read the package ingredients of drugs. |
| A．To provide a medical choice for people who catch a cold. |
| B．To show cold medicines are more likely to cause bad effects. |
| C．To explain OTC medicines often have more than one ingredient. |
| D．To stress the importance of learning about medicines’ ingredients. |
| A．They cannot cope with aging positively. |
| B．They are more easily affected by diseases. |
| C．Their body cannot handle medicines easily. |
| D．Their desire for health makes them unwise. |
| A．OTC medicines may not be safe. |
| B．Tips for taking over-the-counter drugs. |
| C．How to deal with an OTC drug overdose. |
| D．Should medicines be available “over the counter”? |
| A．In a hotel. | B．At the man’s home. | C．In a hospital. |
10 . Desperately ill and seeking a miracle, David Bennett Sr. took the last bet on Jan. 7. when be became the first human to be successfully transplanted with the heart of a pig. “It creates the beat; it creates the pressure; it is his heart,” declared Bartley Griffith, director of the surgical team that performed the operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Bennett, 57, held on through 60 tomorrows, far longer than any previous patient who’d received a heart from another species. His remarkable run offered new hope that such procedures, known as xenotransplantation (异种移植), could help relieve the shortage of replacement organs, saving thousands of lives each year.
The earliest attempts at xenotransplantation of organs, involving kidneys from rabbits, goats, and other animals, occurred in the early 20th century, decades before the first successful human-to-human transplants. Rejection, which occurs when the recipient’s body system recognizes the donor organ as a foreign object and attacks it, followed within hours or days. Results improved after some special drugs arrived in the 1960s, but most recipients still died after a few weeks. The record for a heart xenotransplant was set in 1983, when an infant named Baby Fae survived for 20 days with an organ from a baboon (狒狒).
In recent years, however, advances in gene editing have opened a new possibility: re-edit some genes in animals to provide user-friendly spare parts. Pigs could be ideal for this purpose, because they’re easy to raise and reach adult human size in months. Some biotech companies. including Revivicor, are investing heavily in the field. The donor pig was offered by Revivicor from a line of animals in which 10 genes had been re-edited to improve the heart’s condition. Beyond that, the pig was raised in isolation and tested regularly for viruses that could infect humans or damage the organ itself.
This medical breakthrough provided an alternative for the 20% of patients on the heart transplant waiting list who die while waiting or become too sick to be a good candidate.
1. What does the underlined word “run” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Donating his heart to a patient. |
| B．Performing the heart operation. |
| C．Living for 60 days after the operation. |
| D．Receiving a new heart from a pig. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its procedure. | C．Its consequence. | D．Its significance. |
| A．Their growth rate and health condition. |
| B．Their life pattern and resistance to viruses. |
| C．Their easiness of keeping and rapid growth. |
| D．Their investment value and natural qualities. |
| A．It introduced new medications to prevent organ rejection. |
| B．It proved the potential for using organs from various animals. |
| C．It guaranteed a sufficient supply of donor pigs for transplants. |
| D．It offered a prospect of replacement organs through gene editing. |
