For thousands of years, an ancient Chinese medical practice, acupuncture(针灸),
Acupuncture,
2 . 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. |
3 . Natural therapy (疗法)
The great outdoors: it's the place to head for when you're in need of peace and quiet, open spaces, beautiful scenery and exercise. Whether a huge mountain range or a local country park, these natural areas are perfect places to refresh us when we live a stressful life.
As an example, in the foothills of the Snowdonia National Park in the UK, specialist therapy sessions are held to help people who suffer from depression, anxiety and stress.
It is true that for most of us, connecting with the natural world definitely lifts our spirits. But the mental health charity Mind says eco-therapy has been recognized as a formal type of treatment that can sometimes be recommended to someone by a doctor. It doesn't involve medicine.
There is evidence that there are many benefits with this "green" therapy.
| A．Of course, eco-therapy won't cure everything. |
| B．Outdoor art-related activities are held for the participants. |
| C．Instead, it just develops a person's relationship with nature. |
| D．Here you can learn from other patients how to deal with stress. |
| E．These include improving social contact, social and work skills. |
| F．In nature you can do many things, including reading papers and watching TV. |
| G．Their calming and relieving power is being used more and more to treat mental health problems. |
