1 . PRACTITIONERS
Jacqueline Felice de Almania (c.1322) highlights the suspicion that women practicing medicine faced. Born to a Jewish family in Florence, she moved to Paris where she worked as a physician and performed surgery. In 1322 she was tried for practicing unlawfully. In spite of the court hearing testimonials (证明) of her ability as a doctor, she was banned from medicine. | James Barry (c.1789 — 1865) was born Margaret Bulkley in Ireland but, dressed as a man, she was accepted by Edinburgh University to study medicine. She qualified as a surgeon in 1813, then joined the British Army, serving overseas. Barry retired in 1859, having practiced her entire medical profession living and working as a man. |
Tan Yunxian (1461 — 1554) was a Chinese physician who learned her skills from her grandparents. Chinese women at the time could not serve apprenticeships (学徒期) with doctors. However, Tan passed the official exam. Tan treated women from all walks of life. In 1511, Tan wrote a book, Sayings of a Female Doctor, describing her life as a physician. | Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831 — 1895) worked as a nurse for eight years before studying in medical college in Boston in 1860. Four years later, she was the first African American woman to receive a medical degree. She moved to Virginia in 1865, where she provided medical care to freed slaves. |
A.Doing teaching jobs. | B.Being hired as physicians. |
C.Performing surgery. | D.Being banned from medicine. |
A.She wrote a book. | B.She went through trials. |
C.She worked as a dentist. | D.She had formal education. |
A.Jacqueline Felice de Almania. | B.Tan Yunxian. |
C.James Barry. | D.Rebecca Lee Crumpler. |
Some important dates in China’s fighting Covid-19 before May 7,2020 | |
Jan 20, 2020~ Feb 20,2020 | Jan 23: Wuhan declared temporary outbound (向外的) traffic restrictions. Jan 24: National medical teams began to be sent to Hubei and wuhan. Jan 27: The Central Steering (指导) Group arrived in Wuhan. Feb 18: The daily number of newly cured and discharged (出院) patients exceeded that of the newly confirmed cases. |
Feb 21, 2020~ Mar 17,2020 | Feb 21: Most provinces and equivalent administrative units started to lower their public health emergency response level. Feb 24: The WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid-19 held a press conference in Beijing. Mar 11-17: The epidemic (流行病) peak had passed in China as a whole. |
Mar 18,2020 ~Apr 28,2020 | Apr1: Chinese customs began NAT (核酸检测) on inbound arrivals at all points of entry. Apr 8: Wuhan lifted outbound traffic restrictions. Apr 26: The last Covid-19 patient in Wuhan was discharged from hospital. |
Apr 29, 2020~ May 7,2020 | Apr 30: The public health emergency response was lowered to Level 2 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. May 7: The State Council released Guidelines on Conducting Covid-19 Prevention and Control on an Ongoing Basis. |
1. What happened between January 20 and February 20?
A.The Central Steering Group arrived in Wuhan. |
B.The WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid-19 held a press conference. |
C.The last Covid-19 patient in Wuhan was discharged from hospital. |
D.Beijing lowered its emergency response level. |
A.January 23. | B.March 11. | C.April 8. | D.May 7. |
Did you ever imagine that one day we could enjoy the benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine in a cup of coffee?
Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, is
But if you ask younger generations of Chinese, few visit TCM shops nowadays, let alone brew these time-tested remedies for
The concept of combining TCM herbs
As Traditional Chinese Medicine becomes more
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a health care system in which patients
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of the world's population depends for its primary health care needs
Increasingly, however, modern medicines also contain substances from animals and plants. Given growing populations, increasing wealth, and the spreading
5 . On January 7, David Bennett went into the operating room at the University of Maryland Medical Center for a surgical procedure never performed before on a human. The 57-year-old Maryland resident had been hospitalized for months due to a life threatening disease. His heart was failing him and he needed a new one.
Bennett’s condition left him unresponsive to treatment and ineligible (不合格) for the transplant list or an artificial heart pump. The physician-scientists at the center, however, had another-also risky- option: transplant (移植) a heart from a genetically-modified pig.
“It was either die or do this transplant,” Bennett had told surgeons a day before the operation. “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s also my last choice.”
It took the medical team eight hours to finish the operation, making Bennett the first human to successfully receive a pig’s heart. “It’s working and it looks normal. We are thrilled, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring us. This has never been done before,” Barkley Griffith, who led the transplant team, told the New York Times.
While it’s only been five days since the operation, the surgeons say that Bennett’s new pig heart was, so far, functioning as expected and his body wasn’t rejecting (排斥) the organ. They are still monitoring his condition closely.
“I think it’s extremely exciting,” says Robert Montgomery, transplant surgeon and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, who was not involved in Bennett’s operation. The result of the procedure was also personally meaningful for Montgomery, who received a heart transplant in 2018 due to a genetic disease that may also affect members of his family in the future. “It’s still in the early days, but still the heart seems to be functioning. And that in and of itself is an extraordinary thing. Up to now most experimental heart transplant procedures have been done between pigs and other animals. This is the first time that surgeons have taken it into a living human.”
1. What do the words “a shot in the dark” underlined in Paragraph 3 mean?A.Something that costs a fortune. |
B.Something impossible to succeed. |
C.Something drawing public attention. |
D.Something with an uncertain outcome. |
A.Negative. |
B.Cautious. |
C.Optimistic. |
D.Uncaring. |
A.The heated debate over the pig heart transplant. |
B.David Bennett’s contribution to medical research. |
C.The first experimental pig heart transplant in the world. |
D.The first successful pig heart transplant into a living human. |
A.Political Affairs. |
B.Global Entertainment. |
C.Sci-Tech Front. |
D.Financial Window. |
Incense (香) boasts a long history,
Since the Tang and Song dynasties, burning incense, hanging paintings, making tea, and enjoying music have been known as the “four arts for literati (文人)”.
Moreover, medical incense is an essential part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which considers preventative healthcare as
7 . Researchers say a new electrical device placed in three paralyzed patients has helped them walk again. The lower bodies of the three patients were left paralyzed after they suffered spinal (脊柱的) cord injuries. But a device implanted in the spinal cord was able to send electrical signals to the muscles to permit them to stand, walk and exercise.
Scientists have discovered that neurons—which receive and send signals for muscle movements—often still work in injured patients with serious spinal cord injuries. However, past research into spinal cord injuries has centered on the stimulation of neurons. Now in the latest experiment led by Gregoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, three paralyzed men were implanted a new electrical device designed to copy an action of the brain, in which it sends signals to the spinal cord that result in muscle movement. When the spinal cord receives the brain signals, it stimulates a collection of nerve cells that can activate different muscles.
The researchers reported that all three patients who got the spinal cord implants were able to take their first steps within an hour after receiving them. Over the next six months, the patients regained the ability to take part in more advanced walking activities, the study found. They were also able to ride bicycles and swim in community settings.
Unlike other attempts to help paralyzed patients walk by stimulating nerves through the back of the spine, Courtine said that his team redesigned the devices so signals would enter the spine from the sides. This method permits more direct targeting and activation of spinal cord areas, he said.
The team then developed artificial intelligence (AI) systems linked to the device. The AI controls electrodes on the device to send signals to stimulate individual nerves that control muscles needed for walking and other activities. However, because the patients’ muscles were weak from not being used, they needed help with supporting their weight, the researchers said. It also took some time for them to learn to work with the technology. Still, Bloch said, “The more they train, the more they start lifting their muscles, the more fluid it becomes.”
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?A.Courtine and Bloch have found that neurons in paralyzed patients still work. |
B.The new electrical device can imitate the brain to send signals to the spinal cord. |
C.Three paralyzed men recovered with the help of a new electrical device. |
D.Stimulating the neurons is the focus of the latest research into spinal .cord injuries. |
A.By stimulating nerves through the back of the spine. |
B.By using the AI system. |
C.By making signals enter the spine from the sides. |
D.By sending the signals to the brain. |
A.Every garden has its weeds. |
B.Put the cart (运货马车) before the horse. |
C.It's hard to please all. |
D.Practice makes perfect. |
A.To report the consequence of spinal cord injuries. |
B.To introduce the findings of a recent research. |
C.To compare a recent research with other previous researches. |
D.To recommend a treatment for paralyzed patients. |
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) originated in ancient China. It
Acupuncture was one of the first TCM
In 1997. acupuncture was
Today, TCM is primarily used as an alternative for people
9 . Metin Sitti at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, and his colleagues have developed tiny robots called “microrollers” that can carry cancer drugs and selectively target human breast cancer cells. The team drew inspiration for the design of the robots from white blood cells in the human body, which can move along the walls of blood vessels (血管) against the direction of blood flow.
The microrollers are round and made from glass microparticles. One half of the robot was coated with a thin magnetic nanofilm (磁性纳米膜) made from nickel and gold. The other half was coated with the cancer drug doxorubicin as well as molecules that recognize cancer cells.
The team tested the robots using mouse blood and artificial channels lined with human endothelial cells—the kind of cells that line the inner walls of our blood vessels. The robots were exposed to a mixture of cancerous and healthy tissue. The microrollers selectively attached to the cancer cells and were activated using UV light to release the doxorubicin.
By applying magnetic fields, the team was able to control the movement of the microrollers, both with and against the flow of blood. The microrollers can reach a speed of up to 600 micrometers per second. “If you come to a spot where you need to take the right path and if you miss it, then you could go back and go to the right one,” says Setti.
In future, the researchers want to use other methods to start the drug release, such as heat or near-infrared light. They also plan to try making microrollers out of materials that would break down in the body over a few weeks or months.
The team hopes to test the microrollers in animals soon. “The rollers need to carry enough cancer drugs, which is why we need to have them in large numbers,” says Setti. “But since we can locally take drugs to the right target, we don’t need huge dosages (剂量).”
1. What can the microrollers be used for?A.Repairing blood cells. | B.Delivering drugs. | C.Improving blood flow. | D.Performing operations. |
A.Their shape. | B.Their advantage. | C.Their design. | D.Their application. |
A.Their direction can be adjusted. | B.They might miss the target cells. |
C.They might get stuck in the blood. | D.Their speed can change automatically. |
A.Put the microrollers to clinical use. | B.Sell the microrollers in large quantities. |
C.Tear the microrollers down in the body. | D.Experiment with the microrollers further. |
10 . The vaccine (疫苗) news continues to seem very encouraging. Britain started its mass vaccination effort and the U.S. isn’t far behind.
But there is still one dark cloud hanging over the vaccines that many people don’t yet understand.
The vaccines will be much less effective at preventing death and illness in 2021 if they are introduced into a population where the coronavirus is still severe—as is now the case in the U.S.
A vaccine is like a fire hose (消防龙头). A vaccine that’s 95 percent effective, as Moderna’s and Pfizer’s versions appear to be, is a powerful fire hose. But the size of a fire is still a bigger determinant of how much destruction occurs.
At the current level of infection in the U.S. (about 200,000 confirmed new infections per day), a vaccine that is 95 percent effective—distributed at the expected pace—would still leave a terrible toll (伤亡人数) in the six months after it was introduced. Almost 10 million or so Americans would catch the virus, and more than 160,000 would die.
This is far worse than the toll in a different situation where the vaccine was only 50 percent effective but the U.S. had reduced the infection rate to its level in early September (about 35,000 new daily cases). In that case, the death toll in the next six months would be kept to about 60,000.
It’s worth pausing for a moment on this comparison. If the U.S. had maintained its infection rate from September and Moderna and Pfizer had announced this fall that their vaccines were only 50 percent effective, a lot of people would have panicked.
But the reality we have is actually worse.
How could this be? No vaccine can get rid of a pandemic immediately, just as .no fire hose can put out a forest fire. While the vaccine is being distributed, the virus continues to do damage.
There is one positive way to look at this: Measures that reduce the virus’s spread—like mask-wearing, social distancing and rapid-result testing—can still have great consequences. They can save more than 100,000 lives in coming months.
1. How does the author mainly present his argument?A.By giving definitions. | B.By categorizing facts. |
C.By drawing comparisons. | D.By appealing to emotions. |
A.Improving the effectiveness of the vaccines. |
B.Producing a greater variety of vaccines. |
C.Looking at the situation in a positive way. |
D.Wearing masks and practicing social distancing. |
A.The vaccines are less effective than expected. |
B.The US have controlled the spread of the coronavirus. |
C.The death toll in the next six months will be about 60,000. |
D.Fewer people will die if the infection rate is lower. |
A.The vaccine is the hope of wiping out the pandemic. |
B.The public are optimistic about the effects of the vaccine. |
C.The public are concerned about the high infection rate. |
D.The distribution of vaccine will end the pandemic quickly. |