1 . A man with advanced Parkinson’s disease (帕金森氏症) is now able to walk almost normally again thanks to electrodes implanted (电极植入) in his spinal cord (脊椎), researchers said on Monday. The medical first was achieved by Swiss researchers who had previously pioneered similar breakthroughs to help disabled people walk again.
“This could be a game-changing technology to help bring back movement in people with advanced Parkinson’s,” said David Dexter, research director at Parkinson’s UK.
Marc Gauthier, the 62-year-old patient who lives in France, has suffered from the brain disorder for about 30 years. Like more than 90 percent of people with advanced Parkinson’s, Mar c has had great difficulty walking. What are known as “freezing” experiences — during which patients are unable to move for a limited time, putting them at risk of falling — are particularly awful, Marc told AFP.
Much remains unknown about Parkinson’s disease, making treatment difficult. But the disease can seriously affect the lives of patients, sometimes keeping them to bed or a wheelchair. So when the opportunity came to go through an operation in Switzerland, Marc gladly accepted the chance.
“Now I can do whatever I want,” Marc says. “I can go for a walk and go out shopping by myself.” He adds that he can now walk much more easily — he is even planning a trip to Brazil — but it still requires concentration, particularly when climbing upstairs.
The Swiss team, led by surgeon Jocelyne Bloch and neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine , implanted a complex system of electrodes called a “neuroprosthesis (神经假体)” at important points along Marc’s spinal cord. The neuroprosthesis was first tested on animals, and then implanted in Marc, who has used it for roughly eight hours a day over nearly two years.
The Swiss team has expanded their experiment to a group of six Parkinson’s patients, aiming to know how it could help others, given the disease affects people in different ways. However, treatment using the implant could be quite expensive, potentially limiting how many patients would have access.
1. What is David Dexter’s attitude to the Swiss breakthrough?| A．Unconcerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Volunteer as a tour guide in Brazil. | B．Run to his heart’s content. |
| C．Go to the supermarket alone. | D．Make a phone call while climbing the stairs. |
| A．It was first tested on Marc Gauthier. | B．It is hardly affordable for ordinary people. |
| C．It has been performed on many patients. | D．It was done by researchers in the UK. |
| A．A Spinal Implant Allows a Parkinson’s Patient to Walk Again |
| B．Parkinson’s Patients Have to Deal With Difficulties in Life |
| C．Swiss Experts Have Created a Drug to Treat Parkinson’s |
| D．New Technology Prevents People From Developing Parkinson’s |
1. Why does the man make the phone call?
| A．To make an appointment. |
| B．To get to know Dr. Sharp. |
| C．To ask about the e-mail address. |
| A．A form signed by Dr. Sharp. |
| B．A test about the position. |
| C．A full physical check-up. |
| A．By visiting him. | B．By calling him. | C．By e-mailing him. |
1. What will the woman do next?
| A．Make an appointment. | B．Fill in another form. | C．Go to the waiting room. |
| A．A doctor. | B．Her boss. | C．A customer. |
1. What does the woman probably do?
| A．An assistant. | B．A doctor. | C．A professor. |
| A．On Wednesday. | B．On Thursday. | C．On Friday. |
1. Who is ill in the hospital?
| A．Jack’s mother. | B．Jack’s father. | C．Jack’s wife. |
| A．In the evening. | B．Right now. | C．Tomorrow. |
1. What was wrong with Tom?
| A．He was hit by a taxi. |
| B．He hurt his head. |
| C．He fell ill with heart trouble. |
| A．She called the doctor. |
| B．She checked Tom carefully. |
| C．She took Tom to the hospital. |
7 . This year brought some exciting news for patients of Alzheimer’s disease and their families. Leqembi, a new drug for the disease made through a US-Japanese partnership, has been available in a pilot zone in China’s Hainan province since September.
Being a currently uncurable disease, Alzheimer’s disease damages or even kills nerve cells (神经细胞) in the brain. Damaged cells can cause breakdowns in various parts of the brain, resulting in memory loss, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. A kind of plaque (斑块) made up of protein is the “suspect”. Plaques build up in the spaces between nerve cells, which can break up the communication between cells. Although most people develop such plaques as they age, Alzheimer’s patients tend to have more, beginning in the areas responsible for memory.
This July, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved Leqembi. It became the first Alzheimer’s drug to receive FDA approval in 20 years. Leqembi is designed to “remove plaques that have already formed and prevents them from forming”, US medical expert Jon LaPook told CBS News. Therefore, the drug can only be effective in those who are in the early stage of the disease. Patients would also need to have evidence of plaques in their brain, which can be detected through brain scans or blood tests.
Sadly, this drug is not a cure. According to the FDA’s press release, after a 79-week trial on human patients, the drug could slow but not reverse (逆转) the development of the disease and its related effect on memory. What it offers is a way for patients with Alzheimer’s to maintain their ability to live a more or less normal life for longer.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 55 million people are living with dementia (痴呆) worldwide, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common cause. As scientists make more effort, there’s growing hope that they can one day create a world where Alzheimer’s disease no longer affects millions of families like it used to.
1. What makes Alzheimer’s patients excited?| A．A US-Japanese partnership. | B．Damaged nerve cells in the brain. |
| C．A new drug for Alzheimer’s disease. | D．A kind of plaque in the memory area. |
| A．It can detect the plaque in patients’ brain. |
| B．It can reverse the development of disease. |
| C．It can be used in the late stage of the disease. |
| D．It can remove plaques and prevent their forming. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Uncaring. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
| A．Progress in Treating Alzheimer’s Disease |
| B．A Promising Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease |
| C．The Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease on Patients |
| D．The Role of Plaque in Alzheimer’s Disease |
This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work on mRNA vaccines,
Karikó, a Hungarian-American biochemist, and Weissman, an American physician, are both professors at the University of Pennsylvania. The committee praised the scientists “groundbreaking findings”, which fundamentally changed our understanding of
Rickard Sandberg, a member of the Nobel Prize in medicine committee, said, “Because of mRNA vaccines and other Covid-19 vaccines, millions of lives
9 . A quick increase of dopamine (多巴胺) shifts mice into a dreamy stage of sleep. In the mice’s brains, the chemical messenger triggers rapid-eye-movement sleep, or REM, researchers report in the March 4 Science.
These new results are some of the first to show a trigger for the shifts. Understanding these transitions in more detail could ultimately point to ways to treat sleep disorders in people.
Certain nerve cells in the ventral tegmental area of the mouse brain can pump out dopamine, a molecule that has been linked to pleasure, movement and learning, which is then delivered dopamine to the amygdalae, two almond-shaped structures deep in the brain that are closely tied to emotions.
Using a molecular sensor that can tell exactly when and where dopamine is released, the researchers saw that dopamine levels rose in the amygdalae just before mice shifted from non-REM sleep to REM sleep.
Next, the researchers forced the mice into the REM phase by controlling those dopamine-producing nerve cells using lasers and genetic techniques. Compelled with light, the nerve cells released dopamine in the amygdalae while mice were in non-REM sleep. The mice then shifted into REM sleep sooner than they typically did, after an average of about two minutes compared with about eight minutes for mice that weren’t prompted to release dopamine. Stimulating these cells every half hour increased the mice’s total amount of REM sleep.
Additional experiments suggest that these dopamine-making nerve cells may also be involved in aspects of narcolepsy (嗜睡症). A sudden loss of muscle tone, called cataplexy, shares features with REM sleep and can accompany narcolepsy. Stimulating these dopamine-making nerve cells while mice were awake caused the mice to stop moving and fall directly into REM sleep.
The results help clarify a trigger for REM in mice; whether a similar thing happens in people isn’t known. Earlier studies have found that nerve cells in people’s amygdalae are active during REM sleep.
Many questions remain. Drugs that change dopamine levels in people don’t seem to have big effects on REM sleep and cataplexy. But these drugs affect the whole brain, and it’s possible that they are just not selective enough.
1. What can we learn from this passage?| A．People with sleep disorders could benefit from the research. |
| B．Dopamine is generated in two almond-shaped structures. |
| C．Dopamine levels rose after mice shifted to REM sleep. |
| D．An increase of dopamine can trigger REM in people. |
| A．the entire brain |
| B．REM sleep and cataplexy |
| C．drugs affecting dopamine levels |
| D．people suffering from sleep disorders |
| A．To introduce two stages of sleep of all animals. |
| B．To explain dopamine as a trigger for REM in mice. |
| C．To present a new way to cure sleep disorders in people. |
| D．To propose a pioneer research interest in brain structure. |
10 . As soon as Boran Bumovich Hignio’s bare feet touch the sand on the beach, he spreads his arms like a helicopter and happily says, “Let’s go surfing!” The 7-year-old, wearing a black wetsuit, is followed by a dozen other kids who skip their way into the blue waves of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru’s capital, Lima.
Boran gets help with his wetsuit from Diego Villarán, who founded the local surf school. This Peruvian surf school is part of a wave of community-based projects around the world that use a perhaps surprising method to help kids: surf therapy (疗法).
The idea is not only about catching waves to make use of the proven mental health benefits of physical exercise. The wider goal is to create a space for young children to express themselves freely, to help teach them how to process their emotions and to create positive social connections.
Lima’s surf therapy project is run by Alto Peru, a local nonprofit named after the neighborhood in the south of the city where Villardn — its 41-year-old founder and all of the trainee surfers come from. Many of the children in the Alto Peru program face challenging situations. Some parents are addicted to alcohol. One of the boys has even turned up for lessons with a black eye a couple of times.
Half of all mental health disorders begin before the age of 14 and up to a fifth of teenagers globally experience mental health conditions, according to the World Mental Health Survey Initiative, which conducted face-to-face interviews in 17 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
Surf therapy, which covers projects from Sierra Leone to California and Trinidad, is seen by advocates as a convincing solution to helping address mental health issues among young people. “It has changed my life,” says Omarion Butler, 19, who began surfing with Alto Peru two years ago. “When my parents put me down in the past, it was hard for me to express my feelings. But surfing makes me more confident. It helps me to take time for myself.”
1. What do we know about Boran from the first paragraph?| A．He is good at flying a plane. | B．He feels excited to go surfing. |
| C．He is having a physical education class. | D．He enjoys the holiday with his family. |
| A．The origin of surf therapy. | B．The tips for catching waves. |
| C．The purposes of surf therapy. | D．The advice on relationships. |
| A．Add some background information. | B．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for discussion. | D．Offer some suggestions to the readers. |
