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. |
2 . 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. |
3 . Horseback riding might not seem like a typical New York City activity, but one program has several horse farms throughout the city’s busy districts. GallopNYC provides lessons to veterans(老兵) and people with disabilities — horseback riding is their therapy(疗法).
Olivia Diver visits the GallopNYC location in the Howard Beach neighborhood in Queens. Diver has only been riding horses for a few months, but says she’s already felt the benefits. “It helped me come out of my comfort zone and be less shy and less in my shell,” she said. Trying something new shows her she can accomplish other things as well.
James Wilson,executive director at GallopNYC, says there are many ways horses can be therapeutic. “The horse sees the world in the way somebody with post-traumatic stress disor-der (PTSD) might see the world, in a really guarded, sort of anxious way,” he explained. “So,somebody with PTSD and a horse can sort of partner together and see the world in the same way and kind of take care of each other.” Horses can also help with physical disabilities. After two years of therapeutic riding, a teenager, who had so little core strength that his mother had to be in the bathtub with him, had enough core strength that he could be in the shower by himself. Wilson said, “The movement of the horse will loosen up muscles that might be really tight. And the movement helps stimulate other body parts and other muscles that you might not use. ”
“CallopNYC has about 1,000 people on is waitlist for lessons, but prioritizes people with disabilities and veterans. We believe that everybody benefits from the time on a horse, so if you want to ride a horse, come on, let’s go,” Wilson said. Lessons are $55, but the non-profit fundraises to help cover or lower the cost for customers who may need support.
1. Why does GallopNYC offer the lessons?| A．To make horse riding typical in NYC. |
| B．To provide part-time jobs for veterans. |
| C．To promote disabled people’s incomes. |
| D．To offer a cure to special groups. |
| A．She has learned new life skills. |
| B．She has found her comfort zone. |
| C．She has gained much confidence. |
| D．She has changed her attitude to horses. |
| A．GallopNYC’s leader. | B．The effect of the therapy. |
| C．Profit James Wilson has got. | D．Ways of guarding people’s anxiety. |
| A．It is well received. | B．It is highly profitable. |
| C．It needs to be more creative. | D．It takes ages to see the results. |
4 . 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. |
Acupuncture (针灸) has been a treatment for countless patients for thousands of years in China. Before modern medicine came to life, stone tools
Acupuncture is a treatment that is aimed
Looking beyond China, acupuncture has become a global treatment. Over the years, acupuncture
Acupuncture, as
6 . Reasonable people should not have blind faith in the medical profession.
While it is true that modern Western medicine has risks, we shouldn’t reject it totally.
If this is the case why has “alternative” health care become so popular in North America and Europe? Often the fear of surgery motivates people to look for these alternatives. Many people think that these treatments will help even when the situation seems hopeless to Western doctors.
| A．Some alternative treatments are ineffective. |
| B．In addition everyone wants to be treated warmly. |
| C．We have to realize that there will be risks in almost any treatment. |
| D．Alternative treatments are attractive because they seem less harmful. |
| E．Patients who trust their doctors are more likely to follow treatment plans. |
| F．We all have to get more information about the treatments that we are given. |
| G．The harm to the patients usually comes from not getting medical treatment immediately. |
7 . Scientists have transfused lab-made red blood cells into a human volunteer in a world-first trial that experts say has major potential for people with hard-to-match blood types or conditions such as sickle cell (镰状细胞) disease. The research could someday mean an end to long searches for compatible (兼容的) donors or dangerous transfusion reactions.
The experimental transfusion was done at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, as part of a collaborative (合作的) effort among UK scientists to understand how lab-made blood transfusions could work.
The scientists took whole blood from donors in a UK database and separated out the stem cells. These are the body’s raw materials — the cells from which all specialized cells, like a red blood cell, can generate. The researchers grew red blood cells from those stem cells and transfused them into two healthy volunteers. The transfusions involved only a tiny amount of blood: the equivalent of one or two teaspoons. A standard blood transfusion would involve many hundred times that amount. This stage of the trial involves two mini transfusions at least four months apart, one with a standard donation of red cells and the other with lab-made cells from the same donor.
The researchers are closely monitoring the volunteers to determine whether the process was safe. They say there have been with “no side effects” so far. They’re also watching how long the lab-grown cells last compared with an infusion (灌输) of standard red blood cells. Red blood cells typically last about 120 days, but a transfusion from a standard donation contains cells that are a variety of ages because the bone marrow (骨髓) continuously makes these cells.
Previous tests have shown that manufactured cells function like normal cells and that these lab-made cells are likely to survive longer overall while in circulation. This study will determine for the first time whether that’s true. Further trials will be necessary to determine whether there could be a clinical use of this lab-grown product.
The research could eventually make a difference to people with sickle cell disease, those who develop antibodies (抗体) against most donor blood types, or those with genetic disorders in which their body can’t make red blood cells or the blood cells they make don’t work well.
1. What function is expected of the lab-made red blood cells transfusion?| A．It may make it easier to get blood donors. |
| B．It may grow red blood cells from the stem cells. |
| C．It may end the dangerous transfusion reactions. |
| D．It may develop antibodies against many donor blood types. |
| A．It is widely considered not safe despite many experiments. |
| B．The two mini transfusions shouldn’t be carried out closely together. |
| C．The researchers transfused stem cells into volunteers to monitor them. |
| D．A standard blood transfusion only need to involve a tiny amount of blood. |
| A．The process of lab-made blood transfusions proves safe so far. |
| B．Lab-made cells survive longer overall than normal cells in circulation. |
| C．There are two mini transfusions with lab-made cells in the experiment. |
| D．The stem cells, as the body’s raw materials, can’t produce red1 blood cells. |
| A．A small amount of blood can make a difference. |
| B．Lab-made cells outweigh normal cells in a transfusion. |
| C．Lab-made cells can contribute to blood-related diseases. |
| D．Lab-made cell transfusions can replace normal blood donations. |
8 . 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. |
During the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games, athletes from around the world have been exploring acupuncture (针灸). a component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This practice
TCM, which includes acupuncture, herbal therapy, massage, Tai Chi, and Qigong remains
While China places significant emphasis
TCM has been recognized for the potential benefits, particularly when
As research into TCM continues to advance and more individuals embrace it for their healthcare needs, the field is
10 . A walk in the park may be just what the doctor ordered. A new program launched last month in Canada gives some doctors the option of providing patients with a free annual pass to the country's national parks as part of an effort to increase access to nature and the health benefits.
PaRx, a health initiative launched by the BC Parks Foundation in 2019, partnered with Parks Canada to provide doctors across four provinces with an initial run of 100 passes that can be prescribed (开处方). The program allows doctors to write more general prescriptions for time spent out in nature; two hours a week, at least 20 minutes at a time, is what PaRx director Dr. Melissa Lem suggests.
“Given the growing body of evidence that indicates nature time can improve all kinds of different physical and mental health conditions, we’re hoping that our PaRx program not only improves patient health, but reduces costs to the health-care system, and helps to grow the number of people who are more engaged environmental advocates,” said Prama Rahman, a coordinator for the BC Parks Foundation.
Doctors have been catching on, instructing their patients to turn to nature to improve their health and they're getting creative in how they do it. Dr. Robert Zarr, a doctor based in Washington, began prescribing accessible outdoor activities for his young patients and even created a searchable online database of local parks to make it easier.
But getting outside isn’t always as easy as it might sound. Income can affect one’s access to nature, an issue that PaRx is trying to address in Canada. Doctors utilizing the new national parks pass program are urged to prioritize patients who might not otherwise be able to afford these passes.
While only 100 adult passes, which give holders access to more than 80 national parks, historic sites and nature reserves, have initially been made available, organizers plan to routinely reassess this number as the program grows, the BC Parks Foundation told NPR
1. What is PaRx intended to do?| A．Qualify doctors to prescribe. | B．Give patients free access to parks. |
| C．Promote free admission to parks. | D．Advocate 20 minutes’ walk a day. |
| A．Financing. | B．Setting up. | C．Evaluating. | D．Carrying out. |
| A．The BC Parks Foundation is expanding rapidly. |
| B．The program has signed up 80 national parks. |
| C．More people will benefit from the program. |
| D．Those living close to parks can gain priority. |
| A．PaRx, a Nature Prescription Program. | B．BC Parks Foundation in Canada |
| C．Year-long Passes to National Parks | D．A New Study on Benefits of Walk |
