1 . With the widespread use of smartphones, emojis(表情符号)have become a popular medium for expressing emotions and ideas. Researchers now believe these expressive symbols can play a significant role in medicine, increasing the response rate of health surveys(调查).
Scientists say that employing emojis in healthcare communications has several benefits, such as general recognition across diverse populations. So the study authors strongly support the use of emojis to bolster communication between patients and physicians.
“By promoting more effective communication between patients and care providers, as well as between physicians themselves, an emoji-based language system with a common agreement of meanings can be developed,” says Professor Kendrick Davis, who is an associate professor at the UCR School of Medicine. The professor has been working on creating an emoji-based measurement system for the past two years. And he has even conducted a study using emojis to measure health among college students.
Davis further explains that a significant part of medical communication includes surveys, which are often areas of communication breakdown. “Surveys are usually passed to patients in a variety of different stages of their care. But many surveys are explained with language that can introduce an obstacle. This is where emojis, which are friendly and widely used, come into play by replacing survey language that can be hard for some patients to understand,” he says. The authors also point out that while effective communication is important for successful treatment and care, certain health conditions such as brain injury can cause major obstacles. In such cases, emojis could be helpful.
However, Davis also acknowledges the importance of qualitative(定性的)methods. He expresses an interest in partnering researchers whose methodologies are heavily qualitative.
1. Why does the author mention the use of smartphones in paragraph 1?A.To introduce the functions of emojis. |
B.To explain why emojis develop fast. |
C.To tell us where emojis are mainly used. |
D.To show emojis have become widely used. |
A.Improve. | B.Start. | C.Predict. | D.Suggest. |
A.Emojis shouldn’t be used in letters from doctors. |
B.Physicians are poor at communicating with patients. |
C.Major obstacles can be caused by emojis sometimes. |
D.Emojis can help patients finish medical surveys better. |
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
3 . Occasionally, doctors become patients too. While I wouldn’t wish ill-health on anyone, it can be an inspiring lesson for medical professionals to suddenly be on the other side.
This happened to me a few months ago when I had a kidney stone, which had decided to make its unwelcome presence known in a rather romantic fashion just as I was going out for dinner. The pain came from absolutely nowhere but within minutes I was incapacitated. I was quite taken aback by how astonishingly painful it was.
As a doctor, I initially refused to believe that anything was seriously wrong, because I have witnessed countless individuals come to the emergency room convinced they are dying only for nothing more than trapped wind and then creep (蹑手蹑脚) out as they burp (打嗝) loudly and the pain disappears. However, the unbearable pain continued to exist, forcing me to acknowledge that this was indeed more than just a stubborn burp,
I was particularly pleased to read afterwards in a medical textbook that renal colic, as the pain is known, is the “most painful event a person can endure, often described as being worse than childbirth”. It’s no wonder chronic (慢性的) pain drives people mad. While doctors talk about pain and its management, it’s hard to put into words how exhausting it really is until you’ve experienced it for yourself.
During my time in hospital, I interacted with numerous doctors, each exhibiting professionalism and kindness but one stuck out in my mind. He was actually the most junior of them all, but something about his manner was incredibly calming and comforting. Whenever he came to my bed to speak to me, he knelt down so he was at my eye level. This simple act rid me of the stress that other healthcare professionals unintentionally projected. Just kneeling down made all the difference.
Experiencing the role reversal of doctor-turned-patient provided me with profound insights into the realities of pain and effective patient care.
1. What does the underlined phrase taken aback in paragraph 2 mean?A.Shocked. | B.Impressed. | C.Annoyed. | D.Moved. |
A.Pitiful. | B.Understandable. | C.Embarrassing. | D.Ridiculous. |
A.The intense pain caused by the kidney stone. | B.A small gesture bringing ease and relief. |
C.Stress caused by the healthcare workers. | D.Doctors with professionalism and kindness. |
A.Experience must be bought. | B.Actions speak louder than words. |
C.Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. | D.Health is not valued till sickness comes. |
Traditional Chinese medicine
An event in my life changed my attitude towards acupuncture. After suffering from insomnia (失眠) for several months, I
After another nearly
5 . Growing up in a small village in southern Ghana, Osci Boateng watched many of his family members and neighbors struggle to access basic health care. In many regions of the country, it can take hours to get to the nearest hospital. Boateng said many people lost their lives due to preventable or treatable diseases. His grandmother and aunt were among them.
Feeling an urgent call to help, Boateng decided he would make it his life’s mission to bring health care to remote communities in Ghana where education and preventative health care were lacking.
Boateng wanted to find a way to remove these barriers to health care access and education. He started his nonprofit organization, OKB Hope Foundation. In 2021, he converted (转变) a van (面包车) into a mobile doctor’s office and started bringing health care directly to those in need. A few times a week, the mobile clinic and medical team travel long distances to remote communities and provide free routine medical care.
On each trip, Boateng’s team consists of a nurse, a physician assistant, a doctor, and an operation assistant. In the van, they can run basic labs like bloodwork and urinalysis (尿液分析) as well as provide medicine. “It’s like a one-stop shop for people, ” said Boateng, adding that most of the people they see have one health issue or another. Since its launch, the Hope Health Van has served more than 4,000 Ghanaians across more than 45 rural communities who otherwise don’t have easily accessible medical care, according to Boateng.
Boateng has gone all in on his OKB Hope Foundation, recently quitting his job to dedicate his time to bringing health care to his home country. But for him, the sacrifices (牺牲) are well worth. “Words cannot describe the feeling that you provide care for someone who otherwise wouldn’t be alive if your mobile health van wasn’t there.” He has big plans for the future. He hopes to expand them to provide more consistent and high-quality medical care not only to those living in remote areas of Ghana but those in other countries.
1. What is the purpose of mentioning the example in paragraph 1?A.To show the importance of life. | B.To describe how hard Boateng’s family lived. |
C.To point out what’s wrong with the hospital. | D.To stress the seriousness of lacking health care. |
A.He operates on patients in the van. | B.He rents a doctor’s office wherever he goes. |
C.He provides medical care by charging some fees. | D.He offers people health care using mobile clinic. |
A.It really works. | B.It makes a profit. |
C.It serves the whole Ghana. | D.It produces some good medicine. |
A.Reliable and creative. | B.Caring and ambitious. |
C.Considerate and humorous. | D.Determined and demanding. |
Acupuncture(针灸) has been used to treat countless patients for thousands of years. As an ancient Chinese medical practice, it has
Acupuncture is a treatment that aims to promote the body’s multiple self-regulating
Needle insertion(针刺), the most common method of acupuncture,
7 . If you get a cotton (棉花) ball out of a brand-new bottle of pills (药片), you may probably wonder what it is used for. This soft ball seemingly only blocks your way to your pills. Adding to the confusion, it’s not any kind of special object. It’s just a common cotton ball. Then what purpose could it possibly serve?
The first-ever cotton balls started showing up in pill bottles in the early 1900s. The medical company Bayer was the first one to add them.
Decades later, pill coatings made the cotton balls useless. The coatings on pills ensured they were no longer in danger of breaking apart in the bottle. Bayer itself actually stopped putting cotton balls in the bottles just decades ago.
According to a report, consumers expected to see the cotton balls there and most didn’t know they were useless.
A.Actually, the idea is not right. |
B.They’re out of place and harmful. |
C.Many other companies, though, still kept them in. |
D.The truth is that it used to have an important function. |
E.It was the first time that people had found the cotton balls’ secret. |
F.Moreover, many companies thought there was no need to remove them. |
G.It did so to prevent the pills from shaking around and potentially breaking. |
8 . Medical artificial intelligence (AI) can perform with expert-level accuracy and deliver cost-effective care. IBM’s Watson diagnoses (诊断) heart disease better than cardiologists (心脏病专家) do. Chatbots give better medical advice to patients in place of nurses. Some forecast that medical AI will enter 90% of hospitals and replace as much as 80% of what doctors currently do. Yet, as our recent research suggests, patients show a strong resistance to medical AI.
The reason, we found, is not the belief that AI provides lower care. Nor is it that patients think that AI is more costly or less informative. Rather, resistance to medical AI seems to come from a belief that AI does not take into account one’s specific circumstances. People view themselves as unique. By contrast, they think medical care delivered by AI providers is suited to treat an average patient but unsuitable to account for the unique circumstances that apply to an individual. No wonder that medical AI providers are given a cold welcome.
There are a number of steps that care providers can take to overcome patients’ resistance to medical AI. For example, if an AI provider is capable of tailoring its recommendation for whether to have a surgery to each patient’s unique characteristics and medical history, patients would be likely to follow the treatment recommendations of the AI provider. In addition, health care providers could also deliver individualized health care by explaining how the algorithms (算法) work and sharing patients’ reviews with the media. Having a physician confirm the recommendation of an AI provider should make people more willing to accept AI-based care. People are comfortable using medical AI if a physician remains in charge of the ultimate decision.
AI-based health care technologies are being developed and employed at an impressive rate, providing better medical services for the patients. But harnessing the full potential of them will require that we first overcome patients’ doubt of having an algorithm, rather than a person making decisions about their care.
1. What made people resist the medical AI?A.A sufferer’s temper ignored by medical AI. |
B.People’s lasting trust in a human doctor’s ability. |
C.The concern about its personalization in treatment. |
D.The accuracy of the information from medical AI. |
A.Treating sufferers as average patients. |
B.Providing a more specific treatment. |
C.Getting the algorithms prioritized in time. |
D.Keeping away from the influence of a physician. |
A.Weakening. | B.Storing. | C.Destroying. | D.Using. |
A.Advantages of Medical AI |
B.Potential Application of AI |
C.How AI Replaces Nurses in Healthcare |
D.The Challenge That Medical AI Faces |
9 . If you followed the Rio Olympic Games, you may have noticed that several athletes, including US swimmer Michael Phelps, had circular bruises (青肿) on their bodies. These bruises were the result of “cupping (拔火罐) therapy”, a traditional Chinese medicinal practice that has been around for more than 2,000 years.
Many athletes say that they have benefited from the therapy. Phelps used the therapy in the fall of 201 and has used it about twice a week since, reported ABC News. Another US swimmer, Dana Vollmer, also believes that “it really helps with blood flow”.
However, some have said that the supposed health effects result from people’s feeling that the treatment works, rather than any physical effect of the treatment. To figure out cupping therapy has any physical effect, last year researchers from Germany carried out a test in which a false treatment was provided.
In the study, the same type of cups was used in the real treatment and the false treatment. But in the false treatment, the cups had a hole at the top so that they couldn’t create the proper suction (吸力).
The tested patients, who suffered from a disorder that caused a lot of pain, were told that they would receive either a traditional cupping or “soft cupping”. But they were not informed that the so-called “soft cupping” was a false treatment.
It turned out that most patients correctly guessed which kind of cupping they had received. In both groups, patients also experienced about the same reductions in pain. “The results suggest the effects of cupping therapy might come from factors that are not necessarily part of the treatment itself,” the researchers told the Live Science website.
The question of whether cupping therapy works still needs to be answered. “But because the treatment is relatively safe and it could be helpful for some people, the therapy can be used as part of a comprehensive treatment program involving other exercises, nutritional choices and lifestyle changing,” Dr Brent Bauer, director of the US Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at Mayo Clinic, told Live Science.
1. Why does the author mention Michael Phelps in Paragraph 1?A.To give athletes a new way to swim faster. |
B.To provide athletes with a new way of treatment. |
C.To introduce the topic on cupping therapy. |
D.To show swimmers suffer from disorders. |
A.promote the health effects of cupping therapy |
B.see whether cupping therapy has a physical effect |
C.compare traditional cupping with the soft cupping |
D.compare cupping therapy’s effects on different groups of people |
A.Different people need different types of cupping therapy. |
B.The real treatment and false treatment almost have the same effects. |
C.The results show that cupping therapy is surely not part of the treatment. |
D.Cupping therapy is only effective when used with lifestyle changing. |
A.is a fast and easy treatment for people to carry out |
B.is a newly invented way to cure some diseases |
C.needs a long period of time to take effect |
D.can be used together with other treatments |
10 . A new medicine developed in China has been recently introduced, which is expected to significantly enhance the prevention and control of malaria in Africa. Compared with the previous medicines, this latest medicine is not only more efficient but also easier to administer. Its introduction is anticipated to result in a sharp decline in the number of deaths caused by malaria.
In case studies conducted in Kenya, second-generation artesunate(青蒿琥酯) for injection, developed by Chinese medicine company Fosun Pharma, has proved highly effective in treating severe malaria in children, Kenyan health experts said.
In addition, the new drug—produced under the brand name Argesun—can be easier and faster to prepare, and safer to inject, than its previous generation, which was produced under the name Artesun, and which was widely used in dozens of countries for more than10 years.
“We think that this is a very good development. It is really going to cut our rate of deaths and also the complications caused by malaria,” Walter Otieno said, a Kenyan Medical researcher.
Argesun was pre-qualified by the World Health Organization in June and has been registered in 18 African countries, according to Fosun Pharma.
Both Artesun and Argesun are innovative antimalarial drugs based on artemisinin (青蒿素), which was discovered by Nobel Prize winner Tu Youyou in the 1970s,and which has made significant contributions to malaria control and prevention in the world during the past two decades.
Wu Yifang, chairman of Fosun Pharma, said the company recognized the strategic value of antimalarial drugs based on artemisinin and restructured its sub company Guilin Pharmaceutical in 2004 to start introducing the drugs to the international market. Its first antimalarial drug entered Africa in 2007,and the company launched a training program for front-line medical workers in Africa in 2014.
“To win the battle against malaria, we have to get rid of it worldwide,” Wu said, adding that the company is pushing to transform its antimalarial drugs from “made in China and used in Africa” to “made in Africa and used in Africa”, in order to increase the accessibility and affordability of the drugs there.
1. What is the advantage of Argesun compared with Artesun?A.It is originally based on artemisinin. | B.It is user-friendly for doctors and nurses. |
C.It has been widely used for over 20 years. | D.It is much cheaper for patients in Africa. |
A.To enter the African market. | B.To train the doctors and nurses in Africa. |
C.To spread its antimalarial drugs worldwide. | D.To learn the strategic value of antimalarial drugs. |
A.By producing the drugs in Africa. | B.By lowering the price of the drugs. |
C.By winning the battle against malaria. | D.By changing the way of transportation. |
A.Africa Sees New Hope in Malaria Fight | B.Artemisinin Meets A New Advancement |
C.African People Are Suffering from Malaria | D.Chinese Medicine Company Hit Aftican Market |