1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
3 . Health Care Workers Getting Panic Buttons
Hundreds of health care workers at Cox Medical Center in Missouri will soon be equipped with personal panic buttons, following over a year of increased violence against staff members. The pandemic (流行病), the medical center said, has greatly
A medical worker, once experiencing an attack, can press the button attached to his working ID card to activate a personal
The panic buttons are being
Those buttons are
Alan Butler, Cox Health’s system director, agreed the buttons were a(n)
| A．covered up | B．contributed to | C．developed with | D．got through |
| A．medical | B．emotional | C．tracing | D．facilitating |
| A．blocker | B．menu | C．command | D．alert |
| A．designed | B．tested | C．questioned | D．stored |
| A．assign | B．explain | C．hand | D．expand |
| A．implemented | B．analyzed | C．eliminated | D．restricted |
| A．conditionally | B．financially | C．psychologically | D．theoretically |
| A．bounced | B．advanced | C．shrunk | D．multiplied |
| A．predictable | B．irreplaceable | C．tricky | D．timely |
| A．However | B．Instead | C．Hence | D．Furthermore |
| A．overestimated | B．underreported | C．updated | D．downloaded |
| A．confusing | B．promising | C．primary | D．risky |
| A．selfless | B．grateful | C．qualified | D．protected |
| A．Actually | B．Consequently | C．Naturally | D．Eventually |
| A．prohibited | B．cautioned | C．committed | D．overlooked |
The centuries-old traditional Chinese medicine scraping (刮) massage, gua sha, has become a fashion among young people on the mainland! who show off the bruises (淤青) it creates.
Many shared
The meridians
The practice, also known as scraping and coining, is
The folk-treatment
Some describe gua sha as “the Chinese way to cure the stress from the workplace” saying the pain and stress that
5 . One of the important, but seldom-discussed, problems in healthcare reform is how to take care of our aging population as people continue to live longer. According to a new study from the MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society, by 2050 Americans may live 3.1 to 7. 9 years longer than the government expects. That would mean women would live 89 to 93 years and men 83 to nearly 86 years. The researchers base their conclusion on "rapid advances in biomedical（生物医药）technology that delay the start and progression of major deadly diseases or that slow the aging process・”
While this is good news, especially for the young, the life expectancy, which is in excess of（超过）the government's estimates, would raise costs sharply for Medicare and Social Security. If the study's predictions are accurate, the total cost for those two programs through 2050 could be between $ 3. 2 trillion and $ & 3 trillion higher than the US Census Bureau（人口普查局）and the Social Security Administration currently expect.
And that's only the beginning. With anticipated scientific breakthroughs in coming decades, people could eventually live to 150 years of age, says Dr. Steven Joyal, an official of the Life Extension Foundation (LEF) a nonprofit organization that promotes research on how we can live longer and healthier. The MacArthur paper, in fact, says that some experts believe the average life expectancy could hit 100 by 2060.
What's more, Joyal says, the conquest（战胜）of disease and the slowing of the aging process will lead to a sharp decline in disability, allowing people of advanced age to function as well as they did when they were much younger. "In other words, a 90-year-old person could have the same mental and physical capacity as somebody 40 or 50 years old."
1. What does the new study show?| A．Americans will live much longer by 2050 than they do now. |
| B．Great progress has been made in the US in public security. |
| C．Few people pay attention to the health care reform in the US. |
| D．Fewer Americans suffer from deadly disease now than before. |
| A．Social security. |
| B．Biomedical technology. |
| C．Healthcare reform. |
| D．New research in health cam. |
| A．The aging process will speed up. |
| B．It adds to the chance of being disabled. |
| C．The old will have some mental problems. |
| D．It will increase public costs for the government. |
| A．Life for Senior Citizens in the US |
| B．The Longer Life Expectancy in the Future |
| C．The Disadvantage of Longer Life Expectancy |
| D．What Can Be Done to Support So Many Aged People |
I am a specially trained clown (小丑) who works as part of a programme known as “hospital clowning”. As I approach the hospital
Although it’s the doctors and
7 . Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) isn’t supported by most Westerners.
TCM will be included in the new version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which will be published by the World Health Organization in 2019, Nature magazine reported.
In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery of artemisinin(青蒿素), a drug that can cure malaria(疟疾). She said she was inspired by traditional Chinese medicine.
TCM still faces many challenges, such as a lack of clinical evidence as to precisely how it works.
| A．However, this is starting to change. |
| B．TCM has cured millions of people in the world. |
| C．China has made some efforts to promote TCM overseas. |
| D．TCM’s effectiveness has been difficult to study or provide evidence for. |
| E．Tried and tested over thousands of years, the effectiveness of TCM is clear. |
| F．TCM has seen some growth in other countries, with a number of famous people being known to use it. |
| G．This is the first time for TCM to be included in the ICD, which serves as the international standard for diseases and health conditions. |
8 . Very often, we have small medical problems that aren't serious enough to require a visit to the doctor’s office. Problems, such as a sore throat or a stomachache, can often be taken care of with medicines available on drug stores. However, many people prefer to treat slight medical problems at home instead of going to a doctor. For a sore throat, it’s certainly easy to stop by a local drug store and pick up a pack of lozenges (含片). But some people prefer to make special drinks, such as warm milk with honey, or lemon juice and honey. Other people like to wash out their mouths with warm, salty water.
Stomachaches can be treated with medicines that are available at local drug stores, but many people first try drinking soda (苏打水) to settle their stomachs. Another more natural treatment is peppermint (薄荷) tea.
Besides the various cold medicines available, many people treat their colds by having a bowl of homemade chicken soup. Others like to drink hot water with lemon and honey before they go to bed.
Many books offer helpful suggestions for the treatment of small medical problems at home and provide useful information about first-aid. In case of a bee sting (蜇伤), for example, they advise that you put mud or a piece of potato directly on the sting or a little vinegar on the skin so the sting will disappear.
Modern medicine has progressed greatly in the past few years, but there are still times when it’s very convenient to rely on good old home treatment.
1. What does the underlined word “available” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Cautious. | B．Obtainable. |
| C．Delighted. | D．Previous. |
| A．Drink warm, salty water. |
| B．Pick up a piece of potato. |
| C．Drink hot water with lemon. |
| D．Drink warm milk with honey. |
| A．Soda. | B．Peppermint tea. |
| C．Chicken soup. | D．A little vinegar. |
| A．If you feel uncomfortable, you don’t need to see a doctor. |
| B．Once you are ill, please see some famous doctors at once. |
| C．Modern medicine should be taken on time, if you are ill. |
| D．We can rely on good old home treatment if we aren’t seriously ill. |
One medical text from the fourth century suggested using the extract from sweet wormwood to treat a fever. Tu’s team tested a collection of dried wormwood
Using a lower temperature to draw out
10 . As a student at a medical school, Sam thinks poetry is a big part of his life, thanks to his new teacher, Rafael Campo, who believes poetry can benefit every doctor’s education and work. Rafael is a physician, professor and a highly respected poet.
“Poetry is in every encounter with my patients. If we do anything when we’ re with our patients, we’re really immersed in their stories, really hearing their voices. And, certainly, that’s what a poem does, ” he said.
Rafael worries that something important has been lost in medicine and medical education today: humanity, which he finds in poetry. To end that, he leads a weekly reading and writing workshop for medical students and residents. He thinks medical training focuses too much on distancing the doctor from his or her patients, and poems can help close that gap.
Third-year resident Andrea Schwartz was one of the workshop regulars. She said, “I think there’s no other profession other than medicine that produces as many writers as it does. And I think that is because there’s just so much power in doctors and patients interacting when patients are at their saddest moments. ” Not everyone believes that’s what doctors should do, though.
Rafael said, “I was afraid of how people might judge me, actually. In the medical profession, as many people know, we must always put the emergency first. But, you know, that kind of treatment, if it’s happening in the hospital, very regrettably, sadly, results in a bad outcome. The family is sitting by the bedside. The patient hasn’t survived the cancer. Don’t wve still have a role as healers there?”
In a poem titled “Health”, Rafael writes of the wish to live forever in a world made painless by our incurable joy. He says he will continue teaching students, helping patients and writing poems, his own brand of medicine.
1. What does the underlined word “immersed” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Committed. | B．Forced. | C．Persuaded. | D．Absorbed. |
| A．It has nothing to do with doctors. |
| B．It is mostly produced by doctors. |
| C．It contributes to medical work. |
| D．It keeps doctors away from patients. |
| A．Capable and responsible. |
| B．Gifted but overconfident. |
| C．Honest and modest. |
| D．Cold but respected. |
