| A．At home. | B．At a hospital. | C．At a hotel. |
2 . Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who together identified a slight chemical change to messenger RNA,were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this year.
Dr. Karikó, the 13th woman to win the prize, had come to the United States from Hungary two decades earlier when her research program there ran out of money. She was preoccupied by mRNA, which provides instructions to cells to make proteins. Defying the decades old belief that mRNA was clinically unusable, she hold the view that it would stimulate medical innovations.
She and Dr. Weissman had their first chance meeting over a copy machine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. At the time, Dr. Weissman was desperate for new approaches to a vaccine (疫苗) against HLV, which bad long proved impossible to defend against. A physician who had tried and failed for years to develop a treatment for AIDS, he wondered if he and Dr. Karikó could team up to make an HIV. vaccine.
For years, they were at a loss. Mice vaccinated with mRNA became inactive. Countless experiments failed. They wandered down one dead end after another, But eventually, the scientists discovered that cells protect their own mRNA with a specific chemical modification (修饰). So they tried making the same change to mRNA manufactured in the lab before vaccinating it into cells It worked.
At first, other scientists were largely uninterested in taking up that new approach to vaccination. But two biotech companies soon took notice: Moderna, in the United States, and BioNTech, in Germany. Then the coronavirus emerged. Almost instantly, Drs. Karikó and Weissman’s work came together with several factors of different research to put vaccine makers ahead of the game in developing shot.
Brian Ferguson, an immunologist at the University of Cambridge, said. “The work of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman in the years prior to 2020 prevented tens of millions of deaths and helped the world recover from the worst pandemic in a century. They richly deserve this recognition.”
1. The underlined word “defying” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “ ”.| A．challenging | B．confirming | C．re-emphasizing | D．stating |
| A．They teamed up for the treatment for AIDS in Hungary. |
| B．They protected their mRNA with a chemical modification. |
| C．They persevered until they made a change to lab-made mRNA. |
| D．They manufactured mRNA in mice despite their countless failures. |
| A．they took no notice of others’ ignorance |
| B．they caught attention of two biotech companies |
| C．their work helped avoid the loss of countless lives |
| D．their work prevented the outbreak of the pandemic |
| A．Chemical Changes Identified in the Pandemic |
| B．Approaches Adopted to Defend Against HLV |
| C．Nobel Prize Awarded to Covid Vaccine Pioneers |
| D．mRNA Manufactured in a University Lab in USA |
| A．At 8: 00. | B．At 8: 30. | C．At 9: 00. |
| A．A general doctor. | B．A skin specialist. | C．A nurse. |
1. What do we know about the university health center?
| A．It doesn’t have an appointment system. |
| B．It is always full of people in the afternoon. |
| C．It is a branch of the Blackwell Health Center. |
| A．4 | B．6 | C．10 |
| A．Dr. Hilary Jones. | B．Dr. Charles Spencer. | C．Dr. Ada Johnson. |
| A．Paying a home visit. | B．Having physical exams. | C．Seeing a doctor. |
6 . A cancer treatment no longer means what it used to be. Just a few decades ago, the survival rate beyond five years was less than 50%. Now, nearly 70% of those who get cancer survive that long, and that rate is set to rise. Why? Because, more than ever, chemotherapy (化疗) and radiation, once the only ways of cancer treatment, are being paired with or replaced by varieties of new drugs and treatments.
For example, the first medication for what was previously considered an “undruggable” lung cancer was recently approved in the United States, Canada, Europe and the U.K. And a brand-new precise chemotherapy drug delivered directly to breast cancer cells is giving hope to patients with the HER 2-positive form of the disease.
Another discovery has been the promise of a treatment called immunotherapy, as researchers around the world have discovered ways to use the body’s own immune (免疫) system to battle cancer cells.
Also driving hope is a focus on prevention. Decades of research and public education have led to greater awareness of how lifestyle changes can reduce our risk of developing cancer. According to an article from the journal Pharmaceutical Research and published by the National Institutes of Health, 90% to 95% of cancers can be owed to environment and lifestyle, rather than to genetic (基因的) factors.
Employing vaccines (疫苗) is another effective way of prevention. Take the mRNA cancer vaccines for example. The speedy development of COVID-19 vaccines was thanks to foundations already laid by researchers who had been working for years to create mRNA vaccines to fight cancer. These vaccines use a specially programmed molecule (分子) to activate an immune response in the body’s cells. Unlike the COVID-19 vaccines designed to help protect billions of people, each cancer mRNA vaccine is tailored to treat a single patient’s cancer.
In fact, this personalized approach can be made for everyone, and for every cancer.
1. Why is the survival rate beyond five years rising now?| A．Because new drugs and treatments have come out. |
| B．Because chemotherapy and radiation get advanced. |
| C．Because new drugs have been paired with old ones. |
| D．Because new treatments have replaced the old ones. |
| A．All the cancers are not related to genetic factors. |
| B．Most cancers have no relationship with lifestyle. |
| C．A focus on prevention is our only hope to deal with cancer. |
| D．All cancers have relationship with environment and lifestyle. |
| A．The COVID-19 vaccines can be used to fight some cancers. |
| B．One cancer mRNA vaccine can’t be used for another cancer. |
| C．One cancer mRNA vaccine can be used to treat patients of the same cancer. |
| D．The COVID-19 vaccines were created from previous cancer mRNA vaccines. |
| A．A diary entry. | B．A news report. |
| C．A book review. | D．A science fiction. |
7 . Every fall, like clockwork, Linda Krentz of Beaverton, Oregon, felt her brain go on strike. “I just couldn’t get going in the morning,” she says. “I’d get depressed and gain 10 pounds every winter and lose them again in the spring.” Then she read about seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression that occurs in fall and winter, and she saw the light literally. Every morning now she turns on a specially constructed light box for half an hour and sits in front of it to trick her brain into thinking it’s still enjoying those long summer days. It seems to work.
Krentz is not alone. Scientists estimate that 10 million Americans suffer from seasonal depression and 25 million more develop milder versions. But there’s never been definitive proof that treatment with very bright lights makes a difference. After all, it’s hard to do a double-blind test when the subjects can see for themselves whether or not the light is on. That’s why nobody has ever separated the real effects of light therapy from placebo (安慰剂) effects.
Until now, in three separate studies published last month, researchers report not only that light therapy works better than a placebo but that treatment is usually more effective in the early morning than in the evening. In two of the groups, the placebo problem was resolved by telling patients they were comparing light boxes to a new anti-depressant device that gives off negatively charged ions (离子). The third used the timing of light therapy as the control.
Why does light therapy work? No one really knows. “Our research suggests it has something to do with shifting the body’s internal clock,” says psychiatrist Dr. Lewey. The body is programmed to start the day with sunrise, he explains, and this gets later as the days get shorter. But why such subtle shifts make some people depressed and not others is a mystery.
That hasn’t stopped thousands of winter depressives from trying to heal themselves. Light boxes for that purpose are available without a doctor’s prescription. That bothers psychologist Michael Terman of Columbia University. He is worried that the boxes may be tried by patients who suffer from mental illness that can’t be treated with light. Terman has developed a questionnaire to help determine whether expert care is needed.
In any event, you should choose a reputable manufacturer. Whatever product you use should give off only visible light, because ultraviolet light damages the eyes. If you are photosensitive (对光敏感的), you may develop a rash. Otherwise, the main drawback is having to sit in front of the light for 30 to 60 minutes in the morning. That’s an inconvenience many winter depressives can live with.
1. What is the probable cause of Krentz’s problem?| A．An unexpected gain in body weight. |
| B．Unexplained impairment of her nervous system. |
| C．Weakening of her eyesight with the setting in of winter. |
| D．Poor adjustment of her body clock to seasonal changes. |
| A．There is definitive proof of its effect. |
| B．It serves as a kind of placebo. |
| C．It is considered as a relatively effective therapy. |
| D．It hardly produces any effects. |
| A．Winter depressives will be addicted to using light boxes. |
| B．No mental patients would bother to consult psychiatrists. |
| C．Inferior light boxes will give off harmful ultraviolet lights. |
| D．Light therapy could be misused by certain mental patients. |
| A．Winter depressives prefer light therapy in spite of its inconvenience. |
| B．Light therapy increases the patient’s photosensitivity. |
| C．Eye damage is a side effect of light therapy. |
| D．Light boxes can be programmed to correspond to shifts in the body clock. |
8 . Beijing will provide COVID-19 vaccinations for certain groups in nursing homes, including the elderly and caregivers, on a voluntary basis to prevent a renewed outbreak at nursing homes during autumn and winter, the local government said.
Those who will receive the vaccines include nursing home kitchen workers, security guards and cleaners, Beijing Daily reported on Friday.
Xing Yinli, director of Jingkangyuan, a nursing home in Fengtai district with about 290 elderly residents, said they have received the document recently and will strictly follow its guidance.
“It’s our top duty to strengthen prevention and control,” Xing said, adding they have been using methods such as keeping detailed records of resident contacts outside the nursing home, and encouraging online visits for family members.
As to vaccinations, she said they will ask for permission from residents, their family members and workers before giving vaccines.
In late October, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province carried out an emergency COVID-19 vaccine program, allowing the public to ask for injections in advance, with key groups first. A similar program was also organized in Jiaxing, Ningbo and Yiwu in Zhejiang.
Nationwide, emergency use of home-grown COVID-19 vaccines was approved in June and launched in late July. China now has four coronavirus candidate vaccines in the third stage clinical trials (临床试验).
The document from Beijing also said nursing homes should conduct nucleic acid testing every month among kitchen workers and residents who leave the nursing homes to see a doctor. Tests will cover all people in nursing homes considered at high risk if new infections are reported in the city. Besides, routine disinfections should be strengthened in kitchens, storerooms and restrooms, it said. The document also recommended non-contact visits from family members.
1. Where can you probably find this article?| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a fashion magazine. |
| C．In a book review. | D．In a travel journal. |
| A．China is providing vaccinations nationwide. |
| B．The four candidate vaccines have finished clinical trails. |
| C．China has taken the lead in coronavirus vaccines worldwide. |
| D．China has made great progress in coronavirus vaccines. |
| A．Nursing homes should conduct nucleic acid testing. |
| B．Beijing nursing homes are to be provided with vaccines. |
| C．Certain groups will have vaccines first in late June. |
| D．Routine disinfections should be strengthened in kitchens. |
1. Who is the speaker talking to?
| A．Patients. | B．Travelers. | C．Hotel staff. |
| A．They always have a lot to do. |
| B．They seldom stay in their offices. |
| C．They take better care of foreigners than locals. |
| A．Call 911. |
| B．Ask the police for help. |
| C．Check with the hotel manager. |
| A．They will be less scared there. |
| B．Their medical bills will be paid for there. |
| C．They will get better medical services there. |
10 . China is one of the first countries to breed a medical culture. In comparison with Western methods, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) adopt a vastly different approach. For thousands of years, Chinese people have accumulated rich experience in fighting all sorts of diseases, therefore forming a unique medical theory under the guidance of ancient Chinese philosophies.
The core behind TCM is that the human body’s life is the consequence of the balance between yin and yang. Yang functions to safeguard us against outer harm, and yin is the inner base to store and provide energy. When the balance between the two aspects is disturbed, people fall ill.
One of the traditional techniques of TCM, acupuncture (针刺疗法), means insertion (插入) of needles into superficial (表皮的) structures of the body—usually at acupoints (穴位)—to restore the yin-yang balance. It is often accompanied by moxibustion (灸法), which involves burning the mugwort (艾叶) on or near the skin at an acupoint.
The first known text that clearly talks about something like acupuncture and moxibustion as it is practiced today is Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon. It is the earliest and most important written work of TCM and is considered the most representative medical text in China.
Acupuncture and moxibustion have aroused the interest of international medical science circles. And TCM is gradually gaining worldwide recognition. The WHO issued a document in 2002 that appealed to more than 180 countries to adopt TCM as an alternative in their medical policies. In 2010, acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine were added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. Presently, TCM has been back in the news for its effectiveness in improving the cure rate of the COVID-19 since its outbreak in January 2020.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．TCM. | B．Acupuncture. | C．Yin-yang balance. | D．Moxibustion. |
| A．It distinguishes acupuncture from moxibustion. |
| B．It’s a foundation of world medical research. |
| C．It stresses the importance of using acupoints. |
| D．It greatly contributes to the development of TCM. |
| A．To introduce TCM to the world. | B．To review the development of TCM. |
| C．To tell TCM and Western medicine apart. | D．To comment on TCM in fighting COVID-19. |
| A．Why TCM gets recognition from WHO. | B．Why TCM is gaining popularity. |
| C．How TCM helps in the current situation. | D．How other countries adopt TCM well. |
