1 . Get up at 6 a.m., arrive at the hospital one hour earlier to help patients check in, and accompany patients during consultations... In recent years, the patient escort has emerged as a new occupation, and those who have taken on this career are known as “people who sell time”. 26-year-old Zhang Tian is one of them.
September 4, 2022 was a lucky day for Zhang Tian. On this day, Zhang Tian saw a video about patient escorts on a short video platform. The daily routine of patient escorts shown in the video fascinated her and inspired her to take this on as a business. She browsed through many platforms and searched for information and found there indeed exists a certain demand for patient escorts, especially for the elderly, children and pregnant women. Since she had never engaged in this kind of work before, she spent two days in major hospitals in Wuhan, in order to familiarize herself with all the departments on different floors, as well as the processes of medical consultations and preparations for surgery.
After the preparations, Zhang Tian posted a video of self-introduction on major social media sites, talking about the help and services a patient escort provides, as well as some tips for a quick and convenient medical consultation. At first, she was a little worried that her video would go unnoticed. However, after she uploaded the video, it got over 100 likes and she received her first offer as a patient escort.
The memory of her first task is still vivid in her mind. She received a phone call on September 9 from a man whose father was seriously ill and might need surgery. He wanted Zhang Tian to accompany his father through his consultation and treatment. Zhang Tian made all the preparations before meeting her first client and did a very good job despite her nervousness.
“Later, the family expressed their gratitude to me over and over again, which warmed my heart and gave me a sense of achievement,” Zhang Tian said.
1. What do patient escorts do?| A．They assist doctors in hospitals. | B．They arrive at hospitals early to check in. |
| C．They post videos for money. | D．They help patients get treatment in hospitals. |
| A．She enjoyed seeing an interesting video. | B．She got inspiration for her own career. |
| C．She found a demand for medical workers. | D．She was popular on social media. |
| A．She got familiar with the routine work in hospitals. |
| B．She spent two days in major hospitals meeting patients. |
| C．She post a video in search of clients on social media. |
| D．She happened to know an old man in need of surgery. |
| A．Considerate and responsible. | B．Humorous and careful. |
| C．Ambitious and imaginative. | D．Talkative and positive. |
2 . Having Spider-Man close gives you the courage to face the coming days. It certainly
Children really need
Farther south, another team of window washers also made their
We can all be somebody’s superhero for a day, an hour or just a moment. Distracting someone from the
| A．extends | B．treasures | C．brightens | D．misses |
| A．ticket | B．visit | C．fine | D．meal |
| A．hung | B．shouted | C．fell | D．escaped |
| A．careful | B．thoughtful | C．frightened | D．excited |
| A．decisive | B．magical | C．awkward | D．difficult |
| A．choices | B．innovation | C．demand | D．emotions |
| A．courage | B．time | C．pressure | D．patience |
| A．teachers | B．heroes | C．families | D．friends |
| A．losing | B．feeling | C．requiring | D．providing |
| A．definitely | B．eventually | C．only | D．rarely |
| A．presentation | B．experience | C．appearance | D．impression |
| A．limited | B．beneficial | C．unnecessary | D．impossible |
| A．respond | B．grow | C．recover | D．learn |
| A．pain | B．kindness | C．relief | D．regret |
| A．fill | B．ruin | C．end | D．make |
1. What is Mr. Brown probably doing now?
| A．Treating a patient. |
| B．Having an operation. |
| C．Attending a meeting. |
| A．Worried. | B．Annoyed. | C．Surprised. |
| A．See her husband. |
| B．Wait outside the room. |
| C．Get some forms. |
| A．At home. | B．In a car. | C．In a hospital. |
Acupuncture (针灸),
Acupuncture is a treatment that aims to promote the body’s self-regulating functions. Its treating principles are
Over the years, acupuncture
增加：在缺词处加一个漏子符号（∧）并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
The other day, I discover I couldn't move my right arm and fingers after sleeping through a flight. Having diagnosed me with neural injury, the doctor suggested I could try acupuncture(针灸). So I followed his advices and began my treatment. Dozens tiny needles were inserted across my arm and fingers. I dared not move, because even a small change of position could cause a acute pain. Two weeks went by since I could eat a meal with chopsticks and it took a month for my arm and fingers to return back to their normal functions. I was very amazing at how magic these needles were. That I had always considered old-fashioned and useless turned out to be of great use. I hope acupuncture, with its help I recovered, will continue to bring health to other people.
| A．Disappointing. | B．Unusual. | C．Satisfying. |
8 . A rare genetic skin condition has been corrected for the first time using a gene therapy that is applied to the skin.
About 1 in 800,000 children in the US are born with a severe condition called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (不良性大疱性表皮松解症 RDEB) that makes their skin extremely weak and likely to be torn and blister (长水疱).
“It is very painful,” says Vincenzo Mascoli, 22, who travelled from Italy to the US to have the gene therapy. He had open wounds all over his body, including one covering his entire back that had been there since he was 2 years old. “Sometimes I also get blisters in my eyes and have to keep my eyes closed, and sometimes I get blisters in my throat that make it difficult to eat,” he says. Mascoli and other people with the condition have weak skin because they have an improper version of a collagen (胶原) gene called COL7A1. That means their skin can’t produce the collagen proteins needed to give it structure and strength.
Peter Marinkovich at Stanford University in California and his colleagues developed a way to insert normal COL7A1 genes into the skin of such individuals so they can start producing collagen properly. “All it does is go into the cell and deliver the gene,” says Marinkovich.
The gene therapy was then incorporated into a gel (凝胶) so it could be applied to the skin. It was tested in a late-stage clinical experiment in the US involving 31 children and adults with RDEB, including Mascoli.
The treatment was repeated weekly until the wounds closed. After three months, 71% of the wounds treated with the gene therapy had completely healed, compared with 20% of those who had the ineffective gel applied, and there were no serious side effects.
A US company called Krystal Biotech has partnered with Marinkovich and his colleagues to develop the gene therapy and will apply in the next few months for approval to make it available to more patients in the US.
1. What do we know about RDEB?| A．It is a serious skin disease on children. |
| B．It brings unbearable pain to the patients. |
| C．It makes patients’ skin weak but seldom blister. |
| D．About 800,000 children in the US suffer from it. |
| A．They don’t have the gene called COL7A1. |
| B．They don’t deal with the wounds properly. |
| C．Genes on them fail to provide right proteins. |
| D．They have serious side effects after treatments. |
| A．It was developed by Krystal Biotech. |
| B．It has proved highly effective on all patients. |
| C．It will be applied to patients in a larger scale. |
| D．It has positive effects on patients immediately. |
| A．A biography. | B．A course plan. |
| C．A mathematics paper. | D．A science magazine. |
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. |
10 . 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 |
