1 . Three paralysed (瘫痪的) men, who were told they would spend the rest of their lives in a wheelchair, are able to walk again, thanks to an electrical device, which was placed around the men’s spines (脊柱) and boosted signals from their brains to their legs.
The first patient to be treated was 30-year-old Swiss man David M’zee, who suffered a severe spinal injury several years ago in a sporting accident. David’s doctor said he would never walk again. However, thanks to the electrical device developed by a team at a public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, he agreed to take part in a trial led by Dr. Courtine at the university.
“I came with my daughter, Charlotte, who was one month old at the time. As we approached David, he looked her in the eye and said, ‘I will walk before you,’” Dr Courtine recalls. “When Charlotte took her first step she was 14 months old, by which time David was walking by Lake Geneva. He said to her, ‘I have beaten you.’”
David can now walk up to eight paces when the device is switched off and this is the first time that this has been recorded in a chronic (慢性的) spinal injury. However, out of the lab, in the real world, it is hard for David to walk more than a few paces. The signals from the device soon become uncomfortable and so can’t be used all the time. The system is also expensive and not reliable enough to be used out of the laboratory for day-to-day use, so it’s far from a cure.
David is the first of three patients who have benefited from the first wave of the treatment. Two other men have also managed to walk again, to various degrees.
The researchers plan to begin larger trials in Europe and the US in the next few years. If these go well, the researchers are confident the system could become more widely available.
1. How does the electrical device help the paralysed walk again?| A．By straightening the spines. | B．By making the brains recover. |
| C．By signaling the legs to move. | D．By making use of a wheelchair. |
| A．To point out David’s weakness. | B．To explain David’s failure to walk. |
| C．To show the speed of David’s recovery. | D．To prove his daughter’s athletic ability. |
| A．It is hard for typical patients to operate. | B．It is unreliable when used out of the lab. |
| C．It always makes patients uncomfortable. | D．It sometimes sends wrong signals to legs. |
| A．The device can cure paralysis. | B．The device has been widely used. |
| C．The device will be tested globally. | D．The device has a potential market. |
2 . For decades, scientists thought of the brain as the most valuable and consequently most closely guarded part of the body. Locked safely behind the blood-brain barrier, it was broadly free of the harm of viruses and the battles started by the immune system (免疫系统). Then, about 20 years ago, some researchers began to wonder: is the brain really so separated from the body? The answer, according to a growing body of evidence, is no.
The list of brain conditions that have been associated with changes elsewhere in the body is long and growing. Changes in the makeup of the microorganisms in the digestive system have been linked to disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. There is also a theory that infection during pregnancy could lead to brain diseases in babies.
The effect is two-way. There is a lengthening list of symptoms not typically viewed as disorders of the nervous system, but the brain plays a large part in them. For example, the development of a fever is influenced by a population of nerve cells that control body temperature and appetite. Evidence is mounting that cancers use nerves to grow and spread.
The interconnection between the brain and body has promising implications for our ability to both understand and treat illnesses. If some brain disorders start outside the brain, then perhaps treatments for them could also reach in from outside. Treatments that take effect through the digestive system, the heart or other organs, would be much easier and less risky than those that must cross the blood-brain barrier.
It also works in the opposite direction. Study shows mice have healthier hearts after receiving stimulation to a brain area involved in positive emotion and motivation. Activation of the brain reward centre — called the ventral tegmental area (VTA) — seems to cause immune changes that contribute to it. Working out how this happens could help to destroy cancers, enhance responses to vaccines and even re-evaluate physical diseases that, for centuries, have not been considered as being psychologically driven.
1. What do the researchers focus on about the brain?| A．Its protecting system. | B．Its exposure to diseases. |
| C．Its controlling function. | D．Its connection to the body. |
| A．By explaining a theory. | B．By providing examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By presenting cause and effect. |
| A．Cheaper. | B．More specific. |
| C．Safer. | D．More direct. |
| A．Brain health depends on immune changes. |
| B．Brain stimulation leads to negative emotions. |
| C．The brain can help enhance psychological health. |
| D．The brain may be key to treating physical diseases. |
1. What day is it today?
| A．Friday. | B．Wednesday. | C．Monday. |
| A．Coworkers. | B．Doctor and patients. | C．Teacher and student. |
| A．Look for a new job. | B．Do physical tests often. | C．Change her breakfast habits. |
4 . French surgeons have performed what they said on Wednesday was the world’s first partial face transplant — giving a new nose, chin and lips to a woman attacked by a dog.
Specialists from two French hospitals carried out the operation on a 38-year-old woman on Sunday in the northern city of Amiens by taking the face from a brain-dead woman, who had hanged herself just hours before the operation. Her family agreed on the operation.
“The patient is in an excellent state and the transplant looks normal.” The hospitals said in a brief statement after waiting three days to announce the pioneering surgery. The woman had been left without a nose and lips after the dog attacked her last May, and was unable to talk or chew properly. Such injuries are “extremely difficult, if not impossible” to repair using normal surgical techniques, the statement said. The statement did not say what the woman would look like when she had fully recovered, but medical experts said she was unlikely to resemble the woman who had been the source of her new face. The operation was led by Jean-Michel Dubernard, a specialist from a hospital in Lyon who has also carried out hand transplants. Skin transplants have long been used to treat burns and other injuries, but operations around the mouth and nose have been considered very difficult because of the area’s high sensitivity to foreign tissue. Teams in France, the United States and Britain had been developing techniques to make face transplants a reality.
There was a short-term risk for the patient if blood vessels (脉管) became blocked, a medium-term danger of her body rejecting the new skin and a long-term possibility that the drugs used could cause cancers. Experts say that although such medical advances should be celebrated, the transplant had thrown up moral and ethical (伦理的) issues. Little is known about the psychological effect of the transplant.
1. What makes the woman’s operation extremely challenging?| A．The patient’s unstable mood. |
| B．The doctor’s lack of surgical techniques. |
| C．The masses’ unacceptance of this transplant. |
| D．The damaged area’s high sensitivity to transplanted tissues. |
| A．Heart damage. | B．Organ rejection. |
| C．Side effect of the drugs. | D．Block of blood vessels. |
| A．The woman had used the dead woman’s whole face. |
| B．Such transplants have been performed by top doctors. |
| C．The woman will suffer from psychological damage soon. |
| D．There has arisen a moral and ethical debate about the operation. |
| A．First Face Transplant Opens Debate. |
| B．French Woman has First Partial Face Transplant. |
| C．Risks and Ethical Problems of a Face Transplant. |
| D．A Complete Face Transplant of a French Woman. |
5 . Nightmare disorder is characterized by frequent nightmares that cause unhappiness and greatly impact our life. But a new approach is added to existing therapy (疗法) by introducing certain sounds which can help a person to turn their nightmare into a sweet dream.
The existing therapy, called Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT), is already used as a way to reduce the frequency and intensity of nightmares. “You write down the bad dream in a very detailed way and then create new endings that are nonfrightening for nightmares,” said Dr. Kilkenny, the director of the Institute of Sleep Medicine at Staten Island University Hospital.
In this newly published study, the 36 participants were divided into 2 equal-sized groups. Both groups practiced IRT, but the second group additionally used Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR). TMR works by associating the stimulation (刺激) of a specific sound with a specific thought while you’re awake. The daily practice saw them completing IRT with added TMR. The 36 participants were then recorded for 2 weeks as they slept.
Fortunately for the dreamers, both groups saw an improvement in their sleep and a drop in nightmare frequency. However, the group who had received the combination of IRT and TMR saw a drop in nightmare frequency that lasted for three months beyond the study — and even began to experience more joyful dreams instead of nightmares. “The study shows again that IRT alone works to improve nightmare disorder, but the new change is that the addition of TMR to IRT not only improves nightmare disorder but also increases the amount of positive dream experiences,” said Kilkenny.
While the results of this study are encouraging, it might be difficult to carry out them on your own. “If you’re experiencing frequent or serious nightmares, it may be helpful to first address your sleeping habits and make sure your are getting enough sleep with regular sleep and wake times,” said Dr. Dimitriu, the founder of Menlo Sleep Medicine in California.
1. What are patients required to do in IRT?| A．Listen to calming music during sleep. |
| B．Record their frequency of nightmares. |
| C．Recreate a pleasant ending for the nightmare. |
| D．Tell the doctor about details of their nightmares. |
| A．By taking sleeping medicine. |
| B．By practicing IRT more times. |
| C．By introducing sound stimulation. |
| D．By recording sounds in nightmares. |
| A．Participants tend to sleep longer than before. |
| B．TMR could enhance the effectiveness of IRT. |
| C．The sound treatment can help improve sleeplessness. |
| D．The nightmares can be avoided by both TMR and IRT. |
| A．Taking regular exercises. | B．Doing a medical checkup. |
| C．Seeking accurate examination. | D．Adjusting the sleeping habits. |
Tu Youyou,
However, the discovery of artemisinin wasn’t easy. From then on, she and her team examined 2,000 old medical texts and
She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine on 6 October 2015 for the discovery of artemisinin, which could be thought
1. What does the man think he still has a problem with?
| A．His nose. | B．His head. | C．His mouth. |
| A．In a hospital. | B．In a school lab. | C．At a research center. |
| A．His smell. | B．His taste. | C．His muscle. |
| A．Taking new medicines. | B．Using new treatments. | C．Finding new senses. |
1. What may cause the man feel tired these days?
| A．High blood pressure. | B．Stress at work. | C．Sleeping pills. |
| A．One month. | B．Two weeks. | C．Two months. |
| A．Retiring early. | B．Reducing the work. | C．Sleeping early. |
| A．A manager. | B．An athlete. | C．A doctor. |
9 . The Heimlich Maneuver Guideline
In the early 1970s, Henry J. Heimlich, MD, developed a first aid technique for choking, known as the Heimlich maneuver.
Knowing when to use the Heimlich maneuver can be vital in emergency situations. If a person appears unable to speak or starts motioning toward their throat, they are likely choking.
The National Safety Council provides the following steps to help a person who is choking, if they are still conscious. First of all, stand behind the person with one leg forward between the person’s legs. And then, put your arms around the person and locate their belly button. Place the thumb side of one fist against the stomach just above their belly button.
Avoid giving small kids hard candy, ice cubes, and popcorn. Cut foods that kids can easily choke on into tiny pieces. This can include grapes and other fruit, raw carrots, hot dogs, and chunks of cheese. Avoid laughing or talking while chewing and swallowing.
| A．How to prevent choking. |
| B．Choking is an incredibly scary experience. |
| C．How to prepare for the Heimlich Maneuver |
| D．In these cases, it’s crucial to help immediately. |
| E．If the patient is unresponsive, call medical help immediately. |
| F．Use quick thrusting movements five times or until they expel the item. |
| G．Dr. Heimlich developed this method after reading an article about accidental deaths. |
10 . An experimental treatment rejuvenates (使...恢复活力) the immune (免疫的) systems of older mice, improving their ability to fight infections. If it works in humans, the treatment could reverse (逆转) age-related decreases in immunity that leave older adults susceptible to disease.
These decreases may be due to changes in our blood stem cells which can develop into any type of blood cell—including key parts that make up the immune system. As we age, a larger proportion (比例) of these stem cells tend to produce some immune cells over others, says Jason Ross at Stanford University in California. This imbalance damages the immune system’s defenses.
Ross and his colleagues have developed a treatment using antibodies (抗体), which are proteins that recognize and attack certain cells to target these abnormal stem cells. They tested the treatment in six mice between 18 and 24 months old, which is roughly equal to an age of 56 to 70 years in humans.
A week after receiving an antibody injection, the mice had about 38 percent fewer of these abnormal stem cells than six mice of the same age that didn’t receive the treatment. “You can think of it as kind of turning back the clock,” says Ross. “We’re making the proportion of these immune cells more similar to those of a younger adult mouse.”
To test if the changes resulted in a stronger immune system, the researchers vaccinated (打疫苗) 17 older mice against a mouse virus. Nine of these mice had received the antibody treatment eight weeks earlier. The researchers then infected (感染) the mice with the virus. Two weeks later, they measured the number of infected cells in the animals and found that nearly half of the treated mice had cleared the infection, compared with only one of the eight untreated mice.
The findings indicate that the antibody treatment rejuvenates the mouse immune system. “Since humans, like mice, also see abnormal blood stem cells increase with age, a similar antibody treatment may rejuvenate our immune systems,” says Ross.
1. What does the underlined word “susceptible” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Strongly resist. | B．Easily suffer from. |
| C．Completely unaffected by. | D．Highly immune to. |
| A．Changes in our nervous system. |
| B．An increase in antibodies in our body. |
| C．Changes in blood stem cells. |
| D．A decrease in the number of immune cells. |
| A．By analyzing changes in their lifestyle. |
| B．By observing differences in their behavior. |
| C．By conducting blood tests to measure immune cell counts. |
| D．By counting the number of infected cells after virus contact. |
| A．The antibody treatment has no effect on the mouse immune system. |
| B．The antibody treatment increases the risk of infections in mice. |
| C．The antibody treatment only works on young mice, not older ones. |
| D．The antibody treatment improves the mouse immune system. |
