1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

New Drug Slows Alzheimer, But Not a Cure

What a good piece of news! Last week, United States health officials finally     1     (approve) a new Alzheimer drug after enormous clinical trials. The drug, called Leqembi, is the first to slow the decline in memory by several months.

The Alzheimer’s Association describes Alzheimer     2     a brain disease that causes a decline in memory, thinking and reasoning skills. One of the most common signs of Alzheimer’s disease is forgetting recently     3     (learn) information or dates and events. People with the disease have difficulty doing     4     they did before. Some may struggle with joining or following a discussion.

The newly approved Leqembi is a long-needed new treatment for the disease. But Dr. Joy Snider,     5     is a brain doctor at Washington University in St. Louis, warns that the drug isn’t a cure. It doesn’t stop people     6     (get) worse, but it does measurably slow the progression of the disease. She added. “That might mean someone     7     have an extra six months to a year of being able to drive.”

The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug through a speedier-than-usual process, which permits drugs     8     (launch) based on early results. The drug is only for early-stage patients and requires an injection by healthcare workers every two weeks. It is not yet clear     9     the drug can help people with the disease. There are also concerns about its safety. “Still, it’s a landmark.” said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging. “It’s not enough, but it’s     10     (encourage) that there’s something we can do,” he added.

2 . It all began with an experience one of us (Arinzeh) had more than two decades ago. In 1991, a summer research experience at the University of California at Berkeley demonstrated how engineering could improve the lives of patients. Instead of working in a more traditional area such as automobile design, Arinzeh spent the summer after her junior year of college working in a rehabilitation laboratory.

Engineers there were designing new prosthetic (修复的) devices for patients who had lost limbs, and new assistive devices to help paralyzed patients move. The engineers would then collaborate with clinicians at a rehabilitation center to test their developments. Before that summer she hadn’t connected traditional engineering principles with the opportunity to solve biomedical problems. But by the end of those short months, Arinzeh was hooked on the promise of using mechanical engineering to help people move better.

Tissue engineering, a budding field at that time, offered a chance to move beyond building prosthetics. Damage to musculoskeletal tissues, such as bone and cartilage, and nervous tissue, such as the spinal cord, can be debilitating and can severely limit a person’s quality of life. In addition, such tissues cannot fully regenerate after a severe injury or in response to disease. Tissue engineers aim to fully repair and regenerate that tissue so that it regains complete function, but at that time researchers still had a lot to learn about cells and their support structures to solve these problems.

The earliest successes were with skin, in which researchers used dermal cells to generate grafts, leading to the first commercial products in the late 1990s. Researchers imitate nature, using cells as building blocks and developing strategies to guide the cells to form the appropriate tissue. Because stem cells (干细胞) are precursor (前身) to almost all tissue types, such cells are a promising source of these critical building blocks. But cells don’t grow and differentiate on their own. The cell’s microenvironment can influence stem-cell function in critical ways. Engineered microenvironments, or scaffolds, can effectively promote stem cells and other cell types to form tissues. To construct such scaffolds, some important tools are what are called functional biomaterials. These materials respond to environmental changes such as PH, enzymatic activity, or mechanical load, and their composition can mimic or replicate components of native tissue.

One of us (Arinzeh) wanted to use functional biomaterials to create three-dimensional tissue-like structures where cells can grow, proliferate (增殖), and differentiate, ultimately forming and regenerating tissue. Our group’s work started with bone studies in the 1990s, eventually moving into cartilage and the spinal cord over the past decade. The overall goal is to produce structures that could someday help patients struggling with severe injuries and movement disorders to move freely. For bone repair, our group has studied composite scaffolds consisting of polymers and ceramics that provide both mechanical and chemical cues to repair bone. Piezoelectric materials, which respond to mechanical stimuli by generating electrical activity, are used to encourage the growth of nerve tissue as well as cartilage and bone. Glycosaminoglycans (GACs), a major component of native cartilage tissue, provide growth factors to promote tissue formation, and Arinzeh has designed biomimetic scaffolds that incorporate these molecules. After all these years, the promise that seemed so enticing in 1991 is becoming a practical reality, with huge implications for human health.

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Before working with patients, Arinzeh was an automobile designer.

B．Since 1991, tissue engineering has been mainly applied to building prosthetics.

C．It’s hard for musculoskeletal tissues to fully recover from disease or injury.

D．In the late 1990s, the lack of knowledge about cells and their support structures prevented researchers from making any achievement in tissue engineering.

2. The underlined word “differentiate” is close in meaning to ________.

A．change

B．divide

C．alternate

D．reproduce

3. “Scaffolds” are, in essence, ________.

A．tissues from one part of a person’s body used to repair another damaged part

B．stem cells and other cell types in an engineered microenvironment

C．structural support for damaged tissue repair

D．functional biomaterials to replace native tissues.

4. What can we learn about the study introduced above?

A．It was inspired by the team members’ internship.

B．So far, the study has covered multiple musculoskeletal tissues, including bone, cartilage and nervous tissues.

C．The electrical activity caused by Piezoelectric materials will generate mechanical stimuli that encourage the growth of musculoskeletal tissues.

D．The researchers of this study are the best designers of modern tissue engineering.

3 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. launched     B. utilized     C. complete     D. jointly     E. further     F. realized G. currently     H. accessible     I. specifically     J. recognized     K. reliable

Sanofi Launches Grant (拨款) to Help Children with Dlabetes (糖尿病)

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of China-Franco diplomatic ties, the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi cooperated with the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation to     1     unveil the Sanofi China Charity Grant on Thursday, as part of the company’s efforts to     2     participate in the Chinese market and contribute to local people’s livelihoods.

As one of the first French companies to enter China, Sanofi has continuously increased investment and promoted innovation in the health care sector over the past few decades. The company has been committed to making innovative medicine and medical services more     3     to Chinese people, said Wayne Shi, president of Sanofi Greater China.

Olivier Charmel, the company’s executive vice-president, said Sanofi has benefited a lot from its long-term investment in China and will always stand as a     4     partner. The company expects to further contribute to the exchanges between China and France not only in the field of health care, but also in science, economy, and culture.

Shi said the company     5     the Sanofi China Charity Grant with an aim to better meet the health needs in China, and its first project will     6     focus on diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents.

Ji Linong, director of Department of Endocrinology at Peking University People’s Hospital, highly     7     the importance of the diabetes project at a panel discussion held after the launch ceremony. He said China     8     ranks fourth in the world for the number of children and adolescents suffering from type I diabetes.

With the help of the charity grant, Ji said he expects China to establish a more     9     health care system especially for type I diabetes. Doctors, professional equipment and nutritionists should be provided to help patients correctly inject insulin and effectively control blood sugar levels.

In addition to diabetes, the Sanofi China Charity Grant will also be     10     to combat other diseases such as immunity diseases. It is expected to directly benefit over 10, 000 people and indirectly benefit more than one million people in the next three years.

7 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. risky   B. solution   C. adaptation D. genetic   E. require F. definitely G. ruined   H. inconvenience   I. occur     J. qualify   K. completely

SEATTLE-For the more than 10 million Americans with colorblindness, there’s never been a treatment, let alone a cure, for the condition that leaves them unable to distinguish curtain colors.

Now, for the first time, two University of Washington professors have teamed with a California biotech firm to develop what they say may be a     1    : a single shot in the eye that can reveal the world in full color.

Jay and Maureen Neitz, who have studied the vision disorder for years, have found a new way to deliver genes that can replace missing color-producing proteins in certain cells, called cones, in the eyes.

The trouble will     2     when people are born without one or more of the three types of color-sensing proteins normally present in the cones of the retina (视网膜). The most common type is red-green colorblindness, followed by blue-yellow colorblindness. A very small proportion of the population is     3     colorblind, seeing only shades of gray.

Colorblindness is often a/an     4     disorder. It affects mostly men, who can inherit a mutation (变异) on the X chromosome (染色体) that weakens their perception of red and green. A much smaller part of cases are in women, who have two X chromosomes, which gives them a better chance of avoiding effects of any genetic imperfection.

Most people think of colorblindness as a/an     5     or disability, mainly causing problems with unmatched shirts and socks. But the Neitzes say the condition can have profound impacts-limiting choices for education or careers, making driving dangerous, and forcing continual     6     to a world designed for color vision.

“There are an awful lot of people who feel like their life is     7     because they don’t see color,” said Jay Neitz, 61, a professor, who confirmed in 1989 that dogs are colorblind, too.

People may not     8     as commercial pilots, for instance, if they’re colorblind. Other careers that can be restricted include those of chefs, decorators, electricians and house painters, all of which     9    detailed color vision.

Undoubtedly, the Neitzes’ findings have brought great benefits to those who are born unable to distinguish between red and green. But that technique is     10    , requiring surgery, so the Neitzes are looking for another way to do the job.

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below. fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use ONE word that best fits each blank.

Conquering the Scientific World, Dr. Roberto Crea

Although the scientists that brought a revolution into human life are no more, there remain a few who are following in their footsteps to find permanent solutions to persistent human life problems and add value, ease, and comfort to people’s lives.     1     fits the context perfectly is worth worshiping. And Dr. Roberto Crea is the one of them.

Born on July 1, 1948, in Italy, Roberto Crea was a genius kid.     2    (graduate) from the University of Pavia in Italy, he moved to the Netherlands for his specialization later on and finally enrolled at the University of Leiden, where he studied the synthesis of nucleorides (核苷酸), the basic units that are required to build a DNA.     3     he was immensely interested in and exceedingly curious about it, he was determined to specialize in the DNA/RNA synthesis by the phosphotriester method. Roberto’s strong chemistry background paved the way for a historical invention. And his marvelous research at the University spoke volumes.

With Genetech funding Dr. Crea’s on-going research on gene synthesis, Crea invented a new procedure that streamlined the chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides and synthetic genes. His profound knowledge, along with the collaboration of the excellent Genetech team, utilized this discovery to produce the human insulin genes. It was his invention that allowed Genentech     4    (label) as the first producer of human protein. This was made from therapeutic interest in bacteria for the benefit of hundreds of millions of people     5    (suffer) from diabetes all over the world.

His efforts did not cease     6     discovering the synthetic insulin(胰岛素); in fact, he was more than driven and strived to make more contributions to the field of biotechnology. In 1982, Roberto switched roles slightly to become a scientist entrepreneur and launched his company, Creative BioMolecules. This venture     7    (initial) functioned as a service company but later began producing therapeutic protein substances.

Another notable contribution to the medicine industry was the life-changing discovery of ziconotide, which     8    (take) place when Roberto served as the scientific director at Neurex. His team of experts in neuroscience discovered this drug under his teachings and guidance. According to leading scientists and researchers, this drug is more powerful and effective than morphine, a powerful drug used to reduce pain, and     9    (good) part of this is that it has zero side-effects.

Established as one of the greatest researchers and scientists America has ever known, Dr. Roberto Crea can be looked up to as an idol in Biotechnology and an inspiration for many individuals     10     dream of adding value to humanity with the help of science is deeply rooted.

9 . False medical news can lead to patients’ experiencing greater side effects through the “nocebo effect (反安慰剂效果)”. Sometimes patients benefit from an intervention simply because they believe they will- -that’s the placebo effect. The nocebo effect is the opposite: Patients can experience negative effects just because they expect them. This is very true of statins. In blinded trials, patients who get statins are no more likely to report feeling muscle aches than patients who get a placebo. Yet, in clinical practice, according to one study, almost a fifth of patients taking statins report side effects, leading many to discontinue the drugs.

What else is on the fake news hit list? As always, vaccines. False concerns that the vaccine for the virus called human papilloma virus causes seizures (癫痫) and other side effects reduced coverage rates in Japan from 10 percent to less than 1 percent in recent years.

Cancer is another big target for pushers of medical misinformation — many of whom are making money off alternative therapies. “Though most people think cancer tumors are bad, they’re actually the way your body attempts to contain the harmful cells,” one fake news story reads. It suggests that surgery increases the risk of spreading harmful cells.

Silicon Valley needs to own this problem. When human health is at risk, perhaps search engines, social media platforms and websites should be held responsible for promoting or hosting fake information. The scientific community needs to do its part to educate the public about key concepts in research, such as the difference between observational studies and higher quality randomized trials.

Finally, journalists can do a better job of spreading accurate information. News sites are more likely to cover catchy observational studies than randomized controlled trials, perhaps because the latter are less likely to produce surprising results. Such coverage can overstate benefits, claiming for example, that statins could cure cancer; it can unduly emphasize potential risks, such as suggesting a misleading connection with dementia, a serious mental disorder.

1. What does the writer imply about the side effects of statins?

A．They are common in certain patients.

B．They aren’t like those of placebos.

C．They don’t really exist.

D．They disappear very soon.

2. Which statement is the writer most likely to agree with?

A．The public should put more trust in news coverage.

B．Silicon Valley ought to take the blame for the fake medicine.

C．The scientific community ought to involve the public in research.

D．Journalists should be objective while reporting medical news.

3. The word “unduly” in the last paragraph most probably means       .

A．on a small scale

B．overly

C．as likely as not

D．universally

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To warn readers against fake medical news on the Internet.

B．To encourage journalists to report more positive news events.

C．To tell readers what role the “nocebo effect” plays in treating disease.

D．To teach readers how to distinguish truths from fake news.

10 .

A．A surgeon.

B．A dentist.

C．A doctor or philosophy.

D．A nurse.