3 . When delivering medications to patients, one of the most effective methods is direct injection into the bloodstream using a needle. Now, researchers from China and Switzerland have designed a needle-free alternative: a tiny, drug-filled cup that sticks to the inside of the cheek like an octopus sucker (章鱼吸盘). The device is easily accessible, can be removed at any time and prevents saliva (唾液) from dissolving the drug, which gets absorbed through the lining of the inner cheek.

“Oral delivery is really kind of a holy grail,” says Arturo Vegas, a chemist at Boston University. “It’s still the preferred form of administration for patients… which means higher compliance, better outcomes for the patient, less adverse effects overall.”

Usually, delivering drugs through the dense, inner cheek tissue is not very effective. But the suction cup stretches the cheek, creating a larger surface area for the drug to pass through.

To test the design, the team 3D printed their rubber, 1.1-by 0.6-centimeter suckers. They loaded each with the diabetes drug desmopressin and stuck them inside the cheeks of three beagles (小猎兔犬), which have similar inner cheeks to humans. For comparison, they also delivered the drug to beagles via a pill and via injection. After three hours, the team found that drug plasma concentrations in dogs with the patch were more than 150 times higher than in the dogs that took a tablet.

“We were really impressed by the level of absorption that we would get with such a simple system,” said Jean-Christophe Leroux, a co-author of the study. However, the oral patches were less effective than drugs delivered via injection.

The team further tested the patches by filling them with the drug semaglutide, which has molecules (分子) four times larger than desmopressin does. After 30 minutes, they found that beagles with the patch had a similar amount of semaglutide absorbed by the bloodstream as those that took a tablet.

Though the patches need further testing to determine how repeated use affects patients, the researchers conclude that their technique is “non-invasive, simple and readily self-applicable by patients”.

1. Which of the following is the advantage of the device?

A．It is organic.	B．It is easy to use.
C．It is inexpensive.	D．It is free of side effects.

2. How does the suction cup work effectively?

A．It is made from a special rubber.	B．It softens the dense, inner cheek tissue.
C．It prevents saliva from dissolving the drug.	D．It expands the area for the drug to be absorbed.

3. What can be inferred from the two tests?

A．Drug plasma concentrations increase as time goes by.

B．The three beagles have similar inner cheeks to each other.

C．The device may work better for drugs with small molecules.

D．Researchers injected different drugs to beagles in the first test.

4. What is the unsolved problem for the device?

A．Whether it can be used repeatedly.	B．How it can help patients recover sooner.
C．When it can be put into wide application.	D．What can be done to improve its efficiency.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

I recommend that everyone should have at least several rolls of the medical stretch wrap for wounds at hand,     1     is excellent at holding gauze (纱布) in place against a wound. The wrap can     2     (pull) as tight or loose as you want. It can stretch twice or double its length and it can return to its original length at the same time. The best thing you can do     3     (stop) the bleeding during an emergency is apply adequate pressure. Get some gauze or whatever clean material to cover the wound. If necessary, push down on the wound harder to apply     4     (much) pressure against the bleeding. For minor to moderate bleeding wounds, ordinary gauze and wrap will get the job done.

Some time ago, I had my hand     5     (wound) with a screwdriver (螺丝刀) accidentally. Just     6     it happened, I reminded myself that if the screwdriver slips, I’m going to get hurt. Fortunately, I keep all essential First Aid     7     (supply) on one specific shelf, which saves my trouble of searching for what I might need during     8     emergency.

I used some hydrogen peroxide (双氧水) to clean the wound out. I held the folded 4×4 gauze onto the wound and finished by     9     (wrap) it tightly. I fully recovered from the     10     (injure) quite soon.

8 . The measurement of blood pressure goes back almost three centuries, leading to the procedure that we all know and that our family doctor performs when we have checkups: A cuff (袖口) goes around our arm, which is first inflated (膨胀), and then deflated (放气), in a controlled manner, to determine our maximum and minimum blood pressure.

But the use of inflatable-cuff blood pressure monitors has some disadvantages. For one thing, unless people have home monitors, they must go to a chemistry shop, doctor’s office or health center to learn what their blood pressure is. Another barrier is that repeated inflation and deflation of the cuff can cause difficulties when, for example, a patient is in the hospital and needs frequent blood pressure monitoring. And the last one is that since cuffs don’t allow continuous measurement of blood pressure, they’re only providing a measurement at a specific moment.

Today, a new generation of blood pressure devices have been developed and their aim is to make it easier to judge high blood pressure. Unlike traditional devices, they do without the arm cuff and offer blood pressure values on demand. Users just press their finger on a sensor on a watch and ring.

The various cuffless measuring devices are based on methods that, instead of directly determining blood pressure, use sensors to capture various indirect signals. These signals are processed by different sets of mathematical procedures to obtain the blood pressure values. It is like inferring fever by measuring an increase in heart beat and sweating instead of using a thermometer (体温表), or divining the result of a soccer match from outside the stadium by listening to the screams of the soccer fans.

The development of devices for measuring blood pressure without a blood pressure cuff is progressing rapidly, but that doesn’t mean they are ready used to make diagnostic and treatment decisions. “The road to clinical application may be some day in the near future, but not now,” Avolio says.

1. How many drawbacks of inflatable-cuff blood pressure monitors are there in the text?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

D．Five.

2. Which word can replace the underline word in Para. 4?

A．changing.

B．describing.

C．guessing.

D．remembering.

3. What’s the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．The working principle of cuffless measuring devices.

B．The different methods for setting mathematical procedures.

C．The way of cuffless measuring devices to measure indirect signals.

D．The connection between inferring fever and measuring blood pressure.

4. What will the writer most probably talk about on cuffless measuring devices next?

A．The issue of mass-producing them.

B．The processing techniques of them.

C．The competitive intensity among their producers.

D．The reasons for them not being used in the medical world currently.

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Robots are highly beneficial to healthcare. Statistics show that around 16 million patients in China are     1     need of orthopedic (矫形外科的) surgery. Surgical robots help surgeons figure out the problem,     2     carry the risk of exposing both surgeons and patients to radiation damage. The all-in-one orthopedic robot (AIOOR) solves this problem. Developed by orthopedic     3     (special) Zhang Yuanzhi and his team, AIOOR is the first of its kind in China. Its cutting-edge imaging system and software     4     (short) the time needed for complex operations, such as those for spinal injuries, and also makes such surgeries much     5     (safe).

Advanced robotics, moreover, considerably eases patients’ discomfort created by the traditional gastroscopy (胃镜),     6     requires that the physician put a tube down the patient’s mouth to the stomach. The discomfort is unbearable to many patients,     7     (make) some avoid checkups and consequently miss the best time for treatment. The NaviCam, a system developed by ANKON Medical Technologies in Shanghai, enables     8     (entire) painless stomach visualization instead. Patients only need to “eat”     9     capsule-sized robot, and the examination is completed within 15 minutes. After the procedure, the robot is removed from patients’ body. So far, these robots     10     (employ) in about 1,000 medical centers across China.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Like most aspects of traditional Chinese culture, traditional Chinese medicine, also called TCM, has a long history. It is said to have     1    (origin) been invented by the legendary Emperor Shennong. There is evidence of traditional Chinese medical practices     2    (appear) during the Shang Dynasty.

TCM is     3     catch-all term for various medical treatments and practices and popular in China. Walk down any street there and you’re likely     4    (run) into several pharmacies(药房) selling traditional Chinese herbal medicines. One of the most important concepts of TCM is qi, vital energy flowing throughout the body. Health problems can result if the flow of qi is blocked, it is too strong     5     it is too weak.

TCM began to gain great     6    (expose) in America in 1971 through an article by an American reporter.     7     that time, TCM has enjoyed some popularity as     8    (alternate) treatments in the U.S. and other Western countries. In the early years, the Chinese government sent TCM doctors to Africa as part of China’s foreign medical aid to the continent. TCM     9    (include) in the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems four years ago. Inclusion in this document is accelerating the global spread of TCM and helping make     10     an essential part of healthcare around the world.