1 . On January 7, David Bennett went into the operating room at the University of Maryland Medical Center for a surgical procedure never performed before on a human. The 57-year-old Maryland resident had been hospitalized for months due to a life threatening disease. His heart was failing him and he needed a new one.
Bennett’s condition left him unresponsive to treatment and ineligible (不合格) for the transplant list or an artificial heart pump. The physician-scientists at the center, however, had another-also risky- option: transplant (移植) a heart from a genetically-modified pig.
“It was either die or do this transplant,” Bennett had told surgeons a day before the operation. “I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s also my last choice.”
It took the medical team eight hours to finish the operation, making Bennett the first human to successfully receive a pig’s heart. “It’s working and it looks normal. We are thrilled, but we don’t know what tomorrow will bring us. This has never been done before,” Barkley Griffith, who led the transplant team, told the New York Times.
While it’s only been five days since the operation, the surgeons say that Bennett’s new pig heart was, so far, functioning as expected and his body wasn’t rejecting (排斥) the organ. They are still monitoring his condition closely.
“I think it’s extremely exciting,” says Robert Montgomery, transplant surgeon and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, who was not involved in Bennett’s operation. The result of the procedure was also personally meaningful for Montgomery, who received a heart transplant in 2018 due to a genetic disease that may also affect members of his family in the future. “It’s still in the early days, but still the heart seems to be functioning. And that in and of itself is an extraordinary thing. Up to now most experimental heart transplant procedures have been done between pigs and other animals. This is the first time that surgeons have taken it into a living human.”
1. What do the words “a shot in the dark” underlined in Paragraph 3 mean?| A．Something that costs a fortune. |
| B．Something impossible to succeed. |
| C．Something drawing public attention. |
| D．Something with an uncertain outcome. |
| A．Negative. |
| B．Cautious. |
| C．Optimistic. |
| D．Uncaring. |
| A．The heated debate over the pig heart transplant. |
| B．David Bennett’s contribution to medical research. |
| C．The first experimental pig heart transplant in the world. |
| D．The first successful pig heart transplant into a living human. |
| A．Political Affairs. |
| B．Global Entertainment. |
| C．Sci-Tech Front. |
| D．Financial Window. |
2 . Wu Ming, a young German born after 1995, is a big fan of Chinese culture. As he thought some diseases can’t be treated
Studying TCM also
Wu
Wu thinks there’s no big difference between China and Western countries. “
| A．immediately | B．gradually | C．thoroughly | D．consistently |
| A．depend on | B．dig into | C．look up | D．work out |
| A．created | B．enjoyed | C．advanced | D．acknowledged |
| A．overcame | B．seized | C．divided | D．shifted |
| A．raised | B．sorted | C．cooked | D．tasted |
| A．aspects | B．standards | C．themes | D．means |
| A．enriched | B．secured | C．expanded | D．changed |
| A．exposed | B．reduced | C．restricted | D．addicted |
| A．businesses | B．recreations | C．routines | D．tasks |
| A．balanced | B．wealthy | C．humble | D．efficient |
| A．employs | B．promotes | C．outlines | D．conveys |
| A．scanning | B．checking | C．exploring | D．comparing |
| A．concern | B．wish | C．demand | D．passion |
| A．Misunderstanding | B．Destruction | C．Stress | D．Failure |
| A．source | B．basis | C．bridge | D．tool |
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a health care system in which patients
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of the world's population depends for its primary health care needs
Increasingly, however, modern medicines also contain substances from animals and plants. Given growing populations, increasing wealth, and the spreading
4 . Metin Sitti at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, and his colleagues have developed tiny robots called “microrollers” that can carry cancer drugs and selectively target human breast cancer cells. The team drew inspiration for the design of the robots from white blood cells in the human body, which can move along the walls of blood vessels (血管) against the direction of blood flow.
The microrollers are round and made from glass microparticles. One half of the robot was coated with a thin magnetic nanofilm (磁性纳米膜) made from nickel and gold. The other half was coated with the cancer drug doxorubicin as well as molecules that recognize cancer cells.
The team tested the robots using mouse blood and artificial channels lined with human endothelial cells—the kind of cells that line the inner walls of our blood vessels. The robots were exposed to a mixture of cancerous and healthy tissue. The microrollers selectively attached to the cancer cells and were activated using UV light to release the doxorubicin.
By applying magnetic fields, the team was able to control the movement of the microrollers, both with and against the flow of blood. The microrollers can reach a speed of up to 600 micrometers per second. “If you come to a spot where you need to take the right path and if you miss it, then you could go back and go to the right one,” says Setti.
In future, the researchers want to use other methods to start the drug release, such as heat or near-infrared light. They also plan to try making microrollers out of materials that would break down in the body over a few weeks or months.
The team hopes to test the microrollers in animals soon. “The rollers need to carry enough cancer drugs, which is why we need to have them in large numbers,” says Setti. “But since we can locally take drugs to the right target, we don’t need huge dosages (剂量).”
1. What can the microrollers be used for?| A．Repairing blood cells. | B．Delivering drugs. | C．Improving blood flow. | D．Performing operations. |
| A．Their shape. | B．Their advantage. | C．Their design. | D．Their application. |
| A．Their direction can be adjusted. | B．They might miss the target cells. |
| C．They might get stuck in the blood. | D．Their speed can change automatically. |
| A．Put the microrollers to clinical use. | B．Sell the microrollers in large quantities. |
| C．Tear the microrollers down in the body. | D．Experiment with the microrollers further. |
5 . With the world’s attention on vaccines (疫苗), now feels like a good moment to sing the praises of an often forgotten contribution to their development. Three hundred years ago this month, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got her daughter inoculated (接种) against smallpox, making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way. Without Montagu’s willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures, the introduction of vaccines around 80 years later would never have taken place.
Montagu first witnessed inoculation when she accompanied her husband to Turkey in 1717. Inoculation had started in Asia, probably in China, as early as the 10th century AD. Montagu observed how older women in Turkey took a tiny amount of pus (脓) from a person with smallpox. They then used needles to make cuts on people’s wrists and ankles and added the pus to their bloodstream. This helped people gain immunity from future infection.
Like other visitors to the country, Montagu took steps to ensure that her son was inoculated in Turkey. This worked well, but she knew that trying it in England would be far more challenging. Inoculation performed by unlicensed amateurs would threaten doctors’ professional standing and potentially rob them of valuable income. Churchmen also disagree with the practice, as they saw it as going against nature.
Back in England, Montagu observed the increased severity of smallpox infections. Eventually, in April 1721, she decided to use the Turkish practice to have her daughter inoculated, because she believed that the rewards would outweigh the risks. After a safe time had passed following the inoculation, Montagu allowed doctors to examine her daughter.
Doctors in Britain gradually accepted the practice. About so years later, a pioneering physician found smallpox vaccines to destroy smallpox completely. As early as last century, academics argued that Montagu was no more than an enthusiastic amateur. In truth, she made a vital scientific contribution towards finding the cure for smallpox.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The origin of smallpox inoculation. |
| B．Montagu’s first access to inoculation. |
| C．The benefits from smallpox inoculation. |
| D．Turkish women’s invention of inoculation. |
| A．it was against human nature | B．it might harm doctors’ interests |
| C．it was beyond doctors’ abilities | D．it might shake churchmen’s belief |
| A．The increased severity of smallpox infections. |
| B．A physician’s discovery of smallpox vaccines. |
| C．The result of Montagu’s daughter’s inoculation. |
| D．Montagu’s focus on its rewards rather than its risks. |
| A．An unsung hero | B．No limit to creation |
| C．Development of vaccines | D．A historic medical innovation |
6 . It is commonly known that when people have disease or feel ill, they will have pills or go to see a doctor in the hospital. They are accustomed to seeing a human doctor. However, have you tried seeing a doctor that is not a human being?
Many hospitals employ therapy dogs to comfort and inspire patients.
In the hospital, Peyo goes from door to door in the care center. He has been highly effective for reducing patients’ stress and relieving anxiety for their family members as well. According to doctors, they knew how beneficial Peyo’s presence was by observation.
Peyo has stayed with many patients right until the end of their lives. One patient, Daniel, was a former athlete.
Animals are born with power to comfort us.
| A．Even during the most difficult times, they may help. |
| B．A scientific research finds that dogs are capable of that. |
| C．If possible, hospitals can employ more therapy animals. |
| D．He gradually developed a very close connection with Peyo. |
| E．Peyo seems specially gifted for detecting the sick or injured. |
| F．However, in a French hospital, a different animal wanders in the halls. |
| G．They noticed patients interacting with him more required fewer strong drugs. |
7 . People with genetic syndromes(综合症) sometimes have telltale (泄露秘密的) facial features, but using them to make a quick and cheap diagnosis can be tricky given there are hundreds of possible conditions they may have. A new neural network that analyzes photographs of faces can help doctors narrow down the possibilities.
Yaron Gurovich at biotechnology firm FDNA in Boston and his team built a neural network to look at the gestalt --- or overall impression --- of faces and return a list of the 10 genetic syndromes a person is most likely to have.
They trained the neural network, called DeepGestalt, on 17,000 images correctly labelled to match more than 200 genetic syndromes. The team then asked the AI to identify potential genetic disorders from a further 502 photos of people with such conditions. It included the correct answer 91 per cent of the time.
Gurovich and his team also tested the neural network’s ability to distinguish between the different genetic mutations (变异) that can lead to the same syndrome. They used photographs of people with Noonan syndrome, which can result from mutations in any one of five genes. DeepGestalt correctly identified the genetic source of the physical appearance 64 per cent of the time. It’s clearly not perfect, but it’s still much better than humans are at trying to do this.
As the system makes its assessments, the facial regions that were most helpful in the determination are highlighted and made available for doctors to view. This helps them to understand the relationships between genetic make-up and physical appearance.
The fact that the diagnosis is based on a simple photograph raises questions about privacy. If faces can reveal details about genetics, then employers and insurance providers could, in principle, secretly use such techniques to discriminate against people who have a high probability of having certain disorders. However, Gurovich says the tool will only be available for use by clinicians(临床医生). Clinically, this technology can help narrow down the search space of diagnosis and then confirm through checking genetic markers. Besides, it could perhaps add means of finding other people with the disease and, in turn, help find new treatments or cures.
1. What’s the best title of this text?| A．Tricky facial features |
| B．Faces let AI spot genetic disorders |
| C．Facial features give you away to doctors |
| D．DeepGestalt: a magic cure for genetic syndromes |
| A．It can be trained to correctly label the images of people. |
| B．It can correctly identify genetic mutations 91% of the time. |
| C．It was built to look at faces and identify genetic disorders. |
| D．It is much better than humans at trying to identify physical appearance. |
| A．To help confirm the diagnosis. |
| B．To make the system more understandable. |
| C．To help the system quickly recognize people. |
| D．To help identify a condition and make a diagnosis. |
| A．Positive. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Critical. |
Chinese vaccines（疫苗）were initially dismissed in Western and other media， partly because of a view that they were inferior
The development of Chinese vaccine within a short span of time after the sudden outbreak of COVID-19
China's efforts
9 . The vaccine (疫苗) news continues to seem very encouraging. Britain started its mass vaccination effort and the U.S. isn’t far behind.
But there is still one dark cloud hanging over the vaccines that many people don’t yet understand.
The vaccines will be much less effective at preventing death and illness in 2021 if they are introduced into a population where the coronavirus is still severe—as is now the case in the U.S.
A vaccine is like a fire hose (消防龙头). A vaccine that’s 95 percent effective, as Moderna’s and Pfizer’s versions appear to be, is a powerful fire hose. But the size of a fire is still a bigger determinant of how much destruction occurs.
At the current level of infection in the U.S. (about 200,000 confirmed new infections per day), a vaccine that is 95 percent effective—distributed at the expected pace—would still leave a terrible toll (伤亡人数) in the six months after it was introduced. Almost 10 million or so Americans would catch the virus, and more than 160,000 would die.
This is far worse than the toll in a different situation where the vaccine was only 50 percent effective but the U.S. had reduced the infection rate to its level in early September (about 35,000 new daily cases). In that case, the death toll in the next six months would be kept to about 60,000.
It’s worth pausing for a moment on this comparison. If the U.S. had maintained its infection rate from September and Moderna and Pfizer had announced this fall that their vaccines were only 50 percent effective, a lot of people would have panicked.
But the reality we have is actually worse.
How could this be? No vaccine can get rid of a pandemic immediately, just as .no fire hose can put out a forest fire. While the vaccine is being distributed, the virus continues to do damage.
There is one positive way to look at this: Measures that reduce the virus’s spread—like mask-wearing, social distancing and rapid-result testing—can still have great consequences. They can save more than 100,000 lives in coming months.
1. How does the author mainly present his argument?| A．By giving definitions. | B．By categorizing facts. |
| C．By drawing comparisons. | D．By appealing to emotions. |
| A．Improving the effectiveness of the vaccines. |
| B．Producing a greater variety of vaccines. |
| C．Looking at the situation in a positive way. |
| D．Wearing masks and practicing social distancing. |
| A．The vaccines are less effective than expected. |
| B．The US have controlled the spread of the coronavirus. |
| C．The death toll in the next six months will be about 60,000. |
| D．Fewer people will die if the infection rate is lower. |
| A．The vaccine is the hope of wiping out the pandemic. |
| B．The public are optimistic about the effects of the vaccine. |
| C．The public are concerned about the high infection rate. |
| D．The distribution of vaccine will end the pandemic quickly. |
10 . Nowadays medical technology seems to be advanced enough for doctors to perform brain transplants (移植). Though this procedure has only been successfully performed on animals so far, doctors are still hoping to perform this procedure on humans. However, in my opinion, brain transplants should not be performed at all, especially not on humans because of the large number of problems and side effects that could come along with. Hopefully these dangerous side effects will convince doctors not to perform this procedure on humans.
Despite many benefits technology brings, I do not think this medical technology of brain transplants will help. We were all born with one brain and through childhood to adolescence our mind developed into who we are, so if with a different brain we would no longer be unique. A person with a different brain would seem to be a total stranger and in many ways they would be. No one should steal our identity from us, even if we are seriously injured, and change it to a completely new one. Also for the people who have died with healthy brains, that was their identity and it should not be given to anyone else.
Another problem with brain transplants is how doctors can choose what are “healthy” or “normal” brains. An elderly person who has died would have an aged brain that would not be as efficient as a younger person’s brain. Then would doctors have to find healthy brains of the same age as the person who needs it? This could also bring up other factors such as intelligence, gender, or physical problems that a person might have had before death. Also another problem might be how long a brain can be kept “alive” after death and how it can be kept “alive” without damage.
Overall, my feelings about this surgery are that it should not be done on humans until doctors have overcome all the problems and obstacles (障碍) that stand in their way of making human brain transplants successful.
1. Why does the author think brain transplants should not be performed at all?| A．The cost of the surgery is extremely high. |
| B．Doctors are not able to perform brain transplants. |
| C．A good many problems and side effects may arise. |
| D．This procedure has only been successful on animals. |
| A．People shouldn’t give their healthy brains to others. |
| B．Having a brain transplant means losing one’s identity. |
| C．Transplanting brains is changing old brains into new ones. |
| D．Having brain transplants indicates stealing identity from others. |
| A．Aged brains aren’t healthy brains. | B．Young brains are always healthy. |
| C．Healthy brains cannot be kept “alive”. | D．It’s very difficult to tell healthy brains. |
| A．To encourage brain donation. |
| B．To stress the importance of brain operation. |
| C．To argue against brain transplants on humans. |
| D．To introduce the technology of brain transplants. |
