1 . Can a robot provide helpful answers to your health concerns? That’s the goal of Reach Digital Health, an organization that uses mobile technologies, like text messages, to provide helpful health-care information and guidance to people across Africa who can’t easily reach a health-care provider. The continent has 17.89% of the world’s population, 23% of the diseases that disable and kill people, and only a small part of the world’s health workers.
Reach Digital Health deals with millions of questions and sends millions of mostly automatic (自动的) and computerized answers per day. That is, “We first try to respond automatically to any question that they might have,” says Debbie Rogers, CEO of Reach Digital Health, “because we want to be able to give them an answer as quickly as possible.” Besides, some words or responses can bring other interventions (干预). If someone describes an emergency like “bleeding” in their message, for example, the system will instruct them to visit their nearest hospital as soon as possible. In addition, signs and diagnoses (诊断) reported through Reach Digital Health can be sent to governments in real-time so that informed public health decisions can be made quickly and responsibly.
Reach Digital Health also uses the information they collect to improve the health offerings of equipment, district or even entire country. It collects information from millions of women, which allows for shortcomings in training or medical supplies to be identified and corrected by providers and governmental health agencies.
The organization isn’t just in South Africa. It’s working in eight other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, through teamwork with the World Health Organization starting in 2020, they’ve enlarged their services across the globe and set up programs in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
1. Reach Digital Health was founded to _________.| A．prevent Africans from hunger | B．invent a powerful medical robot |
| C．offer Africans useful healthcare information | D．make medical investigation in Africa |
| A．By directing him to the nearest hospital. | B．By sending him to a hospital. |
| C．By making diagnoses for him. | D．By giving him free medicine. |
| A．Puzzled. | B．Unclear. | C．Doubtful. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Debbie Rogers: a far-sighted leader |
| B．Healthcare in Africa: a long way to go |
| C．Reach Digital Health: an incredibly profitable organization |
| D．Reach Digital Health: answering health concerns |
2 . In the United Stated, it is reported that one in fourth nurses are obese, with nearly two-thirds being overweight.
While some have argued that obese nurse may be less productive and take more time off sick, this isn’t my concern at all. I’m just worried about the example they set to others. Yes, of course, nurses and doctors struggle with having a healthy lifestyle like everyone else. But if they stick to the basic principles of keeping a healthy lifestyle, then they have no business being on the front line. No patient is going to take them seriously unless they show that they at least try to practise what they promote.
It’s a serious professional failing, because it sends the disastrous message of “do as I say not as I do”, which is never going to result in someone changing their ways. You wouldn’t take advice about reducing your drinking from an alcoholic. So why should you be expected to listen to an overweight nurse who is telling you to lose a few pounds?
Of course, there are lots of examples when a doctor or nurse’s personal struggles can really help. I used to smoke and I find this actually helps me because I can relate to patients — I know their struggles, I know their concerns and I know the things they say to themselves to avoid quitting. Knowing that I used to smoke helps me come across as more human to my patients — I’ve done silly things but I’ve changed and so they can.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Strong. | B．Fat. | C．Healthy. | D．Weak. |
| A．They may not be so productive. |
| B．They are likely to take more time off sick. |
| C．Everyone will follow their examples. |
| D．They can’t act their role in health promotion. |
| A．He has always lived a healthy life. |
| B．He struggles against any patients. |
| C．He understands smokers better. |
| D．He keeps asking them to quit smoking. |
| A．doctor | B．teacher | C．reporter | D．smoker |
3 . Growing up in a small village in Ghana, Osei Boateng watched many of his family members and neighbors struggle to access basic health care. In many regions of the country, it can take hours to get to the nearest hospital. “My grandmother was a very big part of my life,” said Boateng. “It was very hard when we lost her, and it was due to something that could have been easily prevented. That is the painful part of it.”
Feeling an urgent call to help, Boateng decided he would make it his life’s mission to bring health care to remote communities in Ghana. He started his nonprofit, OKB Hope Foundation, and in 2021, he converted a van into a mobile doctor’s office called the Hope Health Van and started bringing health care directly to those in need. A few times a week, the mobile clinic and medical team travel long distances to remote communities in Ghana and provide routine medical care for free. On each trip, Boateng’s team consists of a nurse, a physician’s assistant, a doctor, and an operation assistant. In the van, they can run basic labs like bloodwork and urinalysis as well as prescribe and provide medications.
Since its launch, Boateng says the Hope Health Van has served more than 4,000Ghanaians across more than 45 rural communities who otherwise don’t have easily accessible medical care.
Boateng has big plans for the future. He hopes to expand to provide more consistent and high-quality medical care not only to those living in remote areas of Ghana but in other countries as well. He has gone all in on his OKB Hope Foundation, recently quitting his job to dedicate his time to bringing health care to his home country. But for him, the sacrifices are well worth the reward.
1. Why is Boateng’s grandmother mentioned?| A．To show his deep love. | B．To highlight the poor health care. |
| C．To call for equality. | D．To blame the government. |
| A．Routine medical checks. | B．Prescribed medicine. |
| C．Minor operations. | D．Mental therapy. |
| A．Conservative and cautious. | B．Selfless and risky. |
| C．Caring and tolerant. | D．Devoted and ambitious. |
| A．Hopeless health care in Ghana | B．Nonprofit organizations booming in Ghana |
| C．Doctor’s office on wheels | D．Empowering medical schools |
4 . A new generation of opioids (阿片类药物) with fewer side effects is being explored by an Australian and Chinese research team.
Professor Maree Smith from the University of Queensland will present research on oliceridine being developed internationally, as well as results of her team’s CYX-6 research project on Saturday at a meeting to be held by Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists during October 19-21 in Cairns.
Professor Smith’s laboratory is exploring the new opioid, together with the Chinese researcher, Professor Li Tingyou from Nanjing Medical University. She stressed that while the research project was still in its early stages and would consume much more time and energy, laboratory tests had found that a newly discovered compound (复合物), CYX-6, spared laboratory rats from some of the more common side effects of opioids. Strong opioids that are now used for pain relief can have serious and sometimes deadly side effects, such as breathing problems.
“We’ve seen that in the US there are many people who are dying as a result of taking too many opioids because they stop breathing,” Professor Smith explained. “Though it’s difficult, we are focusing on discovery of new opioid alternatives with a reduced risk of breathing difficulty. It is a hot topic in the research world at present. Our application of the compound would be a very positive step.”
Dr. Meredith Craigie, Dean of FPM, said opioid alternatives with fewer side effects like the one that is being investigated by Professor Smith required thorough study, and research into the possible unknown side effects of new opioids was an especially significant step in the development of potential new treatments for pain.
1. What is oliceridine?| A．An effective treatment. | B．A new opioid. |
| C．A kind of operation. | D．A piece of equipment. |
| A．It is found in the body of rats. | B．It is a compound used for pain relief. |
| C．It prevents some side effects of opioids. | D．It is newly invented by Professor Smith. |
| A．Expensive. | B．Promising. | C．Popular. | D．Risky. |
| A．Testing the side effects of new opioids. | B．Inventing opioids with better effects. |
| C．Developing new treatments for pain. | D．Using medicine for breathing difficulty. |
5 . These days, more people in Denmark are surviving serious heart attacks. Some of that good news is thanks to a smartphone app called Heartrunner.
Many heart attacks happen when people are not near doctors. The most serious type of heart attack is when the heart stops. In Denmark, the survival rate for people whose heart had stopped when they were not near doctors used to be 4%. In the past 20 years, it has risen to 16%. Denmark has seen a dramatic change in survival from heart attacks after it began recruiting (招募) volunteers and arming some of them with smartphone technology.
Denmark’s emergency number is 112. Call center workers can use Heartrunner to contact up to 20 volunteers within 1.1 miles of an emergency. Workers also send out an ambulance. They often tell the caller how to start CPR. Heartrunner sends an alert (警报) to volunteers. It asks, “Can you run?” If a person says yes, the app sends the address. If there is an AED nearby, the app tells volunteers where to find it.
More than 100,000 people in Denmark volunteer for Heartrunner. About 75% of them are not health care workers. That’s OK, said expert Freddy Lippert. “The patient is dead, and if you don’t do anything, nine out of 10 will be dead forever. The faster CPR begins, the better the chance of restarting the heart. In Denmark, everyday people responded faster than professionals to more than four in 10 heart attacks.”
Erik Kaxe, 81, lives in a small Danish town. Recently, his heart stopped. His wife called 112. The ambulance was sent. And the Heartrunner alert went out. Within minutes, 10 strangers who lived nearby showed up at their house. The ambulance came 17 minutes after the call. So many helpers showed up that they were able to do far more than just CPR. When the ambulance showed up, Kaxe was breathing again. He lived and is now back at home.
“Dying wasn’t difficult” he said. “But waking up is.”
1. What do the numbers mentioned in paragraph 2 show?| A．Heartrunner has raised a lot of concern. |
| B．Heartrunner has made a big difference in Denmark. |
| C．An increasing number of people have suffered heart attacks. |
| D．Danish doctors have successfully improved heart attack survival rates. |
| A．It calls 112 immediately. | B．It contacts an ambulance. |
| C．It sends helpers to victims. | D．It sends alerts to AED owners. |
| A．Every minute counts for victims. | B．Ambulances respond slowly in Denmark. |
| C．There is a serious lack of health care workers. | D．Volunteers for Heartrunner should be professionals. |
| A．To tell a touching story. | B．To remind us to value life. |
| C．To show how Heartrunner saves lives. | D．To teach us how to use the life-saving app. |
6 . Vitamin C for a cold? A good dose of Vitamin D on a sunny day? We all know that vitamins are critical for our health, but how did they get their names and when were they discovered in the first place?
American nutrition scientist Elmer McCullum conducted a variety of feed experiments with different animal populations and discovered that an “accessory” substance contained in some fats was essential to growth. That fat-soluble (脂溶的) substance became known as Vitamin “A” for “accessory.”
McCollum and others also conducted further experiments with rice-bran-derived nutrient, naming it Vitamin “B” after beriberi, which can cause heart failure and a loss of sensation in the legs and feet. Eventually, it turned out that the substance known as Vitamin B was a complex of eight water-soluble vitamins, which were each given individual names and numbered in order of discovery.
The custom of naming vitamins alphabetically in order of discovery continued. Today, four fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and nine water-soluble vitamins (Vitamin C and the eight B vitamins) are considered essential to human growth and health. Only one vitamin bucked the oh-so-logical naming system: Vitamin K, discovered by Danish researcher Carl Peter Henrik Dam in 1929. The substance should have been in line to be called Vitamin F given its discovery date. But Dam’s research revealed that the vitamin is essential for blood coagulation (凝固) — known as Koagulation in the German journal that published his research — and his abbreviation for the vitamin somehow stuck.
It’s been decades since the last essential vitamin — Vitamin B12 — was discovered in 1948. It now appears unlikely that scientists will ever discover a new essential vitamin. But even if there’s no Vitamin F or G in our future, that doesn’t mean nutritional discovery has stopped completely. If the golden age of vitamin discovery was an appetizer (开胃菜) of sorts, scientists are devoted to the main course — a rapidly evolving understanding of the ways food shapes our lives, one microscopic substance at a time.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2 and paragraph 3?| A．Vitamin A is a water-soluble substance. |
| B．Vitamin B was named after a kind of disease. |
| C．The eight B vitamins got names from their functions. |
| D．The subjects of McCullum’s experiments are home. |
| A．Created. | B．Destroyed. | C．Broke. | D．Followed. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Unclear. | C．Doubtful. | D．Confident. |
| A．How Do Vitamins Influence Our Health? |
| B．Who Discovered Various Vitamins for Us? |
| C．Why Is There a Vitamin K but No Vitamin F? |
| D．How Many Vitamins Are Still Left to Be Discovered? |
7 . AR surgical guide, developed by South Korean medical-technology startup SKIA Company, is assisting breast-cancer surgeries at Ewha hospital in Seoul.
When a tablet PC is held above a patient’s chest, CT images of the area the tablet is pointed at are displayed on the screen, showing the precise location of tumors (肿瘤) and tissues. It’s like looking into the body before any cuts have been made. The tablet can be moved around above the chest to see the CT images from different angles.
Traditionally, a doctor would look through a patient’s CT results on a computer monitor, and then make cuts of what they believe is the right depth at the desired location to carve out tumors. The new AR technology works as an assistant helping surgeons operate with greater accuracy.
“The AR technology acts like a navigation (导航) app for surgeries. It’s much easier to get to your destination when you have a digital guide,” says Lee Jun-woo, a breast-endocrine surgeon and oncologist (肿瘤学家) at Ewha hospital who has been testing SKIA’s product on patients. The technology wouldn’t be possible without the ability of the hospital’s private 5G network to send data in time.
Earlier this year, Ewha hospital took its first steps toward cooperative remote surgeries by connecting an operating room through its private 5G network with doctors in other locations, enabling them to virtually join in a surgery and exchange information. “As remote-surgery technologies mature and expand, cooperative surgeries like the ones being tested at Ewha hospital could become more common, while hospitals could also use the technology to train doctors in techniques such as robotic surgeries,” adds Mr. Lee.
Beyond the medical space, South Korea is working to speed up the adoption of private 5G networks in different industries. The government set aside 60 billion won, roughly $46.2 million, to support new private 5G projects across South Korea in 2022 and 2023.
1. What does AR surgical guide assist breast-cancer surgeries with?| A．Passing through the body. | B．Displaying CT images. |
| C．Connecting a tablet PC. | D．Showing exactly where to cut. |
| A．To give an example. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To provide evidence. | D．To clarify a definition. |
| A．A tablet PC. | B．A helpful assistant. |
| C．A navigation app. | D．A private 5G network. |
| A．Cooperative remote surgeries have been well recognized. |
| B．Globally, more industries will adopt private 5G networks. |
| C．Hopefully, the 5G technology will benefit more than surgeons. |
| D．Many hospitals have used the technology to train doctors. |
8 . In 2015, Professor Wang Zhenyi, who specializes in treating acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) (急性早幼粒细胞白血病), received a letter of thanks from America. The writer of the letter was Mrs. Berna- dette Giandomenico, who once suffered from APL but was cured with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) (全反式维甲酸), a treatment developed by Wang and his medical team.
Working at Ruijin Hospital, Wang has been devoting his life to the treatment of leukenia. He received the country’s highest honor in science and technology in 2010.
Born in 1924 in Shanghai, Wang was inspired by a family friend’s experience of pursuing a career in medicine as a child. His grandmother’s death caused by typhoid (伤寒) further strengthened his resolve (决心) to fight against diseases and rescue patients. With outstanding academic performance, Wang became a doctor at Guangci Hospital, today’s Ruijin Hospital,
In 1978, a research paper from Israeli experts gave Wang inspiration on studying how leukemia cells could become normal. His research didn’t progress as expected, though. In 1983, another research paper shed light on his study. As the paper suggested, after being treated with 13-cis-retinoic acid, white blood cells in patients with APL could become normal. Considering the difficulties and high cost of producing a drug made from 13-cis-retinoic acid, Wang’s team decided to replace that ingredient with ATRA, and they verified its positive effect after several months’ experiments. In 1986, the drug was first adopted in treating a five-year-old patient. It turned out successful. After eight years of research, Wang’s team eventually made the first breakthrough in the battle against APL.
To make sure every APL patient could afford the medicine, Wang has not patented (获取专利权) his research result to date. “One cannot be a real doctor if one does not have expertise in medicine,” Wang said in an interview. “However, without a kind heart, a skilled doctor may cause harm to patients.”
Having worked in the field of hematopathology for over 70 years, Wang has been well recognized for his remarkable contribution to saving lives.
1. Why did Mrs.Giandomenico write a letter to Professor Wang?| A．To express her thanks. | B．To ask for medical suggestions. |
| C．To share her battle against APL. | D．To update information about APL treatment. |
| A．His grandmother’s death. | B．The example of a family friend. |
| C．His great academic achievements. | D．The inspiration from foreign experts. |
| A．Denied. | B．Researched. | C．Predicted. | D．Confirmed. |
| A．The application of ATRA | B．A doctor with a kind heart |
| C．The Chinese cure for APL patients | D．The remarkable honors a lifesaver got |
9 . Researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the University Hospital Zurich have made a significant breakthrough in the field of precision medicine. They have developed a machine learning approach known as CellOT that can predict how individual cells react to specific treatments. This development promises more accurate diagnoses and therapeutics, particularly in the fight against cancer.
Precision medicine, which aims to find the most effective drug combination and dosage (剂量) based on individual patient characteristics, has been a critical goal in the battle against cancer. Central to this is understanding how individual cells respond to treatment, a challenge that the research team from Zurich has tackled head-on with their innovative method.
CellOT is a groundbreaking approach that identifies the distinct reactions individual cells within a larger population can have to a drug. The average response of a cell population often does not capture the full complexity of how certain tumor cells survive or develop resistance to drugs. CellOT addresses this by predicting the effects of perturbations (扰动) on cells, paving the way for more effective and personalized cancer treatments.
Perturbations are changes caused by chemical, physical, or genetic influences, such as the effects of drugs on cancer cells. By understanding which cells respond to a drug and identifying the traits of resistant cells, researchers can develop new treatment strategies that prevent cell growth or cause pathogenic (致病的) cells to die.
For CellOT, the researchers use novel machine learning algorithms and train these with both data from unperturbed cells and data from cells that changed after a perturbation response. In the process, the algorithm learns how cellular perturbation reactions arise, how they progress, and the likely phenotypes (显性类型) of altered cell states.
The study, published in Nature Methods, shows that CellOT is not just effective for cancer cells. It can also be used on other pathogenic cells involved in autoimmune diseases like lupus erythematosus (红斑狼疮), indicating its potential in advancing treatments for various diseases.
A key innovation of CellOT is its predictive ability. By evaluating existing cell measurement data, and thus expanding the knowledge of cellular perturbation reactions, CellOT can predict how individual cells will respond to perturbations that have not been measured in the laboratory. This capability opens up new avenues for targeted and personalized treatments.
While CellOT holds immense promise, comprehensive clinical trials are still required before the approach can be used in a hospital setting. Nevertheless, the development of this method marks a significant step towards a more nuanced (细腻的) understanding of individual cell responses to drugs. It fuels the hope for more effective cancer treatments and advances in precision medicine.
1. The underlined word “this” in Paragraph 3 refers to _______.| A．various responses of a cell population to drugs |
| B．the average reaction of a cell population to drugs |
| C．the resistance from a group of cancer cells to drugs |
| D．the survival of a population of cancer cells to drugs |
| A．has proved efficient in some Zurich hospitals |
| B．can cause perturbations inside a human body |
| C．may bring about better treatments for various diseases |
| D．focuses on monitoring the development of cancer cells |
| A．The limitations of CellOT. |
| B．Suggestions for CellOT improvement. |
| C．An explanation of further research. |
| D．Future implications of CellOT. |
| A．A Groundbreaking Medicine for Cancer |
| B．Precision Medicine is Around the Corner |
| C．How Machine Learning Helps Zurich Doctors |
| D．CellOT: Advancing Precision Cancer Treatment |
10 . Using needles to deliver drugs has been common for more than a century. The past hundred years have seen all manner of medical advances, from life-saving medicine and X-rays to mRNA vaccines and special cancer treatments. Yet the needle has stayed mostly unchanged. Although now available in a variety of different sizes, it remains a hollow (having a hole or empty space inside), pointy tube.
With luck, that may soon change. As Yichi Ma, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues outline in a review paper, researchers around the world are looking for ways to ease the pain when needles go into the skin. Many have been inspired by nature.
The team got their idea from mosquitoes, which manage to get their blood meals without causing great pain to people. One reason is that the insects use painkilling chemicals when they first puncture (刺穿) the skin. But there is another reason, The point of a mosquito's saw-like proboscis (锯齿状的喙) is softer at its tip. The insect makes the skin of its target tight before biting, and shakes its proboscis as it pushes the proboscis in. All of this helps reduce the force needed to puncture the skin.
One paper, published in 2020 by a group of researchers in America and China, found that a mosquito-inspired needle required 27% less puncturing force than an ordinary one. And less force means less pain Mosquito-inspired needles might also be useful for delicate procedures such as biopsies (the examination of tissue taken from a living body). A paper from the University of Michigan, also published in 2020, found that scientists could improve biopsies of tissue in some body organs. The lower force led to less movement of the organ itself, ensuring that the needles were guided accurately to the area that needed sampling.
For now, such devices remain limited to labs. But there is a big market for better needles. According to WHO, around 16 billion injections were given in 2018. With one person in four saying they suffer from a fear of needles, the savings on stickers and sweets for the brave souls who roll up their sleeves would be considerable.
1. What can we infer about needles from Paragraph 1?| A．Their importance has been ignored for long |
| B．They fall behind other medical innovations. |
| C．Their size remains the same for over a century |
| D．They had a poor source of supply for decades. |
| A．To lessen discomfort. |
| B．To deliver much more drugs. |
| C．To make the needles flexible. |
| D．To increase the frequency of needle use. |
| A．The source of scientists' inspiration |
| B．The chemical compounds found in mosquitoes. |
| C．The unique structure of a mosquito's proboscis. |
| D．The harmful effects of mosquito bites on humans. |
| A．To show people's anxiety about injections. |
| B．To highlight the limitations of current needle designs, |
| C．To draw attention to the dangers of too many injections. |
| D．To emphasize the potential demand for improved needles. |
