1 . Artificial intelligence is almost twice as accurate as a biopsy (活组织检查) at judging the aggressiveness of some cancers, experts say. Cancer kills 10 million people globally every year, according to the WHO. But for patients the disease can be prevented if detected instantly and dealt with quickly.

A recent study suggested an AI algorithm (算法) was far better than a biopsy at correctly grading the aggressiveness of sarcomas (肉瘤), a rare form of cancer. Researchers hope AI will improve outcomes for patients by giving doctors a more accurate way of grading tumours (肿瘤). Because high-grade tumours can indicate aggressive disease, the tool could help ensure those high-risk patients are identified more quickly and treated instantly. Low-risk patients could also be spared unnecessary treatments, follow-up scans and hospital visits.

Researchers say the algorithm could be applied to other types of cancer in future. The team specifically looked at retroperitoneal sarcomas, which develop at the back of the abdomen and are difficult to diagnose (诊断) and treat due to their location. They used CT scans from 170 patients with the two most common forms of retroperitoneal sarcoma — leiomyosarcoma and liposarcoma. Using data from these scans they created an AI algorithm, which was then tested on 89 patients in other countries. In grading how aggressive the tumour was, the technology was accurate in 82% of the cases, while biopsies were 44%.

AI could also recognize leiomyosarcoma and liposarcoma in 84% of sarcomas tested, while radiologists were able to identify them in 65% of the cases. Christina Messiou, the study leader, said: “We’re incredibly excited by the potential of this state-of-the-art technology, which could lead to patients having better outcomes through faster diagnosis. As patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma are routinely scanned with CT, we hope this tool will eventually be used globally, ensuring that not just specialist centres can reliably identify and grade the disease.”

Richard Davison, chief executive of Sarcoma UK, said the results looked “very promising”. He added: “People are more likely to survive sarcoma if diagnosed early. One in six people with sarcoma cancer wait more than a year to receive an accurate diagnosis, so any research that helps patients receive better treatment and support is welcome.”

1. According to the passage, AI is capable of        .

A．grading the risk of sarcomas

B．measuring the scale of sarcomas

C．providing cancer treatment for clinicians

D．classifying cancers with its advanced algorithm

2. What can be inferred from this passage?

A．More sarcomas can be detected with the help of AI.

B．Biopsies will be replaced by AI algorithm in identifying cancers.

C．More patients suffering from cancers will benefit from AI algorithm.

D．AI algorithm has been applied in hospitals for detecting most cancers.

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A．AI has a profound market in curing cancers.

B．New treatments for sarcomas are well underway.

C．AI helps identify high-risk and low-risk patients.

D．AI does better in assessing some types of sarcomas.

3 . “Your mother needs a new heart,” my father told me when I called on that December afternoon. An unrelenting optimist, he spoke as if she merely needed to have a part replaced. But, although my two sisters and I knew that our mother had heart problems, this news still made us frozen for a while with our eyes widening in disbelief.

Dr. Marc Semigran of the transplant team reviewed my mother’s medical history. She’d had an irregular and rapid heartbeat for most of her life. Her present treatment — the use of a series of cardioversions, or electric jolts, to restore a normal heartbeat — would not work in the long-term. She had an enlarged and weakened heart, as well as a faulty valve.

“With medication,” Dr. Semigran said, “you have a 60 percent chance of living six months. You could have a longer life with a transplant, but there are risks. You’re at the top end of the age group of sixty years old. The lungs and other organs must be healthy and strong. While the transplant surgery is actually a straightforward procedure, acceptance by the body is the difficult thing.”

My family came together, trying to provide strength and work out what to do. We’d already gone from shock, over our mother’s condition, to worry that she wouldn’t be a suitable recipient. Despite of the risk, we chose to believe that she would make it eventually.

Word came later in December that she had been accepted into the programme. Dr. Jeremy Ruskin told us one of the reasons she had been accepted was that she had such strong family support.

One Monday in May, at about 8 p. m., my mother received a phone call from the hospital that a heart was available. As she was about to be wheeled off, my father took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. His look said everything about their 42-year relationship.

The heart transplant operation was successful and the conditions could not have been better.

The irony of the transplant process is that one family’s loss is another’s gain; that tragedy begets fortune. It is a kind of life after death, our hearts beating beyond us. We developed a feeling of love for this new part, of gratitude for the doctors, for the process, and for those people who made a decision just for humanity.

1. How did the sisters feel to the news that their mother needed a new heart?

A．Frightened.

B．Astonished.

C．Worried.

D．Annoyed.

2. Which is the factor to affect the possibility of their mother’s heart transplant?

A．Her abnormal heart beat.

B．The age of over sixty years old.

C．Her willingness to the transplant.

D．The adaptation of the new heart in the body.

3. What made the transplant team decide to have the operation?

A．That her lungs were healthy.

B．That a new heart had been found.

C．That her family were expecting the operation.

D．That her family trusted the doctors' medical level.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Family support is of great importance.

B．Fortune favors those who are optimistic.

C．Confidence helps patients overcome difficulties.

D．Getting prepared before accepting a treatment matters.

4 . When patients are discharged (出院) from the hospital, effective summaries from doctors’ notes are essential to capture their health status in the medical record. Whereas, most are filled with technical languages that are hard to understand and increase patients’ anxiety.

To address the problem, researchers from New York University (NYU) Langone Health have been testing the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (AI). It tries to develop likely options for the next word in any sentence based on how most people use words in context on the Internet.

NYU Langone Health received access to the latest tool from a famous tech company to explore generative AI. One of the studies by the researchers published in JAMA Network Open, looked at how well the tool could convert (转换) the text in 50 patient discharge notes into patient-friendly language. Specifically, generative AI made the discharge notes drop from 11th-grade reading level on average to a 6th-grade level.

Two physicians were asked to review the AI discharge summary based on a 6th-grade level. The reviewing physicians awarded 54 percent of the AI-generated discharge notes the best-possible accuracy rating. They also found that 56 percent of notes created by AI were entirely complete. The result signified that even at the current performance level, providers of discharge notes would not have to make a single change in more than half of the AI summaries reviewed.

“That more than half of the AI reports generated are accurate and complete is an amazing start,” said Jonah Zaretsky, associate chief of medicine at NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn. “Even at the current level of performance, which we expect to improve shortly, the achievement of the AI tool suggests that it can be taught to recognize subtleties (微妙之处).”

Within the following years, the team expects to launch a pilot program to provide lay language discharge summaries that have been generated by AI and reviewed by physicians to patients on a larger scale.

1. What is generative AI used for by the researchers?

A．Submitting discharge summaries.	B．Accessing patients’ health status.
C．Making discharge notes clear to patients.	D．Offering technical languages to doctors.

2. What is generative AI’s function based on?

A．Probable predicting.	B．Actual thinking.
C．Free imagining.	D．Strict instructing.

3. Why were the two physicians asked to review the AI discharge summaries?

A．To correct their mistakes.	B．To measure their accuracy.
C．To compete with the AI tool.	D．To make up the missing parts.

4. How did Jonah Zaretsky find the performance of AI in dealing with discharge summaries?

A．Misleading.

B．Dismissive.

C．Challenging.

D．Promising.

5 . This is Your Dream Dance

With growing evidence that dancing helps boost brain health and manage symptoms of neurocognitive (神经认知的) and movement disorders, accessible dance programmes and movement therapists are helping improve the lives of millions.     1    .

● Dance as brain movement

There’s actually a lot more happening inside the brain when trying to follow even the simplest choreography (舞蹈编排). “In dance class, we have to learn patterns, and remember sequences,” says David Leventhal, a programme director. The effect extends beyond the dance class to the real world.     2    .

●    3    

In addition to the physical and neurological benefits, dance can also help people living with disease make out what their bodies can and can’t do. Rather than trying to control, or “fix” our body, dance is about developing greater body awareness and moving at our capacity, regardless of physical or cognitive difference.

● Dance as community

    4    . Dancing with others not only makes people feel less different in their abilities when dealing with neurological and movement disorders, it also helps to combat the loneliness and social isolation of living with a chronic illness.

Still, researchers say they’re only scratching the surface of understanding how dance can be used therapeutically.     5    . Researchers are also trying to find out the most effective types of dance movements and the optimal length and frequency of classes.

A．Dance as body acceptance

B．Dance as physical exercise

C．The uniqueness of dance as a therapy lies in the following aspects

D．Dancing requires more “brain power” than simpler repetitive exercises

E．Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of dance is the sense of belonging it creates

F．Larger studies are needed to confirm the findings of the smaller trials that have been done

G．Tasks like navigating the kitchen or walking to the bus stop can be more attainable after dancing

7 . Many people have dreamt to find a cancer cure. Now, a pill might provide some insight into their dreams.

The medicine, AOH1996, also called the “cancer-killing pill”, explicitly targets the protein that encourages cancer cells to spread across the body. It prevents proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA 细胞增殖核抗原) with a tiny molecule. Up to August 2023, it is being evaluated in Phase I clinical studies for the treatment of solid cancers.

Cancer is a condition in which abnormal cells continue to proliferate uncontrollably, causing the tissue to be destroyed. About one in six deaths were due to cancer in 2020, making it the top cause of death globally.

According to a recent study published in Cell Chemical Biology, City of Hope researchers have discovered a novel method to treat cancer using a special tablet that can get rid of solid tumors. AOH1996 differs from other targeted cancer therapies in this respect, where other approaches may cause a tumor to change and develop more resistance to treatment.

According to City of Hope Professor Linda Malkas, the research team created a medicine specifically targeting the kind of PCNA seen in cancer cells since data indicate that PCNA is distinctively changed in cancer cells. The novel cancer medicine acts like a snowstorm closing a significant airport, stopping only flights from and to aircraft carrying cancer cells.

“Results have been promising. AOH1996 can prevent tumor growth in cell and animal models. The drug is currently in Phase I clinical trial in humans at City of Hope.”

Treatment of lung, brain and skin cancers with AOH1996 has shown to be effective. It kills specific cells by stopping them from replicating (复制) typically. To assess this medicine for potential future use, more clinical studies are planned.

1. What can we know about PCNA?

A．It is a pill that cures solid cancer.

B．It is a medicine that prevents tumor growth.

C．It is a molecule targeted by the cancer-killing pill AOH1996.

D．It is a protein that causes cancer cells to spread across the body.

2. Why is AOH1996 different from other cancer drugs?

A．It has cured many patients’ cancers.

B．It will develop drug resistance.

C．It is a natural product collected from plants.

D．It has less side effects than other cancer drugs.

3. What does the author want to express by saying “The novel cancer medicine acts like a snowstorm closing a significant airport...”?

A．AOH1996 targets cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

B．AOH1996 has caused chaos in the medical field.

C．AOH1996 is highly effective but inefficient in treating cancer patients.

D．AOH1996 is unpredictable and can have unintended consequences.

4. What’s the purpose of planning more clinical studies for AOH1996?

A．Determining the specific types of cancers it can effectively treat.

B．Investigating the possible side effects of the medicine.

C．Determining if it can be used on a large scale.

D．Confirming its effectiveness in killing specific cells.

8 . Clinical intuition is finally getting the respect it may have long deserved. New research is supporting a process that combines rapid judgments and perceptions that occur outside of conscious awareness — a way of knowing something without knowing how you know it. The value of clinical intuition in medicine is now being studied and becoming particularly relevant as interest grows in developing AI systems that can analyze medical data to diagnose or treat patients.

A study in 2023 found that clinical intuition from physiotherapists on the prognosis for functional recovery among patients was closely associated with the recovery afterwards. Another study concluded that in comparison to relying only on clinical data, “preoperative surgeon intuition alone is an independent predictor of patient outcomes.”

“This is a cognitive process. Clinical intuition is about expertise, knowledge, and pattern recognition that accumulate through experience. The mind is putting together all kinds of information and sequencing it in ways that say this person is really sick — or not,” says Meredith Vanstone, an associate professor in McMaster University. Given the depth of this cognitive process, some experts are skeptical that AI technology can make medical decisions as well as a human physician.

“As physicians go through years of interactions with patients and seeing thousands of cases, those gut feelings become a sort of summary statement of all the experiences they’ve seen,” says Mohammad Ghassemi, a researcher at Michigan State University. “Clinicians can observe different things that are not always captured or made available by machines.”

Researchers found that physicians and nurses practicing in a medical specialty involving a high likelihood of an emergency or dimensions of complexity are more likely to use intuitive decision-making in their practice. “As surgeons, the first thing we need to do is look at the patient because the structured data may not be consistent with what we see with the patient,” says Gabriel Brat from Harvard Medical School.

Research has found that clinical intuition from nurses and physicians about the chances that older patients visiting emergency departments would die or have other adverse outcomes within 30 days was highly accurate.

None of known experiences suggest that clinical intuition should be blindly acted upon. Making clinical decisions solely on the basis of a physician’s intuition isn’t the way to go, experts say. But relying solely on medical algorithms (mathematical models) that generate predictions about how a patient is likely to respond to different treatments isn’t the best course of action either.

To optimize patient care, some experts believe a hybrid approach that integrates clinical intuition, predictive algorithms, patient preferences, and other key factors is essential.

1. According to the passage, clinical intuition is influenced by ________.

A．rapid judgement

B．medical algorithms

C．conscious awareness

D．professional knowledge

2. Which of the following would Mohammad Ghassemi agree?

A．Clinicians have a sharp eye for a patient’s condition.

B．Machines always generate more accurate predictions.

C．Doctors should summarize the experiences they’ve seen.

D．Physicians’ interactions with patients have been devalued.

3. Why does the author mention the research finding in Paragraph 6?

A．To introduce the wide use of clinical intuition.

B．To explain the logic chain of clinical intuition.

C．To prove the accuracy of clinical intuition.

D．To present feedbacks on clinical intuition.

9 . In the late 1930s, people could donate blood, but very few hospitals could store it for later use. Whole blood breaks down quickly, and there were no methods at the time for safely preserving it. As a result, hospitals often did not have the appropriate blood type when patients needed it. Charles Drew, a Black surgeon and researcher, helped solve this monumental problem for medicine, earning him the title “Father of the Blood Bank.”

In 1938, while obtaining his doctorate in medicine, Drew became a fellow at Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He studied the storage and distribution of blood, including the separation of its components, and applied his findings to an experimental blood bank at the hospital.

As Drew was finishing his degree at Columbia, World War II was erupting in Europe. Great Britain was asking the United States for desperately needed plasma (血浆) to help victims. Given his expertise, Drew was selected to be the medical director for the Blood for Britain campaign. Using Presbyterian Hospital’s blood bank as a model, Drew established uniform procedures and standards for collecting blood and processing blood plasma from nine New York hospitals. The five-month campaign collected donations from 15,000 Americans and was considered a success. His discoveries and his leadership saved countless lives.

With the increasing likelihood that the nation would be drawn into war, the United States wanted to capitalize on what Drew had learned from the campaign. He was appointed as the assistant director of a three-month pilot program to mass-produce dried plasma in New York, which became the model for the first Red Cross blood bank. His innovations for this program included mobile blood donation stations, later called bloodmobiles.

1. What problem did hospitals face in the late 1930s regarding blood donations?

A．The shortage of blood donors.	B．The inability to preserve blood.
C．The challenge of blood infection.	D．The failure to identify blood types.

2. How did Drew contribute to the Blood for Britain campaign?

A．He gathered different standards for the blood collection.

B．He worked on the bloodmobiles for easy access to donors.

C．He helped send life-saving drugs overseas to aid in the war.

D．He organized the collection and processing of blood plasma.

3. Which of the following best describes the three-month pilot program?

A．Groundbreaking.

B．Unpredictable.

C．Economical.

D．Controversial.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The life of Dr. Charles Drew.	B．The inventor of the Blood Bank.
C．A Savior of Lives during Wartime.	D．A Pioneer in Blood Transportation.

10 . Many think 2024 could be the year more people have the tools to follow through on New Year’s resolutions about weight loss. If they can afford them and manage to stick with them, people can turn to a new generation of remarkably effective weight-loss drugs, also called GLP-1s, which offer the potential for substantial weight loss.

Wegovy, which was approved in 2021, and Zepbound, which got the nod from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2023, are the most effective publicly available weight-loss drugs ever made. Wegovy has been shown to help people shed as much as 16% of their body weight, in combination with exercise and diet. Zepbound’s highest dose, along with lifestyle changes, has helped people lose as much as 27% of their body weight over 18 months.

Although long-term data isn’t available, these drugs appear to be the safest to date. A large number of people suffer from gastrointestinal distress (肠胃不适) on the medications, including vomiting, nausea and diarrhea; but more serious side effects, like those previous weight-loss drugs, have been rare. Wegovy also appears to reduce the risk of a repeating heart attack or stroke for people with pre-existing disease.

So far, both drugs have been hard for patients to access. Suppliers have had trouble making enough of the medicines to meet the skyrocketing demand. And insurance companies haven’t covered the cost of the drugs, which can run from about $1,000 to over $1,300 a month.

Paying for them should become easier in 2024, as supplies rise up and insurance companies could bow to market pressure and cover more of the cost.

Also in the new year, there are more GLP-1 drugs on the way and in more forms. Both Wegovy and Zepbound are delivered as weekly shots. Pill versions are under development as are other medications, some of which could help people lose even more weight.

There’s a major unknown factor with these drugs, which could become better understood in the coming years. Experts can’t say if people will be able to keep the weight off if they don’t make lifestyle changes and stop taking the drugs.

1. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The side effects of the two drugs.	B．The safety of the two drugs.
C．The advantages of the two drugs.	D．The doubt about the two drugs.

2. Which is the reason for the shortage of the two drugs?

A．The technology to make the medicines is not mature.

B．They are expensive, sold at around $1,000 for each shot.

C．They are not currently included in the medical insurance.

D．There are no pill versions of the two drugs on the market.

3. Which statement about GLP-1 drugs is correct?

A．They are mainly injected into patients at present.

B．They can effectively reduce weight by 27% per year.

C．The doubt about the drugs will be cleared in the coming year.

D．The drugs will substantially solve the weight issue once and for all.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the development of GLP-1 drugs?

A．Doubtful.

B．Critical.

C．Objective.

D．Hopeful.