Chinese researchers
Cameras record the robot’s activities, which
The robot’s main
Zheng said a friend of his, the head of Beijing Tsinghua Chang gung Hospital told him that one of the biggest
So the engineer gathered a team and went to work on the robotic device. Zheng said the team was able to convert two robotic arms. The new robot is almost
2 . Most people have no idea what to do with their old drugs. Unused or expired(到期的) medicines lying around at home can get into the wrong hands, leading to accidental poisoning or drug overdose. When drugs are flushed or sent to landfill(垃圾场), the medicines can pollute our groundwater, rivers, and streams, threatening human and sea life.
In an effort to find a solution for drugs kept in medicine boxes or waterways, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched its first National Take-Back Day in September 2010. In the drug take-back program, the returned drugs are sent to medical waste incinerators(焚烧炉). However, the process of transporting and burning such waste can release greenhouse gas emissions that could be potentially greater than those generated if the drugs were poured into landfills.
“But take-back programs are preferred as they reduce the risk of drug misuse and the incineration effectively eliminates the entrance of these medicines into our nation’s waters,” says Tim Carroll, a spokesperson for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Perhaps surprisingly, not all unused medicines need to be thrown away. Every year five billion dollars’ worth of unexpired medicines end up being deserted in the U.S. “We’re wasting a lot of medicines which are already paid for,” says Anandi Law, a patient engagement specialist. “Millions of U.S. adults skip or delay getting their prescriptions(处方) filled due to high costs. We could give them to somebody else who needs it.”
Now, at least 40 states have passed legislation establishing drug donation(捐赠) programs that allow drug manufacturers, medical and long-term care facilities, and sometimes individuals to donate their unused drugs. For example, since its start in 2007, Iowa’s program, SafeNetRx, has served more than 117,000 patients and redistributed nearly 54-million-dollar worth of medicines and supplies. Georgia’s program was formally launched in 2018, and it has already filled prescriptions worth over 50 million dollars.
“All of these efforts are still relatively new,” Carroll says. “We still have a long way to go until households change their habits.”
1. What disadvantage of the drug take-back program is mentioned in paragraph 2?| A．It costs large amounts of money. |
| B．It increases the greenhouse effect. |
| C．It can produce poisonous chemicals. |
| D．It wastes lots of energy to deal with old drugs. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Cautious. | D．Negative. |
| A．Sending them to landfills. |
| B．Selling them at a low price. |
| C．Donating them to someone in need. |
| D．Developing technologies to recycle them. |
| A．The challenging task of SafeNetRx. |
| B．The expense of recycling unused drugs. |
| C．The significance of health care facilities. |
| D．The achievements of drug donation programs. |
3 . A patient of mine, a bright young man, had quit college. Living with his parents, he was considering suicide (自杀) besides playing video games from day to night. Twenty years ago, I would have prescribed an antidepressant (抗抑郁药), while today, I recommended something different to him: a dopamine fast (多巴胺戒断). I suggested he give up all screens, including video games, for one month.
When people do something they enjoy, the brain releases a little bit of dopamine and they feel good. But one of the most important discoveries in the field of neuroscience in the past 75 years is that pleasure and pain are processed in the same parts of the brain and that the brain tries hard to keep them in balance. Whenever it tips in one direction it will try hard to restore the balance, according to neuroscientists, by tipping in the other.
Instantly dopamine is released, the brain adapts to it by reducing the number of dopamine receptors (受体), causing the brain to level out by tipping to the side of pain, which is why pleasure is usually followed by feeling low-spirited. Our brains evolved this balance over millions of years when pleasures were limited and dangers ever-present. The problem today is that we no longer live in that world but a world of overwhelming abundance. Yet increased access to addictive substances or activities has made us more miserable than ever before. Rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide are increasing all over the world, especially in rich nations.
It’s only after we’ve taken a break from the addiction that we’re able to see the true impact of our consumption on our lives. That’s why I asked my patient to give up video games for a month, enough time to allow his brain to reset its dopamine balance. If we can keep reducing phone use long enough, the benefits of a healthier dopamine balance deserve it.
1. What is the discovery in paragraph 2 about?| A．The function of dopamine. |
| B．The disadvantages of playing videogames. |
| C．The psychological problems in rich countries. |
| D．The brain’s ability to balance pleasure and pain. |
| A．Rich nations have more suicide cases than poor ones. |
| B．Dopamine is released when people are down. |
| C．More depression occurs in the modern world. |
| D．People have less access to pleasures today than in the past. |
| A．To rid him of the bad habit of consumption. | B．To help him regain the dopamine balance. |
| C．To prevent killing himself again. | D．To guide him to the true meaning of life. |
| A．He thinks medicine is useless. | B．He acts as a social worker. |
| C．He suffers from phone addiction. | D．He specializes in treating mental illnesses. |
4 . Elizabeth wouldn’t walk or talk as an infant. Angela’s left leg was so enlarged that it hurt to stand. Emma needed a breathing machine just to sleep. Their suffering may take different forms, but their stories share a common thread: Neither they nor their families knew what was actually causing these issues.
Undiagnosed diseases are more common than you might think. Tens of millions of Americans likely suffer from disorders they cannot name. For many, the symptoms are minor. But in some cases, patients come to their doctors with serious problems caused by diseases that challenge medical knowledge.
Those cases are precisely where the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) steps in. Established in 2008, the UDN’s mission is to provide answers for patients with diseases that doctors are unable to diagnose. Anyone can apply to the program and the UDN works hard to screen every application it receives.
Today, the UDN covers 12 clinical sites around the country, and has evaluated over 1,400 patients. More than 400 of those patients have received a diagnosis thanks to the UDN. In some of these cases, the network is able to match a patient with an already known condition. In others, UDN researchers must work to describe an entirely new disease and enter it into the medical dictionary. The program has added at least 25 entirely new diseases in this way. Additionally, the UDN covers the cost of the tests, meaning patients aren’t burdened with crushing medical debt.
This kind of groundbreaking work helps more than just the patients themselves. Insights from studying rare diseases offer new knowledge about the human body that can benefit all of us. For example, the discovery of statins, a class of drugs commonly recommended today to help regulate high blood pressure, arose from the study of a rare genetic disorder.
“I think they’ve really advanced and changed the whole model for how we approach many of these illnesses,” says Anne Pariser, director of the Office of Rare Diseases Research. She says the UDN’s multidisciplinary approach — bringing different specialists together to talk about challenging cases — has helped advance the field of rare disease research, especially when it comes to genetic diseases.
Living with a disease without a name can be its own kind of suffering. “You grow up feeling like, I’m in this, crazy, all by myself, and no one really understands me,” says Angela Moon, a UDN participant. For patients like her, the UDN offers hope for treatment, but also for finally being seen.
1. The purpose of the first paragraph is to ________.| A．arouse the readers’ interest in the UDN |
| B．give a vivid description of rare diseases |
| C．introduce the background for the UDN’s founding |
| D．raise a complicated problem that will be solved later |
| A．the way the UDN is operated nationwide |
| B．the progress the UDN has made so far |
| C．the reasons why the UDN is so popular |
| D．the development stages the UDN has gone through |
| A．She used to live in despair. |
| B．She failed to identify with others. |
| C．She is receiving treatment now. |
| D．There will be a cure for her condition. |
| A．It has helped spread the knowledge of undiagnosed diseases. |
| B．It prioritizes participants’ privacy over solving medical mysteries. |
| C．It is specifically designed to deal with challenging genetic diseases. |
| D．It emphasizes close cooperation between specialists in separate fields. |
5 . Lifesaving heart operation
When Tal Golesworthy was told he needed lifesaving heart operation in 1993, he said no. Golesworthy has Marfan syndrome （马凡氏综合症）.
Back in 1993, when he was living in the west of England, his doctor told him that the aorta（主动脉）in his heart was so enlarged that it would unavoidable burst unless he underwent major operation.
“They talked through the options,” says Golesworthy, “and I was not interested. The operation really didn’t look attractive.” What he particularly didn't like was having to be on blood thinners after the operation, something that would prevent blood clots（血栓）but presented its own risks: “I was riding motorbikes then, and skiing, so my whole lifestyle would have been affected.” By 2000, however, his condition had worsened. Realizing something had to be done. Golesworthy put his years of experience as research — and — development engineer to good use. He decided he would fix himself. “Learning new stuff and developing new ideas, that was my job,” Golesworthy says.
The aorta, he thought, needed support on the outside. And wrapping something around the outside of the aorta would require a special operation. So Golesworthy subjected himself to 30 hours in an MRI scanner; used 3D printing to create a physical exact copy of the part of his heart. “Luckily, I’d done a lot of work with technical materials,” he says.
Strong determination coupled with an original yet practical solution won him the support of two leading surgeons and helped him raise the money to develop his idea. In May 2004, at the age of 47, he became the guinea pig for his own invention. The operation was a success.
1. Why did Tai Golesworthy refuse the operation at first?| A．A better solution was on the way. |
| B．He was afraid of life being affected. |
| C．The risk of operation tended to cause death. |
| D．He would like to be operated in his own way. |
| A．His creative spirit. | B．Regular exercise. |
| C．Doctors' suggestions. | D．His similar experience. |
| A．The lovely pet. | B．The important assistant. |
| C．The experimental subject. | D．The person to raise money. |
| A．Creative and kind. | B．Strong and imaginary. |
| C．Devoted and generous. | D．Determined and brave. |
