1 . Thousands of lives have been saved by giving blood-thinning drugs to people with a heart condition that leaves them at risk of a stroke(中风), according to the head of the NHS.

Since January 2022 about 460,000 people in England who suffer from atrial fibrillation(AF)- a dangerously irregular heart rate-have begun taking one of four anticoagulant(抗凝血剂) drugs that are proved to reduce stroke risk. Speedy introduction of the drugs has kept 4,000 people alive who would otherwise have died and prevented about 17,000 strokes, according to Amanda Pritchard. Strokes kill about 27,000 people a year in England and lead to about 120,000 being taken to hospital.

A drive to encourage take-up of the drugs means 90% of the 1.5 million people in England with AF are using them. That should result in fewer strokes, which are a leading cause of death and disability, given that AF causes about one in five strokes.

“The rapid introduction of these drugs is a big step forward in providing the best possible care for patients with heart disease”, Pritchard, the leader of NHS(National Health Service) England, will say in a speech today at the King’s Fund health experts’ yearly conference.

The drugs, called direct oral anticoagulants, help stop blood from clotting(凝血), therefore reducing the risk of a clot developing and causing a stroke. In 2021 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended that doctors use four anticoagulant drugs.

Dr Maeva May, the Stroke Association’s director, thought the widespread use of the drugs as “fantastic news”, because AF accounts for one in five strokes and strokes in people with AF are more likely to result in death or serious disability.

NHS England has used its spending power to cut deals with the makers of the four drugs, which has made them much more widely available. The British Heart Foundation praised the NHS’s “great progress towards its goal of reducing stroke deaths”.

1. What is the purpose of listing numbers in paragraph 2?

A．To attract the readers’ attention to strokes.

B．To introduce the specific information about AF.

C．To show the effects of four anticoagulant drugs.

D．To summarize the steps towards reducing deaths.

2. What is the main function of anticoagulant drugs?

A．To identify signs of strokes.	B．To reduce blood pressure.
C．To keep heart beating.	D．To prevent blood clotting.

3. What can be inferred about NHS England and drug makers from the text?

A．They have reached some agreements.	B．They have provided free treatment.
C．They have established disease funds.	D．They have reminded of stroke deaths.

4. Which is the best title for the text?

A．Recognising Signs of A Heart Attack	B．A Breakthrough in Stroke Prevention
C．Exploring Kinds of Anticoagulant Drugs	D．NHS England’s Life-Saving Conference

3 . When delivering medications to patients, one of the most effective methods is direct injection (注射) into the bloodstream using a needle. But this can be an uncomfortable experience, especially for kids or adults with a fear of needles. While patients do have the option to take oral pills instead, drugs containing large molecules (分子) are not absorbed effectively this way.

Now, inspired by octopus suckers (章鱼吸盘), researchers from China and Switzerland have designed a needle-free alternative: a tiny, drug-filled, cup-like patch (贴片) that sticks to the inside of the cheeks. The device is easily accessible, and it can be removed at any time and the drug gets absorbed through the lining of the inner cheek, the team reports in a paper in Science Translational Medicine.

To test the design, the team 3D printed the suckers. They loaded each with the drug and stuck them inside the cheeks of three beagles, a kind of dog which has a similar inner cheek lining to humans. For comparison, they also delivered the drug to beagles via a pill. After three hours, the team found that drug blood concentrations in dogs with the patch were more than 150 times higher than in the dogs that took a tablet. They also found patches worked effectively for drugs with large molecules.

40 healthy human volunteers self-applied water-filled patches to see how well they would stay on while talking and moving their mouths. After 30 minutes, only five of the 40 patches had fallen off, which was because of improper placement. Most volunteers said they would prefer a patch over injections for daily applications.

Still, the team only tested the patch for a short time so they would need to find out what would happen if it was used repeatedly. They’d also need to determine which drugs would work with the technology: the target is large molecules, such as those used to treat obesity or osteoporosis, but they can’t be too large to fit in the cup.

1. Why do the researchers develop the patch?

A．To help patients overcome the fear of needles.

B．To enable kids to swallow tablets smoothly.

C．To offer a better way of drug delivery.

D．To guarantee the efficiency of oral pills.

2. What does the research on dogs prove?

A．It is technologically possible to 3D print the patches.

B．The cheek lining of dogs is similar to that of humans.

C．Patches fall easily with their mouth movement.

D．Drugs are absorbed better through patches than pills.

3. Which of the following can best describe the device?

A．Innovative and profitable.

B．Effective and user-friendly.

C．Affordable and accessible.

D．Flexible and long-lasting.

4. What does the last paragraph stress?

A．The related issues to be solved.

B．The risk of using patches repeatedly.

C．The way to identity large molecules.

D．The trouble of improving the technology.

10 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What’s the matter with the woman?

A．She has a fever.

B．She has a headache.

C．She coughs badly.

2. When will the woman see the doctor?

A．On Tuesday.

B．On Wednesday.

C．On Thursday.

3. Who does the woman want to see?

A．Jerry.

B．Dr. Smith.

C．Dr. Brown.

4. What will Dr. Brown probably do at that time?

A．He is busy.

B．He doesn’t want to see the woman speaker.

C．It isn’t mentioned.