1、【题目】In the earliest stages of man's development he had nomore need of money than animals have.He was content with very simple forms of shelter,made his own rough tools and weapons and could provide food and clothing for himself and his family from natural materials around him.As he became more civilized,however,he began to want better shelter,more efficient tools and weapons,and more comfortable and more lasting clothing than could be provided by his own neighborhood or by the work of his own unskilled hands.For these things he had to turn to the skilled people such as smiths,leather workers or carpenters.It was then that the question of payment arose.

At first he got what he wanted by a simple process ofexchange.The smith who had not the time to look after land or cattle was glad to take meat or grain from the farmer inexchange for an axe or a plough.But as more and more goods which had no fixed exchange value came on the market,exchange became too complicated to be satisfactory.Another problem arose when those who made things wanted to get stocks of wood or leather,or iron,but had nothing to offer in exchange until their finished goods were ready. Thus the difficulties of exchange led by degrees to the invention of money.In some countries easily handled things like seeds or shells were given a certain value and the farmer,instead of paying the smith for a new axe by giving him some meat or grain,gave him so many shells.If the smith had any shells left when he had bought his food,he could get stocks of the raw materials of his trade.In some countries quite large things such as cows or camels or even big flat stones were used for trade.Later,pieces of metal,bearing values according to the rarity of the metal and the size of the pieces,or coins were used.Money as we know it had arrived.

1.Exchange of goods became difficult because _________.

A man became more civilized

B smiths began to look after land or cattle in their spare time

C more and more goods which had no fixed exchange alues came to the marker

D farmers hadn't enough grain or meat to provide for

skilled workers

2.Money was not used until _______.

A paper was invented

B people practiced a simple process of exchange

C nothing could be offered in exchangeD the exchange of one thing for another became too complicated

3.The best title for this passage is _____.

A What is money

B What are money's functions.

C The importance of money

D The beginning of money

答案：

1、C;2、D;3、D

解析：

暂无解析

1、【题目】1.The failure of a high-profile cholesterol drug has thrown a spotlight on the complicated machinery that regulates cholesterol levels.But many researchers remain confident that drugs to boost levels of 'good' cholesterol are still one of the most promising means to combat spiralling heart disease.

2.Drug company Pfizer announced on 2 December that it was cancelling all clinical trials of torcetrapib，a drug designed to raise heart-protective high-density lipoproteins (HDLs).In a trial of 15000 patients，a safety board found that more people died or suffered cardiovascular problems after taking the drug plus a cholesterol-lowering statin than those in a control group who took the statin alone.

3.The news came as a kick in the teeth to many cardiologists because earlier tests in animals and people suggested it would lower rates of cardiovascular disease."There have been no red flags to my knowledge," says John Chapman，a specialist in lipoproteins and atherosclerosis at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris who has also studied torcetrapib."This cancellation came as a complete shock."

4.Torcetrapib is one of the most advanced of a new breed of drugs designed to raise levels of HDLs，which ferry cholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body.Specifically，torcetrapib blocks a protein called cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP)，which normally transfers the cholesterol from high-density lipoproteins to low density，plaque-promoting ones.Statins，in contrast，mainly work by lowering the 'bad' low-density lipoproteins.

Under pressure

5.Researchers are now trying to work out why and how the drug backfired，something that will not become clear until the clinical details are released by Pfizer.One hint lies in evidence from earlier trials that it slightly raises blood pressure in some patients.It was thought that this mild problem would be offset by the heart benefits of the drug.But it is possible that it actually proved fatal in some patients who already suffered high blood pressure.If blood pressure is the explanation，it would actually be good news for drug developers because it suggests that the problems are specific to this compound.Other prototype drugs that are being developed to block CETP work in a slightly different way and might not suffer the same downfall.

6.But it is also possible that the whole idea of blocking CETP is flawed，says Moti Kashyap，who directs atherosclerosis research at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach，California.When HDLs excrete cholesterol in the liver，they actually rely on LDLs for part of this process.So inhibiting CETP，which prevents the transfer of cholesterol from HDL to LDL，might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body."You're blocking a physiologic mechanism to eliminate cholesterol and effectively constipating the pathway," says Kashyap.Going up

7.Most researchers remain confident that elevating high density lipoproteins levels by one means or another is one of the best routes for helping heart disease patients.But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood.One approved drug，called niacin，is known to both raise HDL and reduce cardiovascular risk but also causes an unpleasant sensation of heat and tingling.Researchers are exploring whether they can bypass this side effect and whether niacin can lower disease risk more than statins alone.Scientists are also working on several other means to bump up high-density lipoproteins by，for example，introducing synthetic HDLs."The only thing we know is dead in the water is torcetrapib，not the whole idea of raising HDL," says Michael Miller，director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center，Baltimore.

Questions 7-13

Match torcetrapib，HDLs，statin and CETP with their functions (Questions 8-13)..Write the correct letter A，B，C or D in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.

7.It has been administered to over 10,000 subjects in a clinical trial.

8.It could help rid human body of cholesterol.

9.Researchers are yet to find more about it.

10.It was used to reduce the level of cholesterol.

11.According to Kashyap，it might lead to unwanted result if it's blocked.

12.It produced contradictory results in different trials.

13.It could inhibit LDLs.List of choices

A.TorcetrapicB.HDLSC.StatinD.CETP

答案：

7.A

8.B

9.B

10.C

11.D

12.A

13.C

解析：

7、见第二段。题目中administer一词意为“用药”，subject一词为“实验对象”之意。

8、见第四段“…toraiselevelsofHDLs，whichferrycholesteroloutofartery-cloggingplaquestotheliverforremovalfromthebody.”即HDLs的作用最终是将choleserol清除出人体：“…forremovalfromthebody”。

9、见第四段“ButHDLsarecomplexandnotentirelyunderstood.”

10、见第二段“…plusacholesterol-loweringstatin”，即statin是可以降低cholesterol的。

11、见第六段“SoinhibitingCETP，…mightactuallycauseanabnormalandirreversibleaccumulationofcholesterolinthebody.

12、见第三段。

13、见第四段“Statins，incontrast，mainlyworkbyloweringthe'bad'low-densitylipoproteins.”

1、【题目】Don't wash those fossils!

Standard museum practice can wash away DNA.

1.Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils — all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike — vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA.

2.Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today.

3.Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be.This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones.

4.Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs.The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times — either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC.

5.The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed.The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA.

6.Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl."As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before," she says.

Wash in, wash out

7.Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains.

8.The biggest problem is how they are cleaned.Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water — and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA — to permeate into the porous bones."Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in," says Geigl.

9.Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils.

10.Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeogeneticist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says.

11.P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems."When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA," he says.

12.This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo.The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way.But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations — just in case.

Warm and wet

13.Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed.

14.Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions.DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated.For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves — including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils.

15.Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl.And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution.

(640 words nature )

Glossary

Palaeontologists 古生物学家

Aurochs 欧洲野牛

Neanderthal (人类学)尼安德特人，旧石器时代的古人类。

Permafrost (地理)永冻层

Questions 1-6

Answer the following questions by using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

1.How did people traditionally treat fossils?

2.What suggestions do Geigl and her colleagues give on what should be done when fossils are found?

3.What problems may be posed if fossil bones are washed on-site? Name ONE.

4.What characteristic do fossil bones have to make them susceptible to be contaminated with contemporary DNA when they are washed?

5.What could be better understood when conservation treatments are improved?

6.The passage mentioned several animal species studied by researchers.How many of them are mentioned?

Questions 7-11

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Please write TRUE if the statement agrees with the writer FALSE if the statement does not agree with the writer NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage.

7.In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，Geigl and her colleagues have shown what conservation practices should be followed to preserve ancient DNA.

8.The fossil bones that Geigl and her colleagues studied are all from the same aurochs.

9.Geneticists don't have to work on site.

10.Only newly excavated fossil bones using new conservation methods suggested by Geigl and her colleagues contain ancient DNA.

11.Paabo is still worried about the potential problems caused by treatments of fossils in traditional way.

Questions 12-13

Complete the following the statements by choosing letter A-D for each answer.

12.“This information” in paragraph 3 indicates:

[A] It is critical to follow proper practices in preserving ancient DNA.

[B] The best way of getting good DNA is to handle fossils with gloves.

[C] Fossil hunters should wear home-made hammers while digging up bones.

[D] Many palaeontologists know how one should do in treating fossils.

13.The study conducted by Geigl and her colleagues suggests:

[A] the fact that ancient DNA can not be recovered from fossil bones excavated in the past.

[B] the correlation between the amount of burying time and that of the recovered DNA.

[C] the pace at which DNA degrades.

[D] the correlation between conservation practices and degradation of DNA.

答案：

1.washing, brushing, varnishing 见第一段。

2.handling with gloves / freezing samples ( any one of the two ) 见第二段。

3.losing authentic DNA / being contaminated / contamination ( any one of the three) 见第八段“Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in”(答being contaminated或 contamination比较保险)

4.they are porous porous 的意思是多孔的。见第八段“...which can allow water — and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA — to permeate into the porous bones.”

5.human evolution 见第十五段。其中“shed light on sth”的意思是使某事显得非常清楚，使人了解某事。

6.4 分别为第四段的“an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs”，即欧洲野牛，已经绝迹;第十一段“Neanderthal”， 是人类学用语，尼安德特人，旧石器时代的古人类;第十四段“woolly mammoth”和“cave bear”，其中mammoth是猛犸，一种古哺乳动物。

7.T 见第二段。

8.T 见第四段“Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs.”即他们研究的骨化石是一头欧洲野牛身上的。

9.NG

10.F 见第十二段第一、二句话。

11.T 见第十二段末句“But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations — just in case.”意即为保险起见，Paabo还是非常希望见到用Geigl建议的方法保存的化石样本。“just in case” 的意思是以防万一，就是Paabo对用传统保存处理的化石不放心的意思。

12.A 见第三段。This information就是前一句中“...just how important conservation practices can be”(to preserve good DNA)。“be hammered”之中hammer一词的意思是不断重复强调。

13.D 面信息。需要理解文章各处关于Geigl和她的同事所作的研究。

解析：

暂无解析

1、【题目】1 There's a dimmer switch inside the sun that causes its brightness to rise and fall on timescales of around 100,000 years - exactly the same period as between ice ages on Earth. So says a physicist who has created a computer model of our star's core.

2 Robert Ehrlich of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, modelled the effect of temperature fluctuations in the sun's interior. According to the standard view, the temperature of the sun's core is held constant by the opposing pressures of gravity and nuclear fusion. However, Ehrlich believed that slight variations should be possible.

3 He took as his starting point the work of Attila Grandpierre of the Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 2005, Grandpierre and a collaborator, Gábor ágoston, calculated that magnetic fields in the sun's core could produce small instabilities in the solar plasma. These instabilities would induce localised oscillations in temperature.

4 Ehrlich's model shows that whilst most of these oscillations cancel each other out, some reinforce one another and become long-lived temperature variations. The favoured frequencies allow the sun's core temperature to oscillate around its average temperature of 13.6 million kelvin in cycles lasting either 100,000 or 41,000 years. Ehrlich says that random interactions within the sun's magnetic field could flip the fluctuations from one cycle length to the other.

5 These two timescales are instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with Earth's ice ages: for the past million years, ice ages have occurred roughly every 100,000 years. Before that, they occurred roughly every 41,000 years.

6 Most scientists believe that the ice ages are the result of subtle changes in Earth's orbit, known as the Milankovitch cycles. One such cycle describes the way Earth's orbit gradually changes shape from a circle to a slight ellipse and back again roughly every 100,000 years. The theory says this alters the amount of solar radiation that Earth receives, triggering the ice ages. However, a persistent problem with this theory has been its inability to explain why the ice ages changed frequency a million years ago.

7 "In Milankovitch, there is certainly no good idea why the frequency should change from one to another," says Neil Edwards, a climatologist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. Nor is the transition problem the only one the Milankovitch theory faces. Ehrlich and other critics claim that the temperature variations caused by Milankovitch cycles are simply not big enough to drive ice ages.

8 However, Edwards believes the small changes in solar heating produced by Milankovitch cycles are then amplified by feedback mechanisms on Earth. For example, if sea ice begins to form because of a slight cooling, carbon dioxide that would otherwise have found its way into the atmosphere as part of the carbon cycle is locked into the ice. That weakens the greenhouse effect and Earth grows even colder.

9 According to Edwards, there is no lack of such mechanisms. "If you add their effects together, there is more than enough feedback to make Milankovitch work," he says. "The problem now is identifying which mechanisms are at work." This is why scientists like Edwards are not yet ready to give up on the current theory. "Milankovitch cycles give us ice ages roughly when we observe them to happen. We can calculate where we are in the cycle and compare it with observation," he says. "I can't see any way of testing [Ehrlich's] idea to see where we are in the temperature oscillation."

10 Ehrlich concedes this. "If there is a way to test this theory on the sun, I can't think of one that is practical," he says. That's because variation over 41,000 to 100,000 years is too gradual to be observed. However, there may be a way to test it in other stars: red dwarfs. Their cores are much smaller than that of the sun, and so Ehrlich believes that the oscillation periods could be short enough to be observed. He has yet to calculate the precise period or the extent of variation in brightness to be expected.

11 Nigel Weiss, a solar physicist at the University of Cambridge, is far from convinced. He describes Ehrlich's claims as "utterly implausible". Ehrlich counters that Weiss's opinion is based on the standard solar model, which fails to take into account the magnetic instabilities that cause the temperature fluctuations.

Questions 1-4

Complete each of the following statements with One or Two names of the scientists from the box below.

Write the appropriate letters A-E in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

A. Attila Grandpierre

B. Gábor ágoston

C. Neil Edwards

D. Nigel Weiss

E. Robert Ehrlich

1. ...claims there a dimmer switch inside the sun that causes its brightness to rise and fall in periods as long as those between ice ages on Earth.

2. ...calculated that the internal solar magnetic fields could produce instabilities in the solar plasma.

3. ...holds that Milankovitch cycles can induce changes in solar heating on Earth and the changes are amplified on Earth.

4. ...doesn't believe in Ehrlich's viewpoints at all.

Questions 5-9

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?

In boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet write

TRUE if the statement is true according to the passage

FALSE if the statement is false according to the passage

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

5. The ice ages changed frequency from 100,000 to 41,000 years a million years ago.

6. The sole problem that the Milankovitch theory can not solve is to explain why the ice age frequency should shift from one to another.

7. Carbon dioxide can be locked artificially into sea ice to eliminate the greenhouse effect.

8. Some scientists are not ready to give up the Milankovitch theory though they haven't figured out which mechanisms amplify the changes in solar heating.

9. Both Edwards and Ehrlich believe that there is no practical way to test when the solar temperature oscillation begins and when ends.

Questions 10-14

Complete the notes below.

Choose one suitable word from the Reading Passage above for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 10-14 on your answer sheet.

The standard view assumes that the opposing pressures of gravity and nuclear fusions hold the temperature ...10...in the sun's interior, but the slight changes in the earth's ...11... alter the temperature on the earth and cause ice ages every 100,000 years. A British scientist, however, challenges this view by claiming that the internal solar magnetic ...12... can induce the temperature oscillations in the sun's interior. The sun's core temperature oscillates around its average temperature in ...13... lasting either 100,000 or 41,000 years. And the ...14... interactions within the sun's magnetic field could flip the fluctuations from one cycle length to the other, which explains why the ice ages changed frequency a million years ago.

答案：

1. E

See the sentences in paragraph 1(There's a dimmer switch inside the sun that causes its brightness to rise and fall on timescales of around 100,000 years - exactly the same period as between ice ages on Earth. So says a physicist who has created a computer model of our star's core.) and para.2 (Robert Ehrlich of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, modelled the effect of temperature fluctuations in the sun's interior.)

2. A B

See para.3: Grandpierre and a collaborator, Gábor ágoston, calculated that magnetic fields in the sun's core could produce small instabilities in the solar plasma.

3. C

See para.8: Edwards believes the small changes in solar heating produced by Milankovitch cycles are then amplified by feedback mechanisms on Earth.

4. D

See para.11: Nigel Weiss, a solar physicist at the University of Cambridge, is far from convinced. He describes Ehrlich's claims as "utterly implausible".

5. False

See para.5: for the past million years, ice ages have occurred roughly every 100,000 years. Before that, they occurred roughly every 41,000 years.

6. False

See para.7: "In Milankovitch, there is certainly no good idea why the frequency should change from one to another," ... Nor is the transition problem the only one the Milankovitch theory faces.

7. Not Given

See para.8: if sea ice begins to form because of a slight cooling, carbon dioxide?is locked into the ice. That weakens the greenhouse effect. (The passage doesn抰 mention anything about locking Co2 into ice artificially.)

8. True

See para.9: there is no lack of such mechanisms. "If you add their effects together, there is more than enough feedback to make Milankovitch work,"?"The problem now is identifying which mechanisms are at work." This is why scientists like Edwards are not yet ready to give up on the current theory.

9. True

See the sentences in para.9 (According to Edwards, he says. "I can't see any way of testing [Ehrlich's] idea to see where we are in the temperature oscillation.") and para.10 (Ehrlich concedes this. "If there is a way to test this theory on the sun, I can't think of one that is practical).

10. constant

See para.2: According to the standard view, the temperature of the sun's core is held constant by the opposing pressures of gravity and nuclear fusion.

11. orbit

See para.6: Most scientists believe that the ice ages are the result of subtle changes in Earth's orbit, Earth's orbit gradually changes shape from a circle to a slight ellipse and back again roughly every 100,000 years.

12. instabilities

See para.3: magnetic fields in the sun's core could produce small instabilities in the solar plasma. These instabilities would induce localised oscillations in temperature.

13. cycles

See para.4: …allow the sun's core temperature to oscillate around its average temperature of 13.6 million kelvin in cycles lasting either 100,000 or 41,000 years.

14. random

See para.4: Ehrlich says that random interactions within the sun's magnetic field could flip the fluctuations from one cycle length to the other.

解析：

暂无解析

1、【题目】new weapon to fight cancer

1. British scientists are preparing to launch trials of a radical new way to fight cancer, which kills tumours by infecting them with viruses like the common cold.

2. If successful, virus therapy could eventually form a third pillar alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the standard arsenal against cancer, while avoiding some of the debilitating side-effects.

3. Leonard Seymour, a professor of gene therapy at Oxford University, who has been working on the virus therapy with colleagues in London and the US, will lead the trials later this year. Cancer Research UK said yesterday that it was excited by the potential of Prof Seymour’s pioneering techniques.

4. One of the country’s leading geneticists, Prof Seymour has been working with viruses that kill cancer cells directly, while avoiding harm to healthy tissue. "In principle, you’ve got something which could be many times more effective than regular chemotherapy," he said.

5. Cancer-killing viruses exploit the fact that cancer cells suppress the body’s local immune system. "If a cancer doesn’t do that, the immune system wipes it out. If you can get a virus into a tumour, viruses find them a very good place to be because there’s no immune system to stop them replicating. You can regard it as the cancer’s Achilles’ heel."

6. Only a small amount of the virus needs to get to the cancer. "They replicate, you get a million copies in each cell and the cell bursts and they infect the tumour cells adjacent and repeat the process," said Prof Seymour.

7. Preliminary research on mice shows that the viruses work well on tumours resistant to standard cancer drugs. "It’s an interesting possibility that they may have an advantage in killing drug-resistant tumours, which could be quite different to anything we’ve had before."

8. Researchers have known for some time that viruses can kill tumour cells and some aspects of the work have already been published in scientific journals. American scientists have previously injected viruses directly into tumours but this technique will not work if the cancer is inaccessible or has spread throughout the body.

9. Prof Seymour’s innovative solution is to mask the virus from the body’s immune system, effectively allowing the viruses to do what chemotherapy drugs do - spread through the blood and reach tumours wherever they are. The big hurdle has always been to find a way to deliver viruses to tumours via the bloodstream without the body’s immune system destroying them on the way.

10. "What we’ve done is make chemical modifications to the virus to put a polymer coat around it - it’s a stealth virus when you inject it," he said.

11. After the stealth virus infects the tumour, it replicates, but the copies do not have the chemical modifications. If they escape from the tumour, the copies will be quickly recognised and mopped up by the body’s immune system.

12. The therapy would be especially useful for secondary cancers, called metastases, which sometimes spread around the body after the first tumour appears. "There’s an awful statistic of patients in the west ... with malignant cancers; 75% of them go on to die from metastases," said Prof Seymour.

13. Two viruses are likely to be examined in the first clinical trials: adenovirus, which normally causes a cold-like illness, and vaccinia, which causes cowpox and is also used in the vaccine against smallpox. For safety reasons, both will be disabled to make them less pathogenic in the trial, but Prof Seymour said he eventually hopes to use natural viruses.

14. The first trials will use uncoated adenovirus and vaccinia and will be delivered locally to liver tumours, in order to establish whether the treatment is safe in humans and what dose of virus will be needed. Several more years of trials will be needed, eventually also on the polymer-coated viruses, before the therapy can be considered for use in the NHS. Though the approach will be examined at first for cancers that do not respond to conventional treatments, Prof Seymour hopes that one day it might be applied to all cancers.

Questions 1-6

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? For questions 1-6 write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

1.Virus therapy, if successful, has an advantage in eliminating side-effects.

2.Cancer Research UK is quite hopeful about Professor Seymour’s work on the virus therapy.

3.Virus can kill cancer cells and stop them from growing again.

4.Cancer’s Achilles’ heel refers to the fact that virus may stay safely in a tumor and replicate.

5.To infect the cancer cells, a good deal of viruses should be injected into the tumor.

6.Researches on animals indicate that virus could be used as a new way to treat drug-resistant tumors.

Question 7-9

Based on the reading passage, choose the appropriate letter from A-D for each answer.

7.Information about researches on viruses killing tumor cells can be found

(A) on TV

(B) in magazines

(C) on internet

(D) in newspapers

8.To treat tumors spreading out in body, researchers try to

(A) change the body’ immune system

(B) inject chemotherapy drugs into bloodstream.

(C) increase the amount of injection

(D) disguise the viruses on the way to tumors.

9.When the chemical modified virus in tumor replicates, the copies

(A) will soon escape from the tumor and spread out.

(B) will be wiped out by the body’s immune system.

(C) will be immediately recognized by the researchers.

(D) will eventually stop the tumor from spreading out.

Questions 10-13

Complete the sentences below. Choose your answers from the list of words. You can only use each word once.

NB There are more words in the list than spaces so you will not use them all.

In the first clinical trials, scientists will try to ……10…… adenovirus and vaccinia, so both the viruses will be less pathogenic than the ……11…….These uncoated viruses will be applied directly to certain areas to confirm safety on human beings and the right ……12…… needed. The experiments will firstly be ……13……to the treatment of certain cancers

答案：

1.答案：FALSE (见第2段：If successful, virus therapy could eventually form a third pillar alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the standard arsenal against cancer, while avoiding some of the debilitating side-effects. Virus therapy 只能避免一些副作用，而不是根除。)

2.答案：TRUE (见第3段，特别是最后一句： Cancer Research UK said yesterday that it was excited by the potential of Prof Seymour’s pioneering techniques. )

3. 答案：NOT GIVEN (文中没有提到virus可以抑制肿瘤细胞再生长)

4. 答案：TRUE (见第5段第3、4句： 这里“cancer’s Achilles’ heel”指 “If you can get a virus into a tumour, viruses find them a very good place to be because there’s no immune system to stop them replicating.” Achilles’ heel的意思是“唯一致命弱点”)

5. 答案：FALSE (见第6段第第1句：Only a small amount of the virus needs to get to the cancer.)

6. 答案：TRUE (见第7段：Preliminary research on mice shows that the viruses work well on tumours resistant to standard cancer drug. ……, which could be quite different to anything we’ve had before." )

7. 答案：B (见第8段第1、2句：Researchers have known for some time that viruses can kill tumour cells and some aspects of the work have already been published in scientific journals. Journal意思是“日报、期刊、杂志”)

8. 答案：D (见第9段第1句：Prof Seymour’s innovative solution is to mask the virus from the body’s immune system, …… “mask”的意思是“掩盖、隐蔽、伪装”， 在这里和 “disguise”同义。)

9. 答案：B (见第11段第2句： If they escape from the tumour, the copies will be quickly recognised and mopped up by the body’s immune system.. “mop up”这里与 “wipe out” 同义，意思是“消灭、歼灭”。)

10.答案：disable (见第13段最后1句：For safety reasons, both will be disabled to make them less pathogenic in the trial, but Prof Seymour said he eventually hopes to use natural viruses. )

11. 答案：natural ones (见第13段最后1句：For safety reasons, both will be disabled to make them less pathogenic in the trial, but Prof Seymour said he eventually hopes to use natural viruses. )

12. 答案：dosage (见第14段第1句：The first trials will use uncoated adenovirus and vaccinia and will be delivered locally to liver tumours, in order to establish whether the treatment is safe in humans and what dose of virus will be needed.)

13. 答案：directed (见第14段最后1句：Though the approach will be examined at first for cancers that do not respond to conventional treatments, …)

解析：

暂无解析

1、【题目】1.AEuropeanspacecrafttookofftodaytospearheadthesearchforanother"Earth"amongthestars.

2.TheCorotspacetelescopeblastedoffaboardaRussianSoyuzrocketfromtheBaikonurcosmodromeinKazakhstanshortlyafter2.20pm.

3.Corot,shortforconvectionrotationandplanetarytransits,isthefirstinstrumentcapableoffindingsmallrockyplanetsbeyondthesolarsystem.Anysuchplanetsituatedintherightorbitstandsagoodchanceofhavingliquidwateronitssurface,andquitepossiblylife,althoughaleadingscientistinvolvedintheprojectsaiditwasunlikelytofind"anylittlegreenmen".

4.DevelopedbytheFrenchspaceagency,CNES,andpartneredbytheEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA),Austria,Belgium,Germany,BrazilandSpain,Corotwillmonitoraround120,000starswithits27cmtelescopefromapolarorbit514milesabovetheEarth.Overtwoandahalfyears,itwillfocusonfivetosixdifferentareasofthesky,measuringthebrightnessofabout10,000starsevery512seconds.

5."Atthepresentmomentwearehopingtofindoutmoreaboutthenatureofplanetsaroundstarswhicharepotentialhabitats.Wearelookingathabitableplanets,notinhabitedplanets.Wearenotgoingtofindanylittlegreenmen,"ProfessorIanRoxburgh,anESAscientistwhohasbeeninvolvedwithCorotsinceitsinception,toldtheBBCRadio4Todayprogramme.

6.ProfRoxburghsaiditwashopedCorotwouldfind"rockyplanetsthatcoulddevelopanatmosphereand,iftheyaretherightdistancefromtheirparentstar,theycouldhavewater".

7.Tosearchforplanets,thetelescopewilllookforthedimmingofstarlightcausedwhenanobjectpassesinfrontofastar,knownasa"transit".Althoughitwilltakemoresophisticatedspacetelescopesplannedinthenext10yearstoconfirmthepresenceofanEarth-likeplanetwithoxygenandliquidwater,Corotwillletscientistsknowwheretopointtheirlenses.

8.MeasurementsofminutechangesinbrightnesswillenablescientiststodetectgiantJupiter-likegasplanetsaswellassmallrockyones.Itistherockyplanets-thatcouldbenobiggerthanabouttwicethesizeoftheEarth-whichwillcausethemostexcitement.Scientistsexpecttofindbetween10and40ofthesesmallerplanets.

9.Corotwillalsoprobeintostellarinteriorsbystudyingtheacousticwavesthatrippleacrossthesurfaceofstars,atechniquecalled"asteroseismology".

10.Thenatureoftheripplesallowsastronomerstocalculateastar’sprecisemass,ageandchemicalcomposition.

11."Aplanetpassinginfrontofastarcanbedetectedbythefallinlightfromthatstar.Smalloscillationsofthestaralsoproducechangesinthelightemitted,whichrevealwhatthestarismadeofandhowtheyarestructuredinternally.Thisdatawillprovideamajorboosttoourunderstandingofhowstarsformandevolve,"ProfRoxburghsaid.

12.Sincethediscoveryin1995ofthefirst"exoplanet"-aplanetorbitingastarotherthantheSun-morethan200othershavebeenfoundbyground-basedobservatories.

13.Untilnowtheusualmethodoffindingexoplanetshasbeentodetectthe"wobble"theirgravityimpartsonparentstars.ButonlygiantgaseousplanetsbiggerthanJupitercanbefoundthisway,andtheyareunlikelytoharbourlife.

14.Inthe2010s,ESAplanstolaunchDarwin,afleetoffourorfiveinterlinkedspacetelescopesthatwillnotonlyspotsmallrockyplanets,butanalysetheiratmospheresforsignsofbiologicalactivity.

15.Ataroundthesametime,theUSspaceagency,Nasa,willlaunchTerrestrialPlanetFinder,anotherspacetelescopedesignedtolocateEarth-likeplanets.

ChoosetheappropriateletterfromA-Dforquestion1.

1.Corotisaninstrumentwhich

(A)canhelptosearchforcertainplanets

(B)isusedtofindplanetsintheorbit

(C)canlocateplanetswithhumanbeings

(D)canspotanyplanetswithwater.

Dothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeinformationgiveninthereadingpassage?Forquestions2-5write

TRUEifthestatementagreeswiththeinformation

FALSEifthestatementcontraictstheinformation

NOTGIVENifthereisnoinformationonthisinthepassage

2.Scientistsaretryingtofindoutabouttheplanetsthatcanbeinhabited.

3.BBCRadio4recentlyfocusesonthebroadcastingofCorot.

4.Passingobjectsmightcauseafallinlight.

5.CorotcantellwhetherthereisanotherEarth-likeplanet.

Basedonyourreadingofthepassage,completethesentencesbelowwithwordstakenfromthepassage.UseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.

Withmeasurements,scientistswillbeabletosearchforsomegaseousandrockyplanets.Theywillbeextremelyexcitediftheycandiscoversomesmall6.__________,theexpectednumberofwhichcouldbeupto7.__________.

Corotwillenablescientiststostudythe8.__________ofstars.Inthisway,astar’smass,ageandchemicalcompositioncanbecalculated.

AccordingtoProfRoxburgh,changesinlightcanbecausedbypassingplanetsorstar9.__________.Therelatedstatisticscangainusabetter10.__________ofthestarformationandevolvement.

Observatorieshavefoundmanyexoplanets,whichare11.__________otherstarsthantheSun.Thecommonwayusedinfindingexoplanetscanonlydetecthugegasplanets,whichdonot12.___________.

WiththelaunchingofDarwin,astronomerswillbeabletoanalysewhetherthoserockyplanetshave13.__________forlife.

答案：

1. 答案：A

2. 答案：TRUE

3. 答案：NOT GIVEN

4. 答案：TRUE

5. 答案：FASLE

6. 答案：rocky planets

7. 答案：40

8. 答案：interiors

9. 答案：oscillations

10. 答案：understanding

11. 答案：orbiting

12. 答案：harbour life

13. 答案：atmospheres

解析：

暂无解析

1、【题目】Roguetheoryofsmellgetsaboost

1.Acontroversialtheoryofhowwesmell,whichclaimsthatourfinesenseofodourdependsonquantummechanics,hasbeengiventhethumbsupbyateamofphysicists.

2.CalculationsbyresearchersatUniversityCollegeLondon(UCL)showthattheideathatwesmellodourmoleculesbysensingtheirmolecularvibrationsmakessenseintermsofthephysicsinvolved.

3.That'sstillsomewayfromprovingthatthetheory,proposedinthemid-1990sbybiophysicistLucaTurin,iscorrect.Butitshouldmakeotherscientiststaketheideamoreseriously.

4."Thisisabigstepforward,"saysTurin,whohasnowsetuphisownperfumecompanyFlexitralinVirginia.Hesaysthatsincehepublishedhistheory,"ithasbeenignoredratherthancriticized."

5.Mostscientistshaveassumedthatoursenseofsmelldependsonreceptorsinthenosedetectingtheshapeofincomingmolecules,whichtriggersasignaltothebrain.Thismolecular'lockandkey'processisthoughttoliebehindawiderangeofthebody'sdetectionsystems:itishowsomepartsoftheimmunesystemrecogniseinvaders,forexample,andhowthetonguerecognizessometastes.

6.ButTurinarguedthatsmelldoesn'tseemtofitthispictureverywell.Moleculesthatlookalmostidenticalcansmellverydifferent—suchasalcohols,whichsmelllikespirits,andthiols,whichsmelllikerotteneggs.Andmoleculeswithverydifferentstructurescansmellsimilar.Moststrikingly,somemoleculescansmelldifferent—toanimals,ifnotnecessarilytohumans—simplybecausetheycontaindifferentisotopes(atomsthatarechemicallyidenticalbuthaveadifferentmass).

7.Turin'sexplanationforthesesmellyfactsinvokestheideathatthesmellsignalinolfactoryreceptorproteinsistriggerednotbyanodourmolecule'sshape,butbyitsvibrations,whichcanenourageanelectrontojumpbetweentwopartsofthereceptorinaquantum-mechanicalprocesscalledtunnelling.Thiselectronmovementcouldinitiatethesmellsignalbeingsenttothebrain.

8.Thiswouldexplainwhyisotopescansmelldifferent:theirvibrationfrequenciesarechangediftheatomsareheavier.Turin'smechanism,saysMarshallStonehamoftheUCLteam,ismorelikeswipe-cardidentificationthanakeyfittingalock.

9.Vibration-assistedelectrontunnellingcanundoubtedlyoccur—itisusedinanexperimentaltechniqueformeasuringmolecularvibrations."Thequestioniswhetherthisispossibleinthenose,"saysStoneham'scolleague,AndrewHorsfield.

10.StonehamsaysthatwhenhefirstheardaboutTurin'sidea,whileTurinwashimselfbasedatUCL,"Ididn'tbelieveit".But,headds,"becauseitwasaninterestingidea,IthoughtIshouldproveitcouldn'twork.Ididsomesimplecalculations,andonlythenbegantofeelLucacouldberight."NowStonehamandhisco-workershavedonethejobmorethoroughly,inapapersoontobepublishedinPhysicalReviewLetters.

11.TheUCLteamcalculatedtheratesofelectronhoppinginanosereceptorthathasanodorantmoleculeboundtoit.Thisratedependsonvariouspropertiesofthebiomolecularsystemthatarenotknown,buttheresearcherscouldestimatetheseparametersbasedontypicalvaluesformoleculesofthissort.

12.Thekeyissueiswhetherthehoppingratewiththeodorantinplaceissignificantlygreaterthanthatwithoutit.Thecalculationsshowthatitis—whichmeansthatodouridentificationinthiswayseemstheoreticallypossible.

13.ButHorsfieldstressesthatthat'sdifferentfromaproofofTurin'sidea."Sofarthingslookplausible,butweneedproperexperimentalverification.We'rebeginningtothinkaboutwhatexperimentscouldbeperformed."

14.Meanwhile,Turinispressingaheadwithhishypothesis."AtFlexitralwehavebeendesigningodorantsexclusivelyonthebasisoftheircomputedvibrations,"hesays."Oursuccessrateatodorantdiscoveryistwoordersofmagnitudebetterthanthecompetition."Attheveryleast,heisputtinghismoneywherehisnoseis.

Questions5-9

Completethesentencesbelowwithwordsfromthepassage.UseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.

5.Thehypothesisthatwesmellbysensingthemolecularvibrationwasmadeby______.

6.Turin'scompanyisbasedin______.

7.Mostscientistsbelievedthatournoseworksinthesamewayasour______.

8.Differentisotopescansmelldifferentwhen______weighdifferently.

9.AccordingtoAudrewHorsfield,itisstilltobeprovedthat______couldreallyoccurinhumannose.

答案：

5.Luca Turin

6.Virginia

7.tongue

8.the atoms

9.vibration-assisted electron tunneling

解析：

暂无解析

1、【题目】Rogue theory of smell gets a boost

1.A controversial theory of how we smell, which claims that our fine sense of odour depends on quantum mechanics, has been given the thumbs up by a team of physicists.

2.Calculations by researchers at University College London (UCL) show that the idea that we smell odour molecules by sensing their molecular vibrations makes sense in terms of the physics involved.

3.That's still some way from proving that the theory, proposed in the mid-1990s by biophysicist Luca Turin, is correct.But it should make other scientists take the idea more seriously.

4."This is a big step forward," says Turin, who has now set up his own perfume company Flexitral in Virginia.He says that since he published his theory, "it has been ignored rather than criticized."

5.Most scientists have assumed that our sense of smell depends on receptors in the nose detecting the shape of incoming molecules, which triggers a signal to the brain.This molecular 'lock and key' process is thought to lie behind a wide range of the body's detection systems: it is how some parts of the immune system recognise invaders, for example, and how the tongue recognizes some tastes.

6.But Turin argued that smell doesn't seem to fit this picture very well.Molecules that look almost identical can smell very different — such as alcohols, which smell like spirits, and thiols, which smell like rotten eggs.And molecules with very different structures can smell similar.Most strikingly, some molecules can smell different — to animals, if not necessarily to humans — simply because they contain different isotopes (atoms that are chemically identical but have a different mass).

7.Turin's explanation for these smelly facts invokes the idea that the smell signal in olfactory receptor proteins is triggered not by an odour molecule's shape, but by its vibrations, which can enourage an electron to jump between two parts of the receptor in a quantum-mechanical process called tunnelling.This electron movement could initiate the smell signal being sent to the brain.

8.This would explain why isotopes can smell different: their vibration frequencies are changed if the atoms are heavier.Turin's mechanism, says Marshall Stoneham of the UCL team, is more like swipe-card identification than a key fitting a lock.

9.Vibration-assisted electron tunnelling can undoubtedly occur — it is used in an experimental technique for measuring molecular vibrations."The question is whether this is possible in the nose," says Stoneham's colleague, Andrew Horsfield.

10.Stoneham says that when he first heard about Turin's idea, while Turin was himself based at UCL, "I didn't believe it".But, he adds, "because it was an interesting idea, I thought I should prove it couldn't work.I did some simple calculations, and only then began to feel Luca could be right." Now Stoneham and his co-workers have done the job more thoroughly, in a paper soon to be published in Physical Review Letters.

11.The UCL team calculated the rates of electron hopping in a nose receptor that has an odorant molecule bound to it.This rate depends on various properties of the biomolecular system that are not known, but the researchers could estimate these parameters based on typical values for molecules of this sort.

12.The key issue is whether the hopping rate with the odorant in place is significantly greater than that without it.The calculations show that it is — which means that odour identification in this way seems theoretically possible.

13.But Horsfield stresses that that's different from a proof of Turin's idea."So far things look plausible, but we need proper experimental verification.We're beginning to think about what experiments could be performed."

14.Meanwhile, Turin is pressing ahead with his hypothesis."At Flexitral we have been designing odorants exclusively on the basis of their computed vibrations," he says."Our success rate at odorant discovery is two orders of magnitude better than the competition." At the very least, he is putting his money where his nose is.

Questions 5-9

Complete the sentences below with words from the passage.Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

5.The hypothesis that we smell by sensing the molecular vibration was made by ______.

6.Turin's company is based in ______.

7.Most scientists believed that our nose works in the same way as our ______.

8.Different isotopes can smell different when ______ weigh differently.

9.According to Audrew Horsfield, it is still to be proved that ______ could really occur in human nose.

答案：

5.Luca Turin

6.Virginia

7.tongue

8.the atoms

9.vibration-assisted electron tunneling

解析：

5、文章第二，三和七段均可看出Luca的理论即人类的鼻子是通过感觉气味分子的震动来分辨气味的。

6、见第四段。

7、见第五段“Thismolecular'lockandkey'processisthoughttoliebehindawiderangeofthebody'sdetectionsystems:itishowsomepartsoftheimmunesystemrecogniseinvaders,forexample,andhowthetonguerecognizessometastes.”

8、见第八段“Thiswouldexplainwhyisotopescansmelldifferent:theirvibrationfrequenciesarechangediftheatomsareheavier.”

9、见第九段“"Thequestioniswhetherthisispossibleinthenose,"saysStoneham'scolleague,AndrewHorsfield.”句中的代词“this”指句首的“vibration-assistedelectrontunneling”。