Most of the news in the newspapers is bad but sometimes there is a story with good news. This is one of those stories. Millions of people around the world suffer from AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other serious diseases. There are medicines to treat these diseases but for people in poor countries, these medicines are too expensive to buy. When a pharmaceutical（制药的）company produces a new medicine, they receive a special license called a patent. This license means that the new medicine or drug is protected for a period of 20 years. The company that produced the drug can fix the price of the drug and no other company is allowed to produce the same drug or a copy of the drug for 20 years. At the moment, these patents operate all over the world, both in rich countries and in poor countries. The drugs companies say that they need patents so that they can get the money to pay for research to find new drugs and medicines. In rich countries people usually have enough money to pay for these drugs but in poor countries people can’t afford to buy them and cannot treat diseases like AIDS and malaria.
Last month, however, a group of experts published a report which says that patents are very bad for poor countries. The report says that drug companies do not want to find new medicines for diseases of poor people in poor countries. It says that poor countries should be allowed to buy cheap drugs without patents from other countries.
The authors of the report were lawyers, scientists and a senior director from the drug company Pfizer. Of course, the pharmaceuticals industry doesn’t agree with the report, “We need patents so that we can develop new medicines to fight disease both in the developed and developing world,” said a spokesman. But the report is the first sign that there might be a change in the patent system. This change could save millions of lives in the world’s poorest countries. This really is good news.
【小题1】 Why are medicines expensive for people in poor countries?

   A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.

   The system, called driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%--40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.

   Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband. The device, worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.

   Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.

   In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warms that the driver must stop as soon as possible.

   The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the markers will bring the product to market within about a year.

72. According to the text, Driver Alert ______

A. aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents   B. has gone through testing at laboratories

C. aims to prevent drivers from sleeping      D. has been on sale for 12 months

73. How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?

A. By sounding a warning   B, By touching the wristband

C. By checking the driving time   D. By pressing the steering wheel

74. We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ________

A. About 400 milliseconds   B. below 500 milliseconds

C. over 500 milliseconds     D. about 400 minutes

75. When the driver gets sleepy while driving, Driver Alert ______

A. moves more regularly           B. stops working properly

C. opens the window for the driver   D. sounds more frequently and loudly

Not all think laughter is the best medicine, but it seems to help．So scientists carried on a new study of diabetes （糖尿病） patients who were given a good dose of humor for a year to prove it．

       Researchers divide 20 high-risk diabetic patients into two groups．Both groups were given standard diabetes medicine．Group L viewed 30 minutes of humor of their choice, while Group C, the control group, did not．This went on for a year of treatments．

       By two months into the study, the patients in the laughter group had lower level of the hormones epinephrine （肾上腺素）, considered to cause stress, which is known to be deadly．After the 12 months, HDL cholesterol rises 26 percent in Group L but only 3 percent in Group        C．In another measure, C-reactive proteins, a maker of heart disease, drop 66 percent in the laughter group but only 26 percent in the control group．

       “The best doctors believe that there is a physical good brought about by the positive emotion, happy laughter,” said study leader Lee Berk of Loma Linda University．And other research has found that humor makes us more hopeful．Still, more study is needed, Berk said．The research by Berk found that humor can bring about similar changes in body chemistry, which was proved in the new study．The research result will be presented this month at the meeting in the US．Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine shows that laughter causes the inner lining of blood vessels to expand, increasing blood flow in a way thought to be healthy．

       “Lifestyle choices have an important effect on health and these are choices which we and patients should pay attention to, rather than prevention and treatment,” Berk said in a statement this week．

Why did the scientists carry on the new research?

       A．To find out if laughter was good to health．

       B．To discover the best medicine to cure diabetes．

       C．Because the number of diabetic patients is the largest in the world．

       D．Because diabetic patients need more laughter than other patients．

After 12 months into the study, ___________．

       A．C-reactive proteins increase 66 percent in Group C

       B．the level of the hormones epinephrine stays the same in both groups

       C．the level of the hormones epinephrine has dropped

       D．C-reactive proteins reduced 66 percent in Group L

The underlined part “HDL cholesterol” in Paragraph 3 must be _______．

       A．something bad to our health       B．something good to our health

       C．a kind of wonderful medicine      D．a kind of dangerous disease

In what way does laughter benefit people’s health?

       A．Blood is made thick by laughter．        B．Laughter makes blood vessels thin．

       C．Laughter increases blood pressure．      D．Laughter makes blood flow fast．

According to Berk, we should _________．

       A．choose lifestyles carefully         B．change our lifestyles

       C．prevent our lifestyles in advance    D．pay less attention to the positive emotion

Malaria, the world's most widespread parasitic (寄生虫引起的)disease, kills as many as three million people every year ---- almost all of whom are under five, very poor, and African. In most years, more than five hundred million cases of illness result from the disease, although exact numbers are difficult to assess because many people don't (or can't) seek care. It is not unusual for a family earning less than two hundred dollars a year to spend a quarter of its income on malaria treatment, and what they often get no longer works. In countries like Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Gambia, no family, village, hospital, or workplace can remain unaffected for long.        

Malaria starts suddenly, with violent chills, which are soon followed by an intense fever and, often, headaches. As the parasites multiply, they take over the entire body. Malaria parasites live by eating the red blood cells they infect (感染) .They can also attach themselves to blood vessels in the brain. If it doesn't kill you, malaria can happen again and again for years. The disease is passed on to humans by female mosquitoes infected with one of four species of a parasite. Together, the mosquito and the parasite are the most deadly couple in the history of the earth and one of the most successful. Malaria has five thousand genes, and its ability to change rapidly to defend itself and resist new drugs has made it nearly impossible to control. Studies show that mosquitoes are passing on the virus more frequently, and there are more outbreaks in cities with large populations. Some of the disease's spread is due to global warming.

For decades, the first-choice treatment for malaria parasites in Africa has been chloroquine, a chemical which is very cheap and easy to make. Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, malaria parasites have become resistant to it. Successful alternatives that help prevent resistance are already available, but they have been in short supply and are very expensive. If these drugs should fail, nobody knows what would come next.

According to paragraph 1, many people don't seek care because ___________.

A. they are too poor       

B. it is unusual to seek care

C. they can remain unaffected for long

D. there are too many people suffering from the disease

People suffering from malaria _____________.

A. have to kill female mosquitoes   B. have ability to defend parasites

C. have their red blood cells infected  D. have sudden fever, followed by chills

Which of the following may be the reason for the wide spread of the disease?

A. Its resistance to global warming.   

B. Its ability to pass on the virus frequently.

C. Its outbreaks in cities with large populations.

D. Its ability to defend itself and resist new drugs.

It can be inferred from the passage that _____________.

A. no drugs have been found to treat the disease

B. the alternative treatment is not easily available to most people

C. malaria has developed its ability to resist parasites

D. nobody knows what will be the drug to treat the disease

Which of the following questions has NOT been discussed in the passage?

A. How can we know one is suffering from malaria?

B. How many people are killed by malaria each year?

C. Why are there so many people suffering from malaria?

D. What has been done to keep people unaffected for long?

I suddenly heard an elephant crying as though frightened．Looking down，I immediately recognized that something was wrong，and ran down to the edge of the near bank．There I saw Ma Shwe with her three-month-old calf(young elephant)struggling in the fast-rising water，and it was a life-and-death struggle．Her calf was floating and screaming with fear．Ma Shwe was as near to the far bank as she could get，holding her whole body against the rushing water，and keeping the calf pressed against her huge body．Every now and then the rushing water would sweep the calf away.
There was a sudden rise in the water and the calf was washed clean over the mother’s body and was gone ．Ma Shwe turned quickly to reach it and pressed the calf with her head and trunk(象鼻)against the rocky bank．Then with a huge effort，she picked it up in her trunk and tried until she was able to place it on a narrow shelf of rock．
Just at this moment．she fell back into the river．If she were carried down, it would be certain death．I knew，as well as she did，that there was one spot where she could get up the bank，but it was on the other side from where she had put her calf．While I was wondering what I could do next，I heard the sound of a mother’s love．Ma Shwe had crossed the river and got up the bank and was making her way back as fast as she could，roaring(吼叫)all the time，but to her calf it was music.
64．The moment the author got down to the river bank he saw          ．
A．the calf was about to fall into the river
B．Ma Shwe was placing the calf on the rock
C．the calf was washed away by the rising water
D．Ma Shwe was holding the calf against the rushing water
65．How did Ma Shwe manage to save her calf from the fast-flowing water?
A．By pressing it against her body．
B．By putting it on a safe spot．
C．By taking it away with her．
D．By carrying it on her back．
66．How did the calf feel about the mother elephant's roaring?
A．It was a great comfort.                            B．It was a sign of danger．
C．It was a call for help．                                  D．It was a musical note．
67．What could be the best title for the text?
A．A Brave Act                                                B．A Mother's Love
C．A Deadly River                                                D．A Matter of Life and Death