2. What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?

A. Baby rats.　　　　　 B. Animals.　　 C. Old rats.　　　　　　 D. Grown-up rats.

1. How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?

A. Some researchers have told them.　　 B. Many women say so.

C. They know it by experimenting on rats.　　 D. They know it through their own experience.

3. This article is probably from _______.

A. a scientific magazine　　 B. a report to the government

C. a school text book　　　 D. a scientific report in a newspaper

(4)

Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(痴呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones(荷尔蒙) , U.S. reseachers reported on Thursday.

Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s(早老痴呆症). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.

“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy(怀孕) are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective (保护神经的) effects,” Kinsley said.　

“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”

Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.

“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.

“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant-that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations(改变) to the brain.”

2. From the story we can draw a conclusion that _______.

A. the two port cities were famous for their wealth and the mystery

B. the two cities belonged to France

C. some mysterious creatures from other planets destroyed the two cities

D. the American Geophysical Union conference was once held in one of the two cities

1. The reason why the two port cities disappeared under the waters of Mediterranean Sea is that ___.

A. the two port cities were destroyed by huge earthquakes

B. the disappearance of the two port cities was caused by underwater landslide

C. rising seas and a shift in the Nile River outlet doomed the cities

D. the story didn’t tell us at all

4. The “problem” in the fourth paragraph refers to the fact that _______.

　　　 A. bandwidth isn’t big enough to send complex medical pictures

　　　 B. the second-generation of Internet has not become popular yet

　　　 C. communication satellites can only deal with short-term needs

　　　 D. there is not enough equipment for spreading the medical care

(3)

Scientists are uncovering the secrets of two port cities lost under the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a researcher said yesterday.

Herakleion and Menouthis were rich and proud cities until something reduced them to rubble (碎石) and buried them in the mud beneath 30 feet of sea water, French underwater explorer Franck Goddio said at the American Geophysical Union conference.

“This is a mystery that is ongoing,” said Goddio, a founder of the European Institute of Marine Archeology, a Paris-based underwater research organization backed by the wealthy Hilti Foundation of Liechtenstein(列支敦士登基金会).

The destruction of the twin port cities has haunted Goddio ever since he happened upon the site about 15 miles from Alexandria while exploring sunken ships from Napoleon’s fleet.

Goddio and his group of expert divers, marine archeologists(海洋考古学家) and others, are using high powered vacuums, satellite navigation systems and sophisticated sonar(声纳) to excavate(挖掘) the sunken cities from underneath a carpet of silt about one meter (three feet) high.

Walls of shops, remains of streets and gold artifacts have been found and recovered.

Some experts believe that the port cities were destroyed by a series of massive earthquakes, much like the quakes scientists believe felled Troy(特洛伊城), Jericho and other ancient cities. The uniform direction of the collapsed columns and walls suggest an earthquake, Goddio said, but no fault lines have been found nearby.

Other researchers believe a massive wave, caused by either an offshore earthquake or a distant underwater landslide, could explain the catastrophe. Still others think rising seas and a shift in the Nile River outlet doomed the cities.

“The argument, as you can see, continues,” Goddio said.

3. Which of the following statements is true according to the text？

　　　 A. Patients don’t need doctors in hospitals any more.

　　　 B. It is impossible to send a patient’s signs over the telephone.

　　　 C. Many teams use telemedicine dealing with disasters now.

　　　 D. Broadband communications will become cheaper in the future.

2. The basis of remote diagnosis will be _______.

A. personal data assistance　　　　　　　　　　 B. some words of a patient

　　　 C. real physiological information　　　　　　 D. medical pictures from the Internet

1. The writer chiefly talks about _______.

　　　 A. the use of telemedicine　　　　　　 B. the on-lined doctors

　　　 C. medical care and treatment　　　　　　 D. communication improvement

4. From the passage we know that _______.

A. Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog

　　　 B. scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit

　　　 C. Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

D. about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century

(2)

Want a glance of the future of health care? Take a look at the way the various networks of people about patient care are being connected to one another, and how this new connectivity is being exploited to deliver medicine to the patient -no matter where he or she may be.

Online doctors offering advice based on normal symptoms(症状) are the most obvious example. Increasingly, however, remote diagnosis(远程诊断) will be based on real physiological data(生理数据) from the actual patient. A group from the University of Kentucky has shown that by using personal data assistance plus a mobile phone, it is perfectly practical to send a patient’s important signs over the telephone. With this kind of equipment, the cry asking whether there was a doctor in the house could well be a thing of the past.

Other medical technology groups are working on applying telemedicine to rural(countryside) care. And at least one team wants to use telemedicine as a tool for disaster need-especially after earthquakes. On the whole, the trend is towards providing global access to medical data and experts’ opinions.

But there is one problem. Bandwidth(宽带) is the limiting factor for sending complex(复杂的) medical pictures around the world - CT photos being one of the biggest bandwidth users. Communication satellites may be able to deal with the short-term needs during disasters such as earthquakes or wars. But medicine is looking towards both the second-generation Internet and third-generation mobile phones for the future of remote medical service.

Doctors have met to discuss computer-based tools for medical diagnosis, training and telemedicine. With the falling price of broadband communications, the new technologies should start a new time when telemedicine and the sharing of medical information, experts’ opinions and diagnosis are common.