Section ⅡReading Comprehension
　　 Part A
　　 Directions:
　　 Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
　　 一、從雞蛋中培養(yǎng)流感疫菌
　　 Modern technology has put men on the moon and deciphered the human genome. But when it comes to brewing up flu to make vaccines, science still turns to the incredible edible egg. Ever since the 1940s, vaccine makers have grown large batches of virus inside chicken eggs. But given that some 36,000 Americans die of flu each year, it’s remarkable that our first line of defense is still what Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson calls “the cumbersome and archaic egg-based production.” New cell-based technologies are in the pipeline, however, and may finally get the support they need now that the United States is faced with a critical shortage of flu vaccine. Although experts disagree on whether new ways of producing vaccine could have prevented a shortage like the one happening today, there is no doubt that the existing system has serious flaws.
　　 Each year, vaccine manufacturers place advance orders for millions of specially grown chicken eggs. Meanwhile, public-health officials monitor circulating strains of flu, and each March they recommend three strains—two influenza A strains and one B strain—for manufacturers to include in vaccines. In the late spring and summer, automated machines inject virus into eggs and later suck out the influenza-rich goop. Virus from the eggs’ innards gets killed and processed to remove egg proteins and other contaminants before being packaged into vials for fall shipment.
　　 Why has this egg method persisted for six decades? The main reason is that it’s reliable. But even though the eggs are reliable, they have serious drawbacks. One is the long lead time needed to order the eggs. That means it’s hard to make more vaccine in a hurry, in case of a shortage or unexpected outbreak. And eggs may simply be too cumbersome to keep up with the hundreds of millions of doses required to handle the demand for flu vaccine.
　　 What’s more, some flu strains don’t grow well in eggs. Last year, scientists were unable to include the Fujian strain in the vaccine formulation. It was a relatively new strain, and manufacturers simply couldn’t find a quick way to adapt it so that it grew well in eggs. “We knew the strain was out there,” recalls Theodore Eickhoff of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, “but public-health officials were left without a vaccine—and, consequently, a more severe flu season.”
　　 Worse, the viruses that pose the greatest threat might be hardest to grow in eggs. That’s because global pandemics like the one that killed over 50 million people between 1918 and 1920 are thought to occur when a bird influenza changes in a way that lets it cross the species barrier and infect humans. Since humans haven’t encountered the new virus before, they have little protective immunity. The deadly bird flu circulating in Asia in 1997 and 1998, for example, worried public-health officials because it spread to some people who handled birds and killed them—although the bug never circulated among humans. But when scientists tried to make vaccine the old-fashioned way, the bird flu quickly killed the eggs.
　　 1.The moon-landing is mentioned in the first paragraph to illustrate_____.
　　 [A] technology cannot solve all of our human problems
　　 [B] progress in vaccine research for influenza has lagged behind
　　 [C] great achievements have been made by men in exploring the unknown
　　 [D] the development of vaccine production methods can not be stopped
　　 2.What step is essential to the traditional production of flu vaccine?
　　 [A] Manufacturers implant the vaccine into ordered chicken eggs.
　　 [B] Scientists identify the exact strain soon after a flu pandemic starts.
　　 [C] Public health measures are taken as an important pandemic-fighting tool.
　　 [D] Viruses are deadened and made clean before being put into vaccine use.
　　 3.The foremost reason why the egg-based method is defective lies in_____.
　　 [A] the complex process of vaccine production [B] its potential threat to human being
　　 [C] the low survival rate for new flu vaccines [D] its contribution to the flu vaccine shortage
　　 4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
　　 [A] Flu vaccines now mainly use egg-based technology.
　　 [B] A bird influenza has once circulated among humans.
　　 [C] Safety can be greatly improved with cell-culture vaccines.
　　 [D] Modern vaccine production methods are to replace egg-based methods.
　　 5.In the author’s view, the new vaccine production method seems to be_____.
　　 [A] remarkable
　　 [B] criticized
　　 [C] efficient
　　 [D] accepted
　　 答案： 1.B 2.D 3.C 4.A 5.D

　　 核心詞匯與超綱詞匯
　　(1)decipher(v.)破譯，辨認(難認、難解的東西)
　　(2)genome(n.)基因組，染色體組
　　(3)brew(v.)釀制(啤酒)，沏(茶)，煮(咖啡);~ up醞釀;(常用于進行時)(不愉快的事)即將來臨
　　(4)cumbersome(a.)大而笨重的;繁瑣的，復雜的
　　(5)archaic(a.)過時的，陳舊的;古代的，早期的
　　(6)in the pipeline在準備中; 在完成中; 在進行中; (貨物)運輸中; 即將送遞
　　(7)circulate(v.)循環(huán);傳播，流傳;傳遞，傳閱(~ sth. to sb.)
　　(8)strain(n.)(動、植物的)系，品系，品種
　　(9)innards(n.)內(nèi)臟，內(nèi)部結構
　　(10)pandemic(a.)廣泛流傳的，普遍的，流行的;(大范圍)傳染病的;(n.)全國[全世界]性的流行病
　　(11)lead time 前置時間，指完成一個程序或作業(yè)所需要的一段時間。
　　全文翻譯
　　現(xiàn)代技術已經(jīng)把人類送上了月球，也破解了人類的基因組。但是當涉及到培養(yǎng)流感病毒生產(chǎn)疫苗時，令人難以置信的是科學家依然在使用可食用雞蛋。自20世紀40年代以來，疫苗的生產(chǎn)者已經(jīng)在雞蛋里培植了大批的病毒。但是，考慮到每年有約3萬6千美國人死于流感，有意思的是我們的第一防線依然是被美國健康和人類服務部部長湯米·湯普森稱作為“麻煩的陳舊的雞蛋方法的生產(chǎn)”。但是，新的細胞生產(chǎn)技術已經(jīng)投入使用，并且由于美國現(xiàn)在面臨的流感疫苗的嚴重短缺而可能最終得到它們所需要的支持。雖然專家就生產(chǎn)疫苗的新方法能否阻止現(xiàn)在出現(xiàn)的這種短缺現(xiàn)象無法達成共識，但是可以肯定的是現(xiàn)有的系統(tǒng)有嚴重的缺陷。
　　每一年疫苗的生產(chǎn)者會提前預定成百萬的特別培育的雞蛋。同時，公共健康官員監(jiān)督正在流行的流感種類，并于每年3月推薦其中的三種，包括兩種A型和一種B型流感，為生產(chǎn)者生產(chǎn)疫苗之用。在春末和夏季，由自動的機器將病毒注射到雞蛋中，然后將充滿流感病毒的粘性物質從中吸出。將雞蛋內(nèi)臟中的病毒殺死后加工，取出雞蛋蛋白和其他的雜質，然而裝入小瓶，用于秋季時的運輸。
　　為什么這種雞蛋方法持續(xù)了60年?重要原因是它可靠。但是盡管雞蛋是可靠的，它們也有嚴重的缺陷。首先是訂購雞蛋所需要的前置時間很長。這意味著在突發(fā)的疫苗短缺狀況下很難立刻生產(chǎn)更多的疫苗。要滿足對流感疫苗的需求需要生產(chǎn)幾百萬的劑量，而使用雞蛋也許跟不上這個速度。
　　而且一些種類的流行病毒在雞蛋中不能很好地生長。去年，科學家沒能夠把福建型流感種類包括在疫苗的生產(chǎn)中。它是一種較新的病毒種類，生產(chǎn)者不能找到很快適應它的方法使它在雞蛋中很好地生長�？屏_拉多州大學健康科學中心的西奧多·艾克�；貞浾f，“我們知道病毒種類在那里”，但是這些公共健康官員沒有疫苗，于是結果迎來了一場更嚴重的流感。
　　更糟糕的是，產(chǎn)生最大威脅的病毒也許是最難在雞蛋中生長的。這是因為當禽流感改變方式跨越種族界限感染人類時，像1918年至1920年間殺死5000萬人的那種全球性流行病就會爆發(fā)。由于人類在這之前沒有遭遇這樣的新病毒，他們的保護性免疫能力就很差。比如，1997年和1998年在亞洲流行的致命的禽流感使公共健康官員很擔憂，因為它傳播到一些接觸禽類的人類身上并使他們死亡。雖然這種病菌還沒有在人類中傳播過，但當科學家試圖用傳統(tǒng)的方式生產(chǎn)疫苗時，禽流感迅速殺死了雞蛋。