第二篇The World’s Best-Selling Medicine
Since ancient times, people all over the world have used willow to stop pain. The willow tree contains salicylic acid (水楊酸). This stops pain, but there is one problem. Salicylic acid also hurts the stomach. In 1853, a French scientist made a mixture from willow that did not hurt the stomach. However, his mixture was difficult to make, and he did not try to produce or sell it.
In 1897, in Germany, Felix Hoffmann also made a mixture with salicylic acid. He tried it himself first and then gave it to his father because his father was old and in a lot of pain. His father’s pain went away, and the mixture did not hurt his stomach.醫(yī)學全.在.線m.f1411.cn
Hoffmann worked for Bayer, a German company. He showed his new drug to his manager, who tested the drug and found that it worked well. Bayer decided to make the drug. They called it aspirin and put the Bayer name on every pill.
Aspirin was an immediate success. Almost everyone has pain of some kind, so aspirin answered a true need. Aspirin was cheap, easy to take, and effective, it also lowered fevers. Aspirin was a wonder drug.
At first, Bayer sold the drug through doctors, who then sold it to their patients. In 1915, the company started to sell aspirin in drugstores. In the United States, Bayer had a patent on the drug. Other companies could make similar products and sell them in other countries, but only Bayer could make and sell aspirin in the United States. In time, Bayer could no longer own the name aspirin in the United States. Other companies could make it there, too. However, Bayer aspirin was the most well known, and for many years, it was the market leader.
By the 1950s, new painkillers were on the market. Aspirin was no longer the only way to treat pain and reduce fever. Bayer and other companies looked for other drugs to make. However, in the 1970s they got a surprise. Doctors noticed that patients who were taking aspirin had fewer heart attacks than other people. A British researcher named John Vane found the reason aspirin helped to prevent heart attacks. In 1982, he won the Nobel Prize for his research. Doctors started to tell some of their patients to take aspirin every day to prevent heart attacks. It has made life better for the many people who take it. It has also made a lot of money for companies like Bayer that produce and sell it!
36. Why didn't the French scientist continue to make the medicine that stopped pain?
A. It didn't work well.
B. It hurt the stomach.
C. It was hard to make.
D. It was not cost-effective.
37. Why was Felix Hoffmann looking for a painkiller?
A. His company told him to do that.
B. He wanted to make a lot of money.
C. His father was in pain.
D. He suffered from headache.
38. Bayer started making aspirin because
A. it helped prevent heart attacks.
B. other companies were making it.
C. the manager was a scientist.
D. it worked well in stopping pain.
39. Bayer aspirin was
A. the only drug with the name “aspirin”.
B. the first aspirin sold in the United States.
C. not sold in drugstores in 1915.
D. not easy to find in drugstores.
40. What has happened to aspirin since new painkillers came on the market?
A. Companies have stopped selling it.
B. It has become the best-selling painkiller.
C. Its new use has been discovered.
D. Doctors have sold it to patients.
第三篇On the Trail of the Honey Badgers
On a recent field trip to the Kalahari Desert, a team of researchers learnt a lot more about honey badgers (獾). The team employed a local wildlife expert, Kitso Khama, to help them locate and follow the badgers across the desert. Their main aim was to study the badgers’ movements and behaviour as discreetly (謹慎地) as possible, without frightening them away or causing them to change their natural behaviour. They also planned to trap a few and study them close up before releasing them. In view of the animal’s reputation, this was something that even Khama was reluctant to do.
“The problem with honey badgers is they are naturally curi醫(yī)學全.在.線m.f1411.cnous animals, especially when they see something new,” he says. “that, combined with their unpredictable nature, can be a dangerous mixture. If they sense you have food, for example, they won’t be shy about coming right up to you for something to eat. They’re actually quite sociable creatures around humans, but as soon as they feel they might be in danger, they can become extremely vicious (兇惡的). Fortunately this is rare, but it does happen.”
The research confirmed many things that were already known. As expected, honey badgers ate any creatures they could catch and kill. Even poisonous snakes, feared and avoided by most other animals, were not safe from them. The researchers were surprised, however, by the animal’s fondness for local melons, probably because of their high water content. Previously researchers thought that the animal got all of its liquid requirements from its prey (獵物). The team also learnt that, contrary to previous research findings, the badgers occasionally formed loose family groups. They were also able to confirm certain results from previous research, including the fact that female badgers never socialized with each other.
Following some of the male badgers was a challenge, since they can cover large distances in a short space of time. Some hunting territories cover more than 500 square kilometers. Although they seem happy to share these territories with other males, there are occasional fights over an important food source, and male badgers can be as aggressive towards each other as they are towards other species.
As the badgers became accustomed to the presence of people, it gave the team the chance to get up close to them without being the subject of the animal’s curiosity — or their sudden aggression. The badgers’ eating patterns, which had been disrupted, returned to normal. It also allowed the team to observe more closely some of the other creatures that form working associations with the honey badger, as these seems to adopt the badgers’ relaxed attitude when near humans.
41. Why did the wildlife experts visit the Kalahari Desert?
A. To observe how honey badgers behave.
B. To find where honey badgers live.
C. To catch some honey badgers for food.
D. To find out why honey badgers have a bad reputation.
42. What does Kitso Khama say about honey badgers?
A. They show interest in things they are not familiar with.
B. They are always looking for food.
C. They do not enjoy human company.
D. It is common for them to attack people.
43. What did the team find out about honey badgers?
A. There were some creatures they did not eat.
B. They may get some of the water they needed from fruit.
C. They were afraid of poisonous creatures.
D. Female badgers did not mix with male badgers.
44. Which of the following is a typical feature of male badgers?
A. They don’t run very quickly.
B. They defend their territory from other badgers.
C. They hunt over a very large area.
D. They are more aggressive than females
45. What happened when honey badgers got used to humans around them?
A. They lost interest in people.
B. They became less aggressive towards other creatures.
C. They started eating more.
D. Other animals started working with them
