epidemic

Drunken driving, sometimes called America's socially accepted form of murder, has become a national epidemic. Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed hy
drunken drivers, adding up an incredible 350,000 over the past decade.
A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0.10 blood alcohol content or roughly three beers, glasses of wine or shots of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American alcohol image and judges were lenient in most courts, but the drunken slaughter has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially involving young children, that public opinion is no longer so tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18 to 20-year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop"responsible attitudes" about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.
Tough new laws have led to increased arrests and in many areas already, to a marked decline in fatalities. Some states are also penalizing bars for serving customers too many drinks.
As the fatalities continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years' national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, which President Hoover called the"noble experiment". They forget that legal prohibition didn't stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution.
What is the author's attitude toward all the laws against drunken driving?

A.Optimistic.
B.Pessimistic.
C.Indifferent.
D.Ironic.

共用题干
第二篇

Attitudes to AIDS Now

Most people say that the USA is making progress in fighting AIDS,but they don't know there's no cure
and strongly disagree that" the AIDS epidemic（流行）is over,"a new survey finds.
The findings,released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation,reassure activists who have worried
that public concern about AIDS might disappear in light of recent news about advances in treatment and
declines in deaths.
"While people are very optimistic about the advances,they're still realistic about the fact that there is no
cure",says Sophia Chang,director of HIV programs at the foundation.
The Kaiser survey, like a recent USA TODAY Gallup Poll（民意测验）,does find that the number of
people ranking AIDS as the country's top health problem has fallen.In the Kaiser poll,38%say it's the top
concern,down from 44% in a 1996 poll;in the Gallup Poll,29% say AIDS is No.1,down from 41% in 1992
and 67% in 1987.
Other findings from Kaiser,which polled more than 1,200 adults in September and October and asked
additional questions of another 1,000 adults in November:
52% say the country is making progress against AIDS,up from 32%in 1995.
51% say the government spends too little on AIDS.
86% correctly say AIDS drugs can now lengthen lives;an equal number correctly say that the drugs are
not cures.
67% incorrectly say that AIDS deaths increased or stayed the same in the past year;24% know deaths
fell.
Daniel Zingale,director of AIDS Action Council,says,"I'm encouraged that the American people are
getting the message that the AIDS epidemic isn't over. I hope the decision-makers in Washington are getting
the same message... We have seen signs of complacency（得意）."

Most people in the USA believe that________.
A:advances have been made in treating AIDS
B:AIDS is no longer an epidemic
C:AIDS is killing more people than before
D:there is still no cure for AIDS

Text 2 Obesity used to be regarded as a disease of afiluent societies.In a sense,of course,this is true:you cannot be obese if you cannot afford enough calories.But we now understand that the story is more complex,and that children from low-income groups are more likely to be obese than those from the highest-income groups.Our understanding of sleep deprivation has yet to see a similar evolution.Almost half the British population say they get six hours'sleep a night or less,compared with around a twelfth in 1942.Experts blame developments such as electriiication and the proliferation of entertainment,one neuroscientist went so far as to warn of a"catastrophic sleep-loss epidemic"recently.We need sleep for mental and physical recovery;for cognitive control,memory and leaming.Sleep loss is associated with everything from obesity and Alzheimer's disease to diabetes and poor mental health.Sleep evangelists（布i道者）such as Arianna Huffington portray a world of busy professionals sending emails into the early hours,teenagers watching televisions in their bedrooms and parents shopping online when they should be winding down.The solutions are obvious,even if we struggle to find the discipline to implement them:turn offyour phone and for goodness sake go to bed..The truth is that poorer people sleep worse.You cannot buy sleep itself,but you must pay for the circumstances likely to induce it.Overcrowded,noisy,cold or unsafe housing makes sleep harder.So does shift work-especially ifit is casualised and unpredictable.Poor nutrition and stress also take their toll.We worried about reaching for our smartphone at night,while those making the devices sleep on hard beds in shared dormitories with coworkers clattering to and fro,as Benjamin Reiss observes in his book Wild Nights."Social inequities are reproduced and even multiplied in sleep,"he writes;children in bad housing will struggle to concentrate in class after a poor night's sleep.The gap is racial too.Lauren Hale,an expert on social patrerns of sleep,notes that fewer black people get the recommended amount of sleep than any other ethnic group in the U.S.,and less of it is the most restorative kind.Racism may itself affect sleep,perhaps because of the stress it causes;African Americans who report discrimination are more likely to say they sleep poorly than those who do not.Sleep is a social justice issue,requiring social solutions.Telling people to cut down on coffee is easy;improving labour laws is harder.But when people's sleep problems reflect their lack of control over their lives,telling them they should change how they live is profoundly unhelpful.27.Which of the following is odd according to Paragraph 2?

A.What we thought about the lack of sleep may be wrong.
B.Sleep is vital to our mental and physical health.
C.More and more British people sleep less.
D.Sleep-loss epidemic is around the comer.

共用题干
Homosexuals

Many homosexuals prefer to be called gay or,for women,lesbian.Most of them live quiet lives just
________(51)anyone else.Some gay people have always raised children,________(52)or with partners,
and the use of artificial insemination is increasing among lesbians.
Gay people are in every kind of job.Some are very open about their homosexuality,and some are more
private.Some________(53)their sexual orientation as a biological given and others as a choice.For those
women who see it as a choice,one reason often given is the inequality in most heterosexual relationships.
Homosexuality has been common in most cultures throughout history and generally________(54).As a
result,homosexual activity became a crime,________(55)which the penalty in early courts was death.
Homosexual behavior is still________(56)in many countries and U.S.states.
Homosexuality later came to be viewed widely as less a sin than a sickness,but now no mental一health
profession any longer________(57)homosexuality an illness.More recent theories to________(58)for
homosexuality have included those based on biological and sociological factors.To date,________(59),
there is no conclusive general theory that can explain the cause of homosexuality.
Attitudes________(60)homosexuality began to change in the second half of the 20th century.Gays
attribute this,in part,to their own struggle for their rights and pride in their orientation.Some large companies
now________(61)health-care benefits to the life partners of their gay employees.Many cities also have
officially appointed lesbian and gay advisory committees.
________(62)some attitudes have changed,however,prejudice still exists,and in the late 1980s and
early 1990s there were considerable shouts against homosexuals,with attempts to________(63)laws forbidding
the granting of basic civil rights to gays.
The AIDS epidemic,which started in the 1980s,has devastated the gay community and brought it
together as never before.The organized gay response to the lack of government financial support for fighting
AIDS and to the needs of the thousands of AIDS victims,________(64)they be gays or not,has been a
model of community action.AIDS,however,has also________(65)people with another reason for their
prejudice.

_________(54)
A:condemned
B:condemning
C:to condemn
D:being condemned

The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11,2009.It is the first worldwide epidemic 1by the World Health Organization in 41 years.The heightened alert_2 an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia,and rising 3_in Britain,Japan,Chile and elsewhere.But the epidemic is"4"in severity,according to Margaret Chan,the organization's director general,5 the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery,often in the 6 of any medical treatment.The outbreak came to global__7 in late April 2009,when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths 8 healthy adults.As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic,cases began to 9 in New York City,the southwestern United States and around the world.In the United States,new cases seemed to fade 10 warmer weather arrived.But in late September 2009,officials reported there was 11 flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the 12 tested are the new swine flu,also known as（A）H1N1,not seasonal flu.In the U.S.,it has__13 more than one million people,and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.Federal health officials__14_Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began 15 orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine.The new vaccine,which is different from the annual flu vaccine,is 16 ahead of expectations.More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009,though most of those 17 doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type,which is not 18 for pregnant women,people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties,heart disease or several other 19.But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group:health care workers,people20_infants and healthy young people.19选？

A.problems
B.issues
C.agonies
D.sufferings

Drunken driving, sometimes called America's socially accepted form of murder, has become a national epidemic. Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed hy
drunken drivers, adding up an incredible 350,000 over the past decade.
A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0.10 blood alcohol content or roughly three beers, glasses of wine or shots of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American alcohol image and judges were lenient in most courts, but the drunken slaughter has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially involving young children, that public opinion is no longer so tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18 to 20-year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop"responsible attitudes" about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.
Tough new laws have led to increased arrests and in many areas already, to a marked decline in fatalities. Some states are also penalizing bars for serving customers too many drinks.
As the fatalities continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years' national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, which President Hoover called the"noble experiment". They forget that legal prohibition didn't stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution.
The rule that only people above 21 years of age can drink__________.

A.is a new law promoted by the twenty states
B.had been once adopted before the 1960s
C.has been enforced since the prohibition of alcohol
D.will be carried out all over the country

Drunken driving, sometimes called America's socially accepted form of murder, has become a national epidemic. Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed hy
drunken drivers, adding up an incredible 350,000 over the past decade.
A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0.10 blood alcohol content or roughly three beers, glasses of wine or shots of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American alcohol image and judges were lenient in most courts, but the drunken slaughter has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially involving young children, that public opinion is no longer so tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18 to 20-year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop"responsible attitudes" about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.
Tough new laws have led to increased arrests and in many areas already, to a marked decline in fatalities. Some states are also penalizing bars for serving customers too many drinks.
As the fatalities continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years' national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, which President Hoover called the"noble experiment". They forget that legal prohibition didn't stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution.
What is the author's attitude toward all the laws against drunken driving?

A.Optimistic.
B.Pessimistic.
C.Indifferent.
D.Ironic.

共用题干
第二篇

Attitudes to AIDS Now

Most people say that the USA is making progress in fighting AIDS,but they don't know there's no cure
and strongly disagree that" the AIDS epidemic（流行）is over,"a new survey finds.
The findings,released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation,reassure activists who have worried
that public concern about AIDS might disappear in light of recent news about advances in treatment and
declines in deaths.
"While people are very optimistic about the advances,they're still realistic about the fact that there is no
cure",says Sophia Chang,director of HIV programs at the foundation.
The Kaiser survey, like a recent USA TODAY Gallup Poll（民意测验）,does find that the number of
people ranking AIDS as the country's top health problem has fallen.In the Kaiser poll,38%say it's the top
concern,down from 44% in a 1996 poll;in the Gallup Poll,29% say AIDS is No.1,down from 41% in 1992
and 67% in 1987.
Other findings from Kaiser,which polled more than 1,200 adults in September and October and asked
additional questions of another 1,000 adults in November:
52% say the country is making progress against AIDS,up from 32%in 1995.
51% say the government spends too little on AIDS.
86% correctly say AIDS drugs can now lengthen lives;an equal number correctly say that the drugs are
not cures.
67% incorrectly say that AIDS deaths increased or stayed the same in the past year;24% know deaths
fell.
Daniel Zingale,director of AIDS Action Council,says,"I'm encouraged that the American people are
getting the message that the AIDS epidemic isn't over. I hope the decision-makers in Washington are getting
the same message... We have seen signs of complacency（得意）."

The word"message"in the last paragraph means___________.
A:news
B:report
C:point
D:result

Text 1 The influenza season is just getting started in the United States,and it already promises to be more severe than usual.Hospital emergency rooms are filling up with flu sufferers,and pharmacies have reported medicine shortages.Twelve children had died as of last month.To make matters worse,in Australia,which experienced its flu season four to six months ago,the current vaccine appeared to be only about 10 percent effective against tlus year's dominant strain.Yet as bad as this winter's epidemic is,it won't compare with the flu pandemic that is almost certainly on the horizon if we don't dedicate energy and resources to a universal vaccine.The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic killed 50 million t0 100 million around the globe.Given the century of medical progress since then,one might conclude that we are far better prepared today to deal with such a worldwide catastrophe.Unfortunately,the opposite is true.The world has about four times the number of inhabitants it did in 1918,including hundreds of millions of people,poultry and pigs living close together.This provides a potent biologic mixing bowl and natural influenza virus mutation factory.When a pandemic does strike,we'll be in trouble in part because American hospitals and pharruacies keep in stock no more than a few days supply of most lifesaving drugs,almost all of which are made in Asia.Worldwide manufacturing and shipping are highly susceptible to disruption,which could mean shortages in many areas.A 1918-type influenza pandemic could cause ruin on the order of what the Black Death did t0 14th-century Europe,but on a global scale.Our current vaccines are based on 1940s research.Limited global manufacturing capacity combined with the five to six months it takes to make these vaccines mean many people would never even have a chance to be vaccinated.Little is being done to aggressively change this unacceptable situation.We will have worldwide flu pandemics.Only their severity is unknown.The only real solution is a universal vaccine that effectively attacks all influenza A strains,with reliable protection lasting for years,like other modem vaccines.Although the National Institutes of Health has publicly declared developing a vaccine a priority,it has only about$32 million this year specifically for such research.The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority,the other federal agency responsible for developing and making available new vaccines for emergency response,has in fiscal year 2017 0nly a single project for$43 million supporting game-changing infiuenza vaccines.By contrast,the search for an H.I,V.vaccine-still a scientific long shot-receives Sl billion annually.We estimate that intemational govemments,vaccine manufacturers and the philanthropic community must make a similar commitment to influenza vaccine research if the kind of vaccine we need is to developed in the next 10 years.But there is no apparent effort to make these vaccines a priority in the current administration 25.Which ofthe following would be the best title for the text?

A.We Desperately Need a Universal Vaccine
B.Shortages ofVaccines Need Solving
C.To Fully Prepared for a Worldwide Catastrophe
D.Measures We Should Take to Deal With Influenza

共用题干
The Spanish Flu Epidemic
If you're worried about the possibility of a coming bird flu epidemic,you can take
comfort in the fact that humanity has survived a similar influenza epidemic in the past.
Starting its rounds at the end of World War!,the 1918 flu killed an estimated 50 million
people.
Popularly known as the Spanish Flu,this type of influenza was far worse than your
common cold.Normally,influenza only kills those who are more vulnerable to disease,
such as newborns,the old or the sick.However,the Spanish Flu was prone to kill the
young and healthy.Often it would disable its victims in hours;within a day,they would be
dead,typically from extreme cases of pneumonia（肺炎）.
The Spanish Flu was quite nasty-fast-spreading and deadly. It managed to spread
across the globe,devastating the world.Then suddenly,after two years ravaging（蹂躏）
the Earth,it disappeared as quickly as it had arisen.
Despite its nickname,the Spanish Flu did not originate in Spain.Its true origins are
unknown.Some believe it started in US forts and then spread to Europe as America joined
the war;others think that it populated the trenches of the English and the French and
eventually broke out in 1918.Regardless of where it started,eventually a fifth of the world
population suffered the disease,with a global mortality rate（死亡率）estimated at 2. 5% of
the population.
Modernity was partly to blame for the quick spread of the disease.It passed throughout
the world on trade routes and shipping lines.It hit Northern America,Europe,Asia,Africa
and the South Pacific.The war did not help at all一the movement of supplies and troops
aided the spread of the Spanish Flu,as well as the trench warfare:!magine the speed at
which a virus can spread in a crowded ditch.The fast emergence of the virus in the
trenches caused some soldiers to believe that the Spanish Flu was a new form of biological
warfare.
Luckily,the Spanish Flu simply vanished by 1920.It is believed the flu simply ran out
of fuel to spread.

The Spanish Flu posed a greater threat to the old and the sick.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned