Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
Just seven years ago, the Jarvik-7 artificial heart was being cheered as the model of human creativeness. The sight of Barney Clark-alive and conscious after trading his diseased heart for a metal-and-plastic pump-convinced the press, the public and many doctors that the future had arrived. It hadn’t. After monitoring production of the Jarvik-7, and reviewing its effects on the 150 or so patients (most of whom got the device as a temporary measure) the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration concluded that the machine was doing more to endanger lives than to save them. Last week the agency cancelled its earlier approval, effectively banning (禁止) the device.
The recall may hurt Symbion Inc., maker of the Jarvik-7, but it won’t end the request for an artificial heart. One problem with the banned mode is that the tubes connecting it to an external power source created a passage for infection. Inventors are now working on new devices that would be fully placed, along with a tiny power pack, in the patient’s chest. The first sample products aren’t expected for another 10 or 20 years. But some people are already worrying that they’ll work—and that America’s overextended health—care programs will lose a precious $2.5 billion to $5 billion a year providing them for a relatively few dying patients. If such expenditures (開支) cut into funding for more basic care, the net effect could actually be a decline
in the nation’s health.
31. According to the passage, the Jarvik-7 artificial heart proved to be _____.
(A) a technical failure
(B) a technical wonder
(C) a good life-saver
(D) an effective means to treat heart disease
32. From the passage we know that Symbion Inc. _____.
(A) has been banned by the government from producing artificial hearts
(B) will review the effects of artificial hearts before designing new models
(C) may continue to work on new models of reliable artificial hearts
(D) can make new models of artificial hearts available on the market in 10 to 20 years
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
A rapid means of long -distance transportation became a necessity for the United States as settlement (新拓居地) spread ever farther westward. The early trains were impractical curiosities, and for a long time the railroad companies met with troublesome mechanical problems. The most serious ones were the construction of rails able to bear the load, and the development of a safe, effective stopping system. Once these were solved, the railroad was established as the best means of land transportation. By 1860 there were thousands of miles of railroads crossing the eastern mountain ranges and reaching westward to the Mississippi. There were also regional southern and western lines.
The high point in railroad building came with the construction of the first transcontinental system. In 1862 Congress authorized two western railroad companies to build lines from Nebraska westward and from California eastward to a meeting point, so as to complete a transcontinental crossing linking the Atlantic seaboard with the Pacific. The Government helped the railroads generously with money and land. Actual work on this project began four years later. The Central Pacific Company, starting from California, used Chinese labor, while the Union Pacific employed crews of Irish laborers. The two groups worked at remarkable speed, each trying to cover a greater distance than the other. In 1869 they met a place called Promontory in what is now the state of Utah. Many visitors came there for the great occasion. There were joyous celebrations all over the country, with parades and the ringing of church bells to honor the great achievement.
The railroad was very important in encouraging westward movement. It also helped build up industry and farming by moving raw materials and by distributing products rapidly to distant markets. In linking towns and people to one another it helped unify the
Just seven years ago, the Jarvik-7 artificial heart was being cheered as the model of human creativeness. The sight of Barney Clark-alive and conscious after trading his diseased heart for a metal-and-plastic pump-convinced the press, the public and many doctors that the future had arrived. It hadn’t. After monitoring production of the Jarvik-7, and reviewing its effects on the 150 or so patients (most of whom got the device as a temporary measure) the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration concluded that the machine was doing more to endanger lives than to save them. Last week the agency cancelled its earlier approval, effectively banning (禁止) the device.
The recall may hurt Symbion Inc., maker of the Jarvik-7, but it won’t end the request for an artificial heart. One problem with the banned mode is that the tubes connecting it to an external power source created a passage for infection. Inventors are now working on new devices that would be fully placed, along with a tiny power pack, in the patient’s chest. The first sample products aren’t expected for another 10 or 20 years. But some people are already worrying that they’ll work—and that America’s overextended health—care programs will lose a precious $2.5 billion to $5 billion a year providing them for a relatively few dying patients. If such expenditures (開支) cut into funding for more basic care, the net effect could actually be a decline
in the nation’s health.
31. According to the passage, the Jarvik-7 artificial heart proved to be _____.
(A) a technical failure
(B) a technical wonder
(C) a good life-saver
(D) an effective means to treat heart disease
32. From the passage we know that Symbion Inc. _____.
(A) has been banned by the government from producing artificial hearts
(B) will review the effects of artificial hearts before designing new models
(C) may continue to work on new models of reliable artificial hearts
(D) can make new models of artificial hearts available on the market in 10 to 20 years
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
A rapid means of long -distance transportation became a necessity for the United States as settlement (新拓居地) spread ever farther westward. The early trains were impractical curiosities, and for a long time the railroad companies met with troublesome mechanical problems. The most serious ones were the construction of rails able to bear the load, and the development of a safe, effective stopping system. Once these were solved, the railroad was established as the best means of land transportation. By 1860 there were thousands of miles of railroads crossing the eastern mountain ranges and reaching westward to the Mississippi. There were also regional southern and western lines.
The high point in railroad building came with the construction of the first transcontinental system. In 1862 Congress authorized two western railroad companies to build lines from Nebraska westward and from California eastward to a meeting point, so as to complete a transcontinental crossing linking the Atlantic seaboard with the Pacific. The Government helped the railroads generously with money and land. Actual work on this project began four years later. The Central Pacific Company, starting from California, used Chinese labor, while the Union Pacific employed crews of Irish laborers. The two groups worked at remarkable speed, each trying to cover a greater distance than the other. In 1869 they met a place called Promontory in what is now the state of Utah. Many visitors came there for the great occasion. There were joyous celebrations all over the country, with parades and the ringing of church bells to honor the great achievement.
The railroad was very important in encouraging westward movement. It also helped build up industry and farming by moving raw materials and by distributing products rapidly to distant markets. In linking towns and people to one another it helped unify the