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A bite from a tsetse fly (采采蝇) is an extremely unpleasant experience. It is not like a mosquito, which can put its thin mouthpart directly into your blood, often without you noticing. In contrast, the tsetse fly’s mouth has tiny saws on it that saw into your skin on its way to suck out your blood.To make matters worse, several species of tsetse fly can transmit diseases. One of the most dangerous is a parasite that causes ＂sleeping sickness＂, or ＂human African trypanosomiasis＂to give it its official name. Without treatment, an infection is usually fatal.
Like so many tropical diseases, sleeping sickness has often been neglected by medical researchers. However, researchers have long endeavored to understand how it avoids our bodies’ defence mechanisms. Some of their insights could now help us eliminate sleeping sickness altogether.
There are two closely-related single-celled parasites that cause this deathly sleep: Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and T. b. gambiense. The latter is far more common: it is responsible for up to 95% of cases, mostly in western Africa. It takes several years to kill a person, while T. brucei rhodesiense can cause death within months. There are still other forms that infect livestock.
After the initial bite, sleeping sickness symptoms often start with a fever, headaches and aching muscles. As the illness goes on, those infected become increasingly tired, which is where it gets its name. Personality changes, severe confusion and poor coordination can also happen.
While medication does help, some treatments are toxic and can themselves be deadly, especially if they are given after the disease has reached the brain.
It is worth noting that sleeping sickness is no longer as deadly as it once was. In the early 20th Century several hundred thousand people were infected each year. By the 1960s the disease was considered ＂under control＂ and had reached very low numbers, making its spread more difficult. But in the 1970s there was another major epidemic, which took 20 years to control.
Since then, better screening programmes and earlier interventions have reduced the number of cases dramatically. In 2009 there were fewer than 10,000 cases for the first time since records began, and in 2015 this figure dropped to fewer than 3,000, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation. The WHO hopes the disease will be completely eliminated by 2020.
While this decline looks positive, there may be many more cases that go unreported in rural Africa. To eliminate the disease completely, infections have to be closely monitored.
More problematically, a series of new studies have shown that the parasite is more complicated than previously believed.
Sleeping sickness has always been considered —— and diagnosed —— as a blood disease, because T. brucei parasites can readily be detected in the blood of its victims.
1.A tsetse fly is different from a mosquito in that________.
A. it can put its thin mouthpart directly into your blood
B. all species of tsetse fly can transmit diseases
C. it can spread a parasite that causes ＂sleeping sickness＂
D. its mouth has larger saws than those on a mosquito
2.What can be learned about ＂sleeping sickness＂ according to the text ?
A. It is formally called＂human American trypanosomiasis＂.
B. If left untreated, it can possibly be deadly.
C. It remains as deadly as it used to be.
D. It usually draws attention from medical researchers.
3.What is implied in the last three paragraphs ?
A. ＂Sleeping sickness＂ will be completely eliminated by 2020.
B. The parasite causing ＂sleeping sickness＂ is easy to detect now.
C. T. brucei parasites can only be detected in the blood of its victims.
D. Data about ＂sleeping sickness＂cases may not be so accurate.
4.What would be the best title of this passage ?
A. A mosquito that can carry deadly diseases.
B. A bite from this fly puts you into a deadly sleep.
C. Symptoms that are characteristic of ＂sleeping sickness＂.
D. How to control deadly＂sleeping sickness＂ from a tsetse fly.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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A car dealership in my hometown of Albuquerque was selling six to eight new cars a day. I was also told that 72 percent of this dealership’s first-time visitors returned for a second visit.
I was curious. How does a car dealership get 72 percent of its first-time visitors to return? And how can they sell six to eight cars a day in a declining car market?
When I walked into Saturn of Albuquerque that Friday, the staff there didn’t know me from Adam; yet they shared with me their pricing policy, the profit margin on every model, and staff income. They even opened their training manuals for my review and invited me back on Saturday if I wanted more information.
On Sunday, the day after my second visit to the Saturn store, my wife, Jane, and I were walking as we frequently do. On this particular June morning, Jane gently slipped her hand in mine and said tenderly, ＂I don’t know if you remember, but today’s my fifth anniversary of being cancer-free.＂ I was surprised, partially because I was embarrassed that I had forgotten and, partially because.... Well, I didn’t know what to do with Jane’s information.
The next day, Monday, Jane went off to work teaching school. Still not knowing what to do to mark this special occasion, I did the most impetuous thing I’ve ever done in my life: I bought a new Saturn. I didn’t pick the color or the model, but I paid cash and told them I’d bring Jane in on Wednesday at 4:30. I told them why I was buying the car.
On Tuesday, it dawned on me that Jane always wanted a white car. I called the sales consultant at Saturn, and I asked him if he had anything white in the store. He said he had one left but he couldn’t guarantee it’d still be available on Wednesday at 4:30 because they were selling so fast. I said I’d take my chances and asked him to put it in the showroom.
Wednesday came. Unexpectedly, someone in our family was admitted to the hospital. So, it wasn’t until 9:30 Saturday morning when we finally made our way to the Saturn store. Jane had never been in a Saturn store. When we went through the front door, the Lord took control of her feet and her mouth. She saw that little white Saturn coupe all the way across the showroom floor. She quickly passed a multi-colored sea of automobiles, sat in the little white Saturn and said, ＂Oh, what a pretty little car. Can I have a new car?＂ I said, ＂No. Not until our son graduates from college.＂ She said, ＂I’m sick and tired of driving that old Dodge, I want a new car.＂ I said, ＂I promise, just three more semesters and he’ll be out.＂
Next, Jane walked around to the front of the car. As she looked it over, she let out the most blood-curdling, shrill scream I’d ever heard in 29 years of marriage.
Now, before I tell you why Jane screamed, let me tell you what the sales consultant had done. He had ordered a large, professionally engraved sign (white letters on blue). The sign stood alone on the hood of the little white Saturn coupe. It said ＂Congratulations, Jane. This car is yours. Five years cancer-free. Let’s celebrate life. From Team Saturn＂ Every employee at Saturn of Albuquerque had signed the back of that sign.
Jane saw it, screamed, collapsed in my arms and cried loudly. I didn’t know what to do. I was in tears. I took out my invoice (发票) from the previous Monday, pointing to the white coupe, said, ＂No, honey, this car isn’t yours. I bought you this one.＂ I tapped the invoice with my index finger. Jane said, ＂No, I want this one right here.＂
While this conversation was going on, there was no one in the store. The sales consultant had arranged it so that we could share the moment alone. Even so, it’s impossible to have a lot of privacy when so many people are standing outside the showroom windows looking in. When Jane screamed and collapsed in my arms, I saw everybody outside applaud and begin to cry.
1.Why did the writer visit the Saturn of Albuquerque that Friday?
A. He wanted to collect some raw materials for his story.
B. He was asked to write a report about that car store.
C. He was told the car store was launching a price reduction activity.
D. He simply wanted to see why the car store enjoyed so much popularity.
2.Why did the writer buy a new Saturn?
A. Because his car was so old that he didn’t want to drive it any longer.
B. Because Jane wanted a new car for her fifth anniversary of being cancer-free.
C. Because he wanted to mark his wife’s fifth anniversary of being cancer-free.
D. Because he thought the car could be helpful to his wife’s recovery from cancer.
3.When did the writer decide upon the white car?
A. On the next Tuesday.
B. On the first Friday.
C. On the second Wednesday.
D. On the first Saturday.
4.How did Jane feel when she saw the sign on the car?
A. Surprised and thrilled.
B. Angry but satisfied.
C. Shocked and frightened.
D. Skeptical but overjoyed.
5.Which of the following belongs to the most wonderful part of this story?
A. Paying cash for a new Saturn.
B. Picking up the new car in the store.
C. The couple’s conversation on the street.
D. The writer’s first visit to the car store.
6.The purpose of the writer writing this story is ________.
A. to introduce a new type of car
B. to tell readers of his lovely wife
C. to sing high praise for a car store
D. to show his deep love for his wife
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Age has its privileges in America, and one of the most important of them is the senior citizen discount. Eligibility(资格) is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. The discounts have become a routine part of many businesses—as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.
People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent (有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that ＂elderly＂ means ＂needy＂. Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor. But most of them aren’t.
It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases, the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant(刺激物) in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.
Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involve a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point. Supported by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job—thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.
Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a privilege to a group with millions of members who don’t need them.
It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against—discrimination by age.
Outline
Details
Introduction
Age determines whether an American can be given a discount, which is a common 1. in American business life today.
Origin of senior citizen discount
Since the senior citizens are often treated as people who are in 2.， they are given such priority.
3.situation
●The situation has changed a lot where the majority of the elderly are not poor at all.
●Younger Americans were at a(n) 4. directly or indirectly due to the discounts given to the elderly, thus leading to conflicts between generations.
●The number of older Americans 5. to work rather than retire is on the increase, which means 6. opportunities for young workers.
●It is no longer a kind of charity because millions of senior citizens don’t need the priority 7. now.
Conclusion
●It’s unwise to offer discount priority to the elderly.
●It will mislead people to think they are unable to 8. to themselves.
●People may think that they are ungrateful and they’re hurting the 9. of other age groups.
●Actually senior citizen discounts, to some extent，10. against their age.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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最近，高三年级组织的“你最重视哪科作业”的调查，结果见下面的饼状图。请据此写一篇不少于150词的英语短文。
写作要求：
1.介绍调查结果；
2.阐述产生如此结果的原因，可举例说明；
3.就如何合理分配各科作业时间提出自己的看法。
注意： 1.短文的开头已为你写好。
Recently, a survey on homework preference has been conducted among senior three students.
The results are as follows:
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难度: 困难查看答案及解析