Why is such a basic health service so easily knocked out? Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it. To create a single dose of flu vaccine, a manufacturer has to grow live virus in a 2-week-old fertilized chicken egg, then crack the egg, harvest the virus and extract the proteins used to provoke an immune response. Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year's flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. As a result, the United States now has only two major suppliers (Chiron and Aventis Pasteur）——and when one of them runs into trouble, there isn't much the other can do about it. “A vaccine maker can't just call up and order 40 million more fertilized eggs,”says Manon Cox, of Connecticut-based Protein Sciences Corp. “There's a whole industry that's scheduled to produce a certain number of eggs at a certain time.”

Sleeker technologies are now in the works, and experts are hoping that this year's fiasco will speed the pace of innovation. The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures——a medium already used to make most other vaccines. Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way, but several biotech companies are now pursuing this strategy, and one culture-based product (Solvay Pharmaceuticals' Invivac) has been cleared for marketing in Europe.

For America, the immediate challenge is to make the most of a limited supply. The government estimates that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last week. That's nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year. In fact, many experts are hoping the shortage will serve as an awareness campaign——encouraging the people who really need a flu shot to get one.

注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1~4题分别模仿1997年真题Text 3第1~4题，第5题模仿1997年真题Text 4第4题。

1. Shortages of flue vaccine show that______.

A) America relies too much on foreign suppliers

B) the demand of flue vaccines is high this year

C) quality problem is a serious problem in flu vaccine production

D) the supply of flu vaccines is rather weak and America has no back-up measures to make it up

2. The word “cleared”（Line 5, Paragraph 3) might mean______.

A) permitted

B) removed

C) proved

D) produced

3. Private companies have little interest in producing flu vaccines because of______.

A) complicated process, high cost, low profit and high risk

B) shortages of fertilized chicken eggs

C) difficulty in growing live virus

D) fast changing of flu virus

4. From the last paragraph we can infer that______.

A) the government hopes to solve the problem by way of volunteer restrictions

B) more than 47 million Americans who are qualified to get flu vaccine shots cannot get them this year

C) America needs not to worry about a limited supply of flu vaccines this year

D) normally only a small percentage of American population gets flu vaccine shots each year

5. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A) All Americans are persuaded not to get vaccinated this year.

B) The big problem in innovating flu vaccine's producing technique is how to grow virus in a new way.

C) More flu vaccines cannot be produced in a short time because private companies refuse to produce more.

D) Flu vaccines are easier than most vaccines to produce through cell cultures.





篇章剖析


本篇文章探讨了美国流感疫苗短缺的原因以及今后的解决办法。第一段，作者介绍了美国流感疫苗短缺问题以及其直接原因；第二段，作者剖析了其背后的经济原因；第三段，作者介绍了解决短缺问题的办法之一——革新疫苗生产技术，将其从鸡蛋培育转移到细胞培养；第四段，作者探讨了美国的当务之急：如何利用好有限的疫苗。出路就是号召公民发扬风格，将注射疫苗的机会让给敏感群体。





词汇注释


whopper /ˈ(h)wɒpə/ n. 弥天大谎

bar /bɑː(r)/ v. 禁止

dwindle /ˈdwɪndl/ v. 缩小

beseech /bɪˈsiːtʃ/ v. 恳求

vaccinate /ˈvæksɪneɪt/ v. 接种疫苗

fragility /frəˈdʒɪlɪti/ n. 脆弱

the National Network for Immunization Information (美国）全国防疫信息网

redundancy /rɪˈdʌndənsi/ n. 备份

knock out 击倒

incentive /ɪnˈsentɪv/ n. 动机

fertilized chicken egg 已受精鸡蛋

crack /kræk/ v. （使）破裂

harvest /ˈhɑːvɪst/ v. 收获

extract /ɪkˈstrækt/ v. 提取

immune response 免疫反应

profit margin 利润率

fickle /ˈfɪkl/ adj. 变化无常的

sleek /sliːk/ adj. 圆滑的；打磨过的

fiasco /fɪˈæskəʊ/ n. 惨败

innovation /ˌɪnəʊˈveɪʃən/ n. 改革，创新

culture /ˈkʌltʃə/ n. 细菌培养

biotech /baɪəʊˈtek/ n. 生物技术

culture-based adj. 基于细菌培养技术的

clear /klɪə/ v. 批准，准许

an awareness campaign 一场公民道德意识活动





难句突破


“This re-emphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,”says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, “and the lack of redundancy in our system.”

主体句式：Dr. Marin Myers says “This re-emphasizes the fragility… and the lack…”

结构分析：该句的难点在于如何理解本句直接引语中两个关键词re-emphasize和redundancy的情感内涵。re-emphasize通常表示“再次强调”，但根据其宾语中的关键名词“fragility (脆弱）”和“lack (缺乏）”两个词的语义内涵判断，re-emphasize在本句中应该表示“凸显出（问题）”。redundancy通常表示“冗余，不必要的重复”，但在本句中表示“为了避免出现问题而采取的应急方案”。由此可见，根据具体语境，才能正确理解词汇的意思。

句子译文：“这再次凸显出我们疫苗供应的脆弱性，”全国免疫信息网的马丁·迈尔斯医生说，“此外，我们也没有必要的补救机制。”





题目分析


1. D 推理题。第一段最后一句话指出了疫苗短缺所暴露出来的问题。“This re-emphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,”says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, “and the lack of redundancy in our system.”“这再次凸显出我们疫苗供应的脆弱性，”全国免疫信息网的马丁·迈尔斯医生说，“此外，我们也没有必要的补救机制。”这与选项D的说法一致。

2. A 语义题。在第三段最后一句“one culture-based product (Solvay Pharmaceuticals' Invivac) has been cleared for marketing in Europe ”里出现了cleared一词。根据下文中“marketing”和药品上市前应该得到批准的常识，可以判断出，该词在本句中的意思是“得到官方的批准”。

3. A 细节题。第二段第二句“Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it.”意思是说私企生产流感疫苗的积极性不高。接下来作者介绍了制作疫苗的复杂工序，由此可以推断出流感疫苗生产工艺复杂、成本高。第二段第4~5行“Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year's flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. ”又明确指出了私企不愿意生产流感疫苗的其他原因：利润率低、需求不稳定，此外由于流感病毒每年都不同，因此生产数量不能过大。由此也可推断出生产的风险性大，如果生产多了就会损失很大。

4. B 推理题。由第四段第二句“The government estimates that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last week. ”中可以知道有9500万人有资格注射疫苗。根据第四段第三句“That's nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year.”和前一句可以推断出美国现有大约4700万份流感疫苗库存，由此可推断出美国至少还有4700多万有资格注射疫苗的人无法得到注射。

5. B 细节题。从第一段倒数第二句“Instead of beseeching us all to get vaccinated, they're now urging most healthy people between the ages of 2 and 64 not to.”可以判断出美国只呼吁2~64岁的健康人不接种流感疫苗，而不是所有的美国人，因此答案A是错误的。 从第二段最后一句可以看出疫苗生产厂家无法临时增加疫苗生产量不是由于他们不愿意，而是由于受精鸡蛋的生产已经预先计划好，无法提供更多的受精鸡蛋，由此可见答案C是错误的。从第三段第三句“Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way”可以判断出答案D是错误的，因为流感疫苗比别的疫苗更难用细菌培育的方式生产。而由第三段第二句“The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures——a medium already used to make most other vaccines. ”以及上一句可见，改造疫苗生产工艺的关键在于革新病毒培育技术，因此答案B是正确的。





参考译文


流感疫苗短缺在美国不足为奇，但今年的短缺传闻却是一个弥天大谎。到上周为止，好像还有1亿美国人能在今年秋季接种流感疫苗。紧接着，英国当局因为担心一家位于利物浦的生产厂的质量控制问题而禁止所有Chiron Corp公司的产品供应。一夜之间，美国的疫苗供应量减少了近一半——而联邦卫生官员也发现他们正在提出一项不同寻常的请求：不是请求我们去注射疫苗，而是敦促那些年龄在2~64岁之间的绝大多数健康人不去注射疫苗。“这再次凸显出我们疫苗供应的脆弱性，”全国免疫信息网的马丁·迈尔斯医生说，“此外，我们也没有必要的补救机制。”

为什么这种基本的保健服务会如此不堪一击呢？主要原因是私人公司生产积极性不高。生产每一份流感疫苗，生产商都要在一枚受精两星期的鸡蛋中培育活病毒，然后打破鸡蛋，提取病毒和用来激发免疫反应的蛋白质。利润率低，需求不稳定，此外由于每年的流感病毒不同，剩余的疫苗只能报废。因此美国目前只有两家大的供应商（Chiron Corp和Aventis Pasteur）——当其中一家公司遇到麻烦时，另一家公司也无能为力。“疫苗生产商根本不可能打个电话多要4000万个受精鸡蛋，”在康涅狄格一家蛋白质科学公司工作的马农·考克斯说，“整个鸡蛋生产都是按计划进行的。什么时间生产多少鸡蛋都是已经预先计划好的。”

目前的生产已经采用更好的技术。专家们希望今年的教训能够加快技术革新的步伐。最大的挑战是如何将疫苗生产从鸡蛋培育转向细胞培育——该技术已经广泛应用于其他大部分疫苗的生产。用细胞培育技术生产流感疫苗比生产其他大部分疫苗难度更大。尽管如此，几家生物技术公司正在进行这方面的尝试。索马尔Invivac医药公司研制的一种基于细菌培育技术的产品已经获准在欧洲销售。

对美国来说，当务之急是要利用好有限的流感疫苗。政府预计，尽管上周发布了自愿限制公告，仍有9500万人有资格注射疫苗。这个数字几乎是医院临床流感疫苗库存量的两倍。但正常情况下，每年仅有6000万美国人接种流感疫苗。事实上，许多专家希望这次疫苗短缺问题能成为一次提高公民道德意识的活动——鼓励那些确实需要注射疫苗的人们去注射。





Unit 86


It was a big week for Alzheimer's disease, and not just because PBS aired The Forgetting, a first-rate documentary about Alzheimer's worth catching in reruns if you missed it the first time. There was also a flurry of scientific news that offered hope to the families already struggling with Alzheimer's, as well as to the baby-boom generation that's up next. Unless something dramatic happens, the number of Americans living with this terrifying brain disease could triple, to about 16 million, over the next 50 years. There's still no cure in sight, but there is progress on several fronts. Among them:

MEGADOSE VITAMINS Doctors knew vitamins E and C, both antioxidants, help stave off Alzheimer's, at least in folks who haven't already developed the disorder. ① What they didn't know——but a big study involving 4,740 participants published in the Archives of Neurology showed——was that the two vitamins taken together in huge daily doses (at least 400 IU of E and more than 500 mg of C) could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's a remarkable 78%.

COMBINATION THERAPY A yearlong study of more than 400 Alzheimer's patients showed that two drugs that work differently on the brain's chemistry act well together to help slow down the disease. ② Patients who were being treated with donepezil (sold as Aricept), an older drug that preserves the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, were also given memantine (Namenda), a new drug approved by the FDA last October that blocks overproduction of a harmful brain chemical called glutamate. The two drugs worked even better in combination than they did alone, providing substantial benefit for patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

BRAIN IMAGING Finally, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh announced that they had successfully developed a procedure that allows them to peer into the brains of Alzheimer's patients with positron emission tomography (PET) scans to see telltale plaque deposits. Before now, doctors could not track the progress of these plaques until after the patient died, when the brain could be autopsied. Using the new technique, doctors may be able to begin treatment long before the first symptoms appear.

None of these advances is a magic bullet for Alzheimer's disease. If you or your loved ones are concerned, the first step is careful evaluation by your doctor. Not all memory lapses are Alzheimer's, and there are reversible causes of forgetfulness that can be treated if caught early. Also, remember the old adage “use it or lose it.”Mental exercise——reading, doing crossword puzzles, playing chess or Scrabble——is as good for preserving your mind as physical exercise is for your body.

注（1）：本文选自Time；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1、3题分别模仿2002年Text 4第1题和Text 3第3题，第2题模仿1994年真题Text 2第3题，第4~5题分别模仿2004年Text 3第4、5题。

1. From the first paragraph, we learn that______.

A) the baby-boom generation will not suffer from Alzheimer's disease

B) recent progress brings hope for Alzheimer victims

C) the week was very important for Alzheimer's, mainly because a documentary about it was shown on PBS

D) the new achievements made on several fronts show that Alzheimer's disease can be cured

2. The phrase “stave off ”（Line 1, Paragraph 2) most probably means______ .

A) getting

B) treating

C) curing

D) preventing

3. The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that______.

A) combination therapy refers to combining two different ways of treatment

B) donepezil helps block overproduction of a harmful brain chemical called glutamate

C) combination therapy is of great benefit to all patients with Alzheimer's

D) Aricept and Namenda have better effect when used together than used separately

4. Why is brain imaging considered progress in treating Alzheimer's?

A) Because it helps doctors diagnose and treat the disease in an early phase by tracking the progress of plaques in the brain.

B) Because it helps doctors autopsy the brains of the patients after they died.

C) Because it helps doctors see the plaque deposits clearly so that they can operate on the brain.

D) Because it helps doctors develop a new procedure of tracking the progress of the disease.

5. To which of the following is the author likely to agree?

A) Alzheimer's disease can be cured thanks to the new advances.

B) Forgetfulness can be cured by doing mental exercise.

C) Careful evaluation is important because it can tell Alzheimer's from curable memory lapses, which can be treated if found in an early phase.

D) Mental exercises do good only to forgetfulness caused by reversible causes.





篇章剖析


本篇文章介绍了阿尔茨海默病研究领域取得的新成果。第一段，作者介绍了两件对阿尔茨海默病来说非常重要的事情：其一，纪录片《遗忘》的播出；其二，对该疾病的研究取得新发现。第二段介绍了新成果之一：大量服用维生素C和E有助于预防阿尔茨海默病。第三段介绍了新成果之二：药物治疗上的新发现——同时服用两种对大脑的化学特性起不同作用的药品有助于缓解病情。第四段介绍了新成果之三：大脑成像技术。用正电子放射X线断层摄影术自动程序控制技术检查大脑内的斑块，能够及早发现疾病隐患，及早治疗。第五段作者指出新的科研成果并不能治愈阿尔茨海默病，重要的是要多做脑力训练。





词汇注释


Alzheimer's disease 阿尔茨海默病（最常见的老年期痴呆类型）

PBS 美国公共广播公司（Public Broadcasting Service）

rerun /ˈriːˈrʌn/ n. 重播

flurry /ˈflʌri/ n. 一阵

baby-boom n. 生育高峰

megadose /ˈmegədəʊs/ v. 给予…大剂量

antioxidant /ˈæntɪˈɒksɪdənt/ n. 【化】抗氧化剂

stave off 避开，延迟

chemistry /ˈkemɪstri/ n. 化学特性

neurotransmitter /ˌnjʊərətrænsˈmɪtə/ n. 【生】神经传递素

acetylcholine /əˌsiːtəlˈkəʊlɪn/ n. 【化】乙酰胆碱

FDA（美国）食品及药物管理局（Food and Drug Administration）

glutamate /ˈgluːtəmeɪt/ n. 【化】谷氨酸盐

substantial /səbˈstænʃəl/ adj. 巨大的

the American Medical Association 美国医学协会

imaging /ɪˈmɪdʒɪŋ/ n. 成像

peer into 窥视

positron emission tomography 正电子放射X线断层摄影术

scan /skæn/ n. 扫描

telltale /ˈtelteɪl/ adj. 泄密的

plaque /plɑːk/ n. 斑

deposit /dɪˈpɒzit/ n. 沉积物

autopsy /ˈɔːtəpsi/ v. （为查明死因而做的）尸体解剖

lapse /læps/ n. 丧失

reversible /riˈvɜːsəbl/ adj. 可逆的

adage /ˈædɪdʒ/ n. 格言，谚语

scrabble /ˈskræbl/ n. 一种拼字游戏

preserve /prɪˈzɜːv/ v. 保护，保持，保存





难句突破


① What they didn't know——but a big study involving 4,740 participants published in the Archives of Neurology showed——was that the two vitamins taken together in huge daily doses (at least 400 IU of E and more than 500 mg of C) could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's a remarkable 78%.

主体句式：What they didn't know was that…

结构分析：本句的难点是句子长，结构复杂，不容易看出各句子成分之间的关系。What they didn't know是主语从句；but a big study involving 4,740 participants published in the Archives of Neurology showed是插入语，用于补充说明新发现的背景信息；was 后是that引导的表语从句，用于说明过去医生不知道的情况，即新发现的内容是：每日大剂量服用维生素C和E能有效预防阿尔茨海默病。