Question

Something in chocolate could be used to stop coughs and lead to more effective medicines, say UK researchers.
Their study found that theobromine, found in cocoa, was nearly a third more effective in stopping coughs than codeine, which was considered the best cough medicine at present.
The Imperial College London researchers who published their results online said the discovery could lead to more effective cough treatment. “While coughing is not necessarily harmful(有害的) it can have a major effect on the quality of life, and this discovery could be a huge step forward in treating this problem,” said Professor Peter Barnes.
Ten healthy volunteers(志愿者) were given theobromine, codeine or placebo, a pill that contains no medicine, during the experiment. Neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who received which pill. The researchers then measured levels of capsaicin, which is used in research to cause coughing and as a sign of how well the medicine are stopping coughs.
The team found that, when the volunteers were given theobromine, the capsaicin need to produce a cough was around a third higher than in the placebo group. When they were given codeine they need only slightly higher levers of capsaicin to cause a cough compared with the placebo.
The researchers said that theobromine worked by keeping down a verve activity(神经活动), which cause coughing. They also found that unlike some standard cough treatments, theobromine caused no side effects such as sleepiness.
【小题1】According to Professor Barnes, theobromine ______.

A．cannot be as effective as codeine

B．can be harmful to people’s health

C．cannot be separated from chocolate

D．can be a more effective cure for coughs

【小题2】What was used in the experiment to cause coughing?

A．Theobromine.

B．Codeine.

C．Capsaicin.

D．Placebo.

【小题3】We learn from the text that volunteers in the experiment _____.

A．were patients with bad coughs

B．were divided into the three groups

C．received standard treatments

D．suffered little side effects

【小题4】Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A．Codeine: A New Medicine	B．Chocolate May Cure Coughs
C．Cough Treatment: A Hard Case	D．Theobromine Can Cause Coughs

Answer 1

【小题1】C
【小题2】C
【小题3】B
【小题4】B

解析【小题1】从文中第二段可以看出。
【小题2】第四段最后一句。
【小题3】第四段介绍可以看出，三个组分别服用三种药，看哪一种疗效更好。
【小题4】文章开头就说了Something in chocolate could be used to stop coughs.接下来介绍cocoa中发现的theobromine是治疗咳嗽的最好的药，还用实验作了证实，因此，B项最合题意。当然我们也可以用排除法做此题，其它三个选项与文章内容不符。