For well over a thousand years,smallpox was a disease that everyone feared.The disease killed much of the native population in South America when the Spanish arrived there in the early sixteenth century.By the end of the eighteenth century,smallpox was responsible for about one in

ten deaths around the world.Those who survived the disease were left with ugly scars on their sjun.

        It had long been well known among farmers that people who worked with cows seldom caught smallpox;instead,they often caught a similar but much milder disease called cowpox (牛痘) .A Bridsh doctor called Jenner was extremely interested in this,and so he studied cowpox He believed that,by vaccinating (给接种疫苗) people with the disease,he could protect them against the much worse disease smallpox.In 1796,he vaccinated a boy with cowpox and,two months later,with smallpox.The boy did not get smallpox.In the next two years,Jenner vaccinated several children in the same way,and none of them got the disease.

News of the success of Jenner’s work soon spread.Vaccination soon became a common method to protect people against other diseases caused by virus,such as rable (狂犬病),and vaccines (疫苗) were sent across the world to the United States and India.

       It took nearly two centuries to achieve Jenner’s dream of getting free of smallpox from the whole world.In 1967,the world Health Organization (WHO) started a great vaccination program,and the last known case of smallpox was recorded in Somalia in 1977.The story of vaccinations does not end there,however.There are many other diseases that kill more and more people every year.Besides,many new diseases are being discovered.The challenge for medical researchers will,therefore,probably continue for several more centuries

 

1.Smallpox was so serious that        by the end of l8th century

A.its death rate was up to ten percent

       B.those who caught it were certain to die

       C.one in ten people in the world died of smallpox

       D.one in ten deaths in the world was caused by smallpox

2.Edward Jenner discovered that vaccination with cowpox could      

        A.make smallpox much milder

       B.stop people from getting smallpox

        C.protect people against any disease

       D.prevent people’s scars after smallpox

3.Which of the following statements is not true?

        A.The first experiment with cowpox was made by a British doctor

       B.After 1977 smallpox disappeared around the world according to WHO.

       C.Vaccination had existed among ordinary farmers before being discovered

       D.Vaccination can be used to protect people in the world against not only smallpox

4.The author of the passage thinks that      

       A.vaccinations bring many new problems

        B.vaccinations end the spread of diseases

       C.there is a long way to go to fight against diseases

       D.there is along way to go to discover new diseases

 

There was great interest when a big hole mysteriously appeared in the middle of a field. Engineers were called in to explain how it had got there. They offered various explanations but were not at all sure how the hole had been caused, it was thought that a large bomb which came suddenly exploded, but it was not possible to prove this. A simple, but highly improbable explanation was offered by a man who declares to know well about “flying saucers”; the strange objects which are round in shape and are said to visit the earth from outer space. The man’s explanation may have been nonsense (胡说八道), but at least it was imaginative. At any rate, it was far more interesting than the one given by the army.

   After examining the ground carefully the man declared to have seen special marks on the soil quite near the hole, these, he said, could only have been caused by a flying saucer. Moreover the leaves on some bushes nearby had turned yellow because of a strange hot gas which had come from the saucer just before it landed. Even a small tree some way off appeared to have been burnt slightly. A small piece of metal found in the hole itself gave further proof that a strange object had been there. According to the man, it was quite clear that people from another world had been going around the earth trying to pick up information, when something had gone wrong. Because of this they had been forced to land in a field so that the damage could be repaired. The hole had been caused when the saucer struck the earth, while the strange marks nearby were made when it took off again. This, said the man, was the simplest explanation of how the hole had appeared. Judging from the interest the public took in the matter, there must be quite a few people who secretly believe or hope that this simple explanation is the true one.

1.What aroused public interest?

 A. A mysterious hole in a field.              B. Various explanations offered by experts.

 C. A simple explanation given by a man.      D. The shape of the flying saucers.

2.The author thought the man’s explanation was________. 

 A. boring but imaginative                  B. reasonable and interesting

 C. meaningless but interesting              D. mysterious and unbelievable

3.The man found a lot of proofs except ____. 

 A. special marks on soil near the hole     B. yellow leaves on some bushes nearby

 C. a small piece of meal in the hole       D. the remains of the flying saucer

4.It’s said the outer-space people were circling the earth _______.

 A. to repair their saucer                 B. to strike the earth

 C. to. collect information              D. to make strange marks

 

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