PASSAGE 54
Attitudes to AIDS Now
Most people say that the USA is making progress in fighting AIDS, but they don’t know there’s no cure and strongly disagree that "the AIDS epidemic is over," a new survey finds.
The findings, released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, reassure activists who have worried that public concern about AIDS might disappear in light of recent news about advances in treatment and declines in deaths.
"While people are very optimistic about the advances, they’re still realistic about the fact that there is no cure" says Sophia Chang, director of HIV programs at the foundation.
The Kaiser survey, like a recent USA TODAY Gallup Poll, does find that the number of people ranking AIDS as the country’s top health problem has fallen. In the Kaiser poll, 38% say it’s the top concern, down from 44% in a 1996 poll; in the Gallup Poll, 29% say AIDS in No.1, down from 41% in 1992 and 67% in 1987.
Other findings from Kaiser, which polled more than 1,200 adults in September and October and asked additional questions of another 1,000 adults in November:
52% say the country is making progress against AIDS, up from 32% in 1995.
52% say the government spends too little on AIDS.
86% correctly say AIDS drugs can now lengthen lives; an equal number correctly say that the drugs are not cures.
67% incorrectly say that AIDS deaths increased or stayed the same in the past year; 24% know deaths fell.
Daniel Zingale, director of AIDS Action Council, says, "I’m encouraged that the American people are getting the message that the AIDS epidemic isn’t over. I hope the decision-makers in Washington are getting the same message… We have seen signs of complacency.
1. What do activists worry about?
A) Recent news about AIDS is not true.
B) People may stop worrying about AIDS.
C) Deaths caused by AIDS may not decline.
D) Advances in AIDS treatment are too slow.
2. According to the passage, people’s attitude toward the cure of AIDS is
A) optimistic.
B) realistic.
C) pessimistic.
D) hopeless.
3. The Gallup Poll shows that the number of people
A) who suffer from the worst disease--- AIDS has fallen.
B) who think AIDS threatens the countryside has fallen.
C) who worry about AIDS and health problems has fallen.
D) who think AIDS is the country’s top health killer has fallen.
4. According to the Kaiser Poll, which of the following is NOT correct?
A) The country is making progress against AIDS.
B) AIDS drugs still cannot save people’s lives.
C) AIDS drugs can now make people live longer.
D) More and more people die of AIDS now.
5. The work "massage" in the last paragraph means
A) printed new.
B) contact.
C) meaning.
D) central idea.
Key: BBDDD
PASSAGE 55
Drug Reactions---A Major Cause of Death
Adverse drug reactions may cause the deaths of over 100,000 US hospital patients each year, making them a leading cause of death nationwide, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"The incidence of serious and fatal adverse drug reactions(ADRs) in US hospital was found to be extremely high," say researchers at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.
They carried on an analysis of 39 ADR-related studies at US hospitals over the past 30 years and defined an ADR as "any harmful, unintended, and undesired effect of a drug which occurs at doses used in humans for prevention, diagnosis, or therapy."
An average 6.7% of all hospitalized patients experience an ADR every year, according to the researchers. They estimate that "in 1994, overall 2,216,000 hospitalized patients had serious ADRs, and 106,000 had fatal ADRs." This means that ADRs may rank as the fourth single largest cause of death in America.
And these incidence figures are probably conservative, the researchers add, since their ADR definition did not include outcomes linked to problems in drug administration, overdoses, drug abuse, and therapeutic failures.
The control of ADRs also means spending more money. One US study estimated the overall cost of treating ADRs at up to $4 billion per year.
Dr David Bates of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, believes that healthcare workers need to pay more attention to the problem, especially since many ADRs are easily preventable. "When a patient develops an allergy or sensitivity, it is often not recorded," Bates notes, "and patients receive drug to which they have known allergies or sensitivities with disturbing frequency." He believes computerized surveillance systems---still works-in-progress at many of the nation’s hospitals---should help cut down the frequency of these types of errors.

1. Researchers at the University of Toronto believe that
A) ADRs have caused medical problems, though they seldom lead to death.
B) ADRs have very often caused patients to die in Canada.
C) ADRs have caused many deaths in America over the past 30 years.
D) It is easy to prevent ADRs from happening.
2. The investigators say that
A) 67 patients out of 100 in every American hospital die from ADRs each year.
B) 67 patients out of 100 in every American hospital experience from ADRs each year.
C) 6.7% of all hospitalized patients in America experience ADRs each year on average.
D) 6.7% of all hospitalized patients in Canada experience ADRs each year on average.
3. An American research estimates that the total sum of money spent in treating ADRs each year is as much as
A) $40,000,000,000
B) $4,000,000,000
C) $400,000,000
D) $40,000,000
4. The Canadian investigators think that
A) the ADR incidence figures form their research are surely very exact.
B) the ADR incidence figures form their research are probably to high.
C) the ADR incidence figures form their research are perhaps too low.
D) None of the above is true.
5. According to Dr David Bates, hospitals in America
A) are not paying enough attention to possibilities of ADR happenings.
B) Have never tried to use computers to prevent ADRs from happening.
C) Do not use those drugs which will cause side effects to their patients.
D) Know that many ADRs are easily preventable.
KEY: CCBCA
PASSAGE 56
Phobia
Phobia is intense and persistent fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. Because of this intense and persistent fear, the phobic person often leads a constricted life. The anxiety is typically out of proportion to the real situation, and the victim is fully aware that the fear is irrational.
Phobic anxiety is distinguishable from other forms of anxiety only in that it occurs specifically in relation to a certain object or situation. This anxiety is characterized by physiological symptoms such as a rapid, pounding heartbeat, stomach disorders, nausea, diarrhea, frequent urination, choking feelings, flushing of the face, perspiration, tremulousness, and faintness. Some phobic people are able to confront their fears. More commonly, however, they avoid the situation or object that cause the fear---an avoidance that impairs the sufferer’s freedom.
Psychiatrists recognize three major types of phobias. Simple phobias are fears of specific objects or situations such as animal, closed spaces, and heights. The second type, agoraphobia, is fear of open, public places and situations (such as public vehicles and crowded shopping centers) from which escape is difficult; agoraphobics tend increasingly to avoid more situations until eventually they become housebound. Social phobias, the third type, are fears of appearing stupid or shameful in social situations. The simple phobias, especially the fear of animal, may begin in childhood and persist into adulthood. Agoraphobia characteristically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood, and social phobia is also associated with adolescence.
Although agoraphobia is more often seen in treatment than the other types of phobia, it is not believed to be as common as simple phobia. Taken together, the phobias are believed to afflict 5 to 10 persons in 100. Agoraphobia and simple phobia are more commonly diagnosed in women than in men; the distribution for social phobia is not known. Agoraphobias, social phobias, and animal phobias tend to run in families.
Behavioral techniques have proved successful in treating phobias, especially simple and social phobias. One technique, systematic desensitization, involves gradually confronting the phobic person with situations or objects that are increasingly close to the feared ones. Exposure therapy, another behavioral method, has recently been shown more affective. In this technique, phobics are repeatedly exposed to the feared situation or object so that they can see that no harm befalls them; the fear gradually fades. Antianxiety drugs have also been used as palliatives. Antidepressant drugs have also proved successful in treating some phobias.
1. According to the passage, a phobic person has fear
A) because he thinks life is terrible.
B) because the things before him are really fearful.
C) even if he knows that his fear is unnecessary.
D) for he is always threatened by others.
2. All the following symptoms may be experienced by a phobic EXCETP
A) sweating.
B) trembling.
C) forgetting things.
D) feeling like vomiting.
3. When faced with the object or situation they are afraid of, most phobics
A) try to stay away from the object or situation.
B) try to pick up courage and fight the object or situation.
C) go to their doctors so as to gain freedom.
D) know that their fears are the same with other forms of anxiety.
4. People suffering from agoraphobia may be afraid of
A) staying with dogs and cats.
B) taking the bus in rush hours.
C) standing on top of a high building.
D) staying alone at home.
5. Systematic desensitization and exposure therapy are similar ways of treating phobias
A) because both involve gradual exposure of phobics to fear stimuli
B) because both are behavioral methods.
C) because both use antianxiety drugs.
D) because both use antidepressant drugs.
KEY: CCABB