Skin cancer deaths among men have jumped sharply in wealthy nations since 1985, with death rates among women rising more slowly or even declining, researchers have told a medical conference in Glasgow.

Reasons for the difference between sexes are unclear but evidence suggests men are less likely to protect themselves from the sun or pay attention to public health warnings, Dorothy Yang, a doctor said.

More than 90% of melanoma (黑素瘤) cancers are caused by skin cell damage from exposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.

In eight of 18 developed countries examined, men’s skin cancer death rates had increased in the past 30 years by at least 50%.

But the nations with the biggest rise in skin cancer deaths were often not those with the highest death rates, the research showed. In Australia, for example, nearly six out of every 100,000 men died of the disease in 2013 -2015. That is twice the second highest death rate (Finland), but only a 10% increase compared to 30 years earlier.

Australia has been an early performer of public health media campaigns since the 1970s to promote sun-smart’ behaviour. While debate continues on how much of Australia’s record skin cancer rate originates from the sun, 30 years of public health campaigns have no doubt made Australians acutely aware of the dangers.

Skin cancer deaths among women in 1985 in Australia occurred at half the rate as for men, and declined by 10% over the next 30 years. In other countries, female death from the disease went down over the same period. In some other sun-loving nations, however, women saw at least as sharp a jump from 1985 to 2015 in death rates as men.

Scientists are studying whether biological or genetic factors might also play a role in skin cancer, but findings so far are inconclusive.

【小题1】What can be concluded from the passage?

A．Death rates among women are declining all the time.

B．Australia is the first country to conduct public health media campaigns.

C．Death rate of skin cancer in Australia was once the highest.

D．Female death rate of skin  cancer in some sun-loving  countries went down.

【小题2】What probably keeps people away from skin cancer according to the text?

A．Declining exposure to UV.

B．Biological or genetic factors.

C．People’s love for sun.

D．People paying little attention to public health warnings.

【小题3】What does the underlined word “inconclusive” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Unclear.

B．Evident.

C．Definite.

D．Satisfying.

【小题4】What’s people’s attitude to public health campaigns in Australia?

A．Doubtful.

B．Positive.

C．Critical.

D．Controversial.

   In the United States, heart disease continues to be the number one cause of death of both men and women. However,the numbers are not the same between the two genders（性别）: clearly more men than women are diagnosed with heart disease every year.
In a new study, researchers involved 17 male and female volunteers, a near-equal mix of both genders, and looked for the effects stress had on the blood flow of their hearts. The tests were taken in all the subjects at rest and also while they did three minutes of mental math where they were given a series of arithmetic problems. In order to increase the stress levels during performing this task, the researchers urged（敦促） the participants to solve the problems faster or told them that they gave the wrong answer even when the answer was correct. At the end of the task, all 17 volunteers went through the same three heart function tests again.
It turned out that at rest there were very few differences between the results of the three tests in both men and women. During the mental math experiment, all the participants showed an increase in heart rates and blood pressure, regardless of gender. However, researchers found that while men showed an increase in the blood flow of their hearts under stress, there was no change in women. Dr. Chester Ray, professor of medicine who led the research, said in the statement that the findings come as a surprise since previous（先前的） studies have shown that men have more greatly reduced the heart blood flow than women during the physical stress from exercising. He added that reduction of stress is important to any person, regardless of gender,but this new study shows how mental stress differently affects the hearts of women, putting them at higher risk of heart disease.
According to researchers, these new findings of their work show the influence of mental or emotional stress on a person's physical health, and could explain why the heart disease like losing a partner happens almost only in women. More studies on the matter are needed in order to find out the reason behind this gender difference in the body's response to stress more thoroughly. More research could lead to more effective treatments and better prevention efforts for women who are more likely to suffer heart disease.
【小题1】What did the researchers want to do by forcing the subjects to work faster?

A．To get them to feel more stressed physically.

B．To make them feel more worried emotionally.

C．To let them give the wrong answer on purpose.

D．To have them perform worse in the tests at last.

【小题2】From the passage we can know the previous studies ______.

A．have explained how physical activity increases men's heart blood flow

B．have shown the relationship between a person's mental stress and physical stress

C．have shown physical activity makes men's heart blood flow reduced more than women

D．have explained the importance of keeping mental and physical health regardless of gender

【小题3】What can be concluded from the passage?

A．Mental stress hurts men's hearts more than women's.

B．Mental stress has a gender difference at different time.

C．Women feel more heartbroken when losing a partner.

D．Women will benefit a lot from more related studies.

【小题4】Where can you most probably read this passage?

A．In a guidebook.

B．In a fiction book.

C．In a health magazine.

D．In a fashion magazine.

   AIDS may be one of the most undesirable diseases in the world. Luckily, there is now hope for AIDS patients. According to a recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Chinese scientists have successfully used CRISPR technology-a method of gene editing-to treat a patient with HIV. While it may not have cured the patient fully, it still represents a huge step forward in fighting the disease.

The patient was a 27-year-old Chinese man who was diagnosed with both AIDS and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer. Despite his bleak situation, doctors offered him a glimmer of hope: a bone marrow (骨髓) transplant to treat his cancer and an experimental treatment for his HIV.

They edited the DNA in bone marrow stem cells from a donor before transplanting the cells into the patient. Specifically, the treatment involved using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a gene known as CCRS, which encodes a protein that HIV uses to get inside human cells. Without the gene, HIV is unable to enter cells. Talking about the gene, lead scientist Deng Hongkui told CNN, “After being edited, the cells-and the blood cells they produce-have the ability to resist HIV infection.” Nineteen months after the treatment, the patient’s leukemia was in complete relief and donor cells without CCR5 remained, according to the research paper.

Though the transplant did not cure the man’s HIV, it still showed the effectiveness of gene-editing technology, as there was no indication of any unintended genetic alterations (改变) -a major concern with past gene therapy experiments.

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in the United States, who was not involved in the study, praised the treatment. “They did a very innovative experiment, it was safe,” he told Live Science. “It should be viewed as a success.”

Deng believes gene-editing technology could “bring a new dawn” to blood-related diseases such as AIDS and sickle cell anemia. Thanks to this new technology, “the goal of a functional cure for AIDS is getting closer and closer,” he said.

【小题1】How did the new treatment fight against HIV?

A．By preventing HIV from entering cells.	B．By changing the structure of HIV.
C．By removing a protein that HIV feeds on.	D．By identifying and killing HIV.

【小题2】What was the result of the treatment?

A．CCR5 and other genes in the patient’s cells were changed.

B．Some of the patient’s blood cells could resist HIV infection.

C．HIV could no longer get into the patient’s cells.

D．The donor cells without CCR5 disappeared finally.

【小题3】What do we know about the experiment?

A．It has provided an innovative way to cure AIDS patients.

B．It pointed out the problems of gene therapy for AIDS.

C．It’s the first experiment to use gene-editing technology to treat AIDS.

D．It could offer a safe treatment for blood-related diseases.

   The little girl is now 14 months old and should weigh at least 20 pounds. Yet she is still the size of a newborn baby, only reaching just over 7 pounds and a mere 19 inches.

Suraya has been examined by a whole team of experts in different fields. But doctors still have no idea why she refuses to grow, describing her condition as a “real mystery”. Experts have carried out all kinds of tests on her to find out what could be wrong with her. However, so far these have brought no optimistic results.

Her mother described that her daughter was like a real-life baby doll. “She cannot sit, talk or crawl and she has to be fed through a tube to keep her alive. But she just hasn’t been putting on any weight,” she said. “It’s very difficult because we don’t know what the future holds for Suraya. We hope the doctors will soon be able to find out the reason and that she will be able to live a normal life.”

Suraya was born four weeks earlier weighing 2.6 pounds. Experts say nine out of ten babies born at this stage will immediately start growing and put on weight. In Suraya’s case, she stayed at her birth weight for the first eight months and has only put on a small amount over the past six months.

Suraya has now been taken to London’s famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for further tests. Dr. Jide Menakaya said, “She is a very interesting little baby. Her case is highly unusual. For 17 years, I have certainly never seen anything like this. The fact that she still did not grow after we put the feeding tube directly into her veins (静脉) was unexpected and surprised us greatly. This is incredibly rare (罕见的). Now we are working on a new theory, but more research needs to be carried out.”

【小题1】What’s the matter with Suraya?

A．She caught a kind of common illness.	B．She was born 14 weeks earlier.
C．She isn’t getting any bigger.	D．There’s something wrong with her brain.

【小题2】What’s the doctors’ attitude to Suraya’s case?

A．Excited and optimistic.	B．Surprised and puzzled.
C．Interested but helpless.	D．Puzzled and hopeless.

【小题3】What can we know about Suraya from the passage?

A．Suraya’s mother is worried about Suraya’s future.

B．Suraya is lovelier than other girls.

C．Suraya can’t recover from the illness.

D．Doctors have to try their best to help Suraya.

【小题4】It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A．it’s certain that Suraya could never live long

B．doctors have made great progress in Suraya’s illness

C．Suraya will be able to live a normal life in the future

D．it’s hard to predict what will happen to Suraya