Question

How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.

There are now more than a thousand genetic tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年癡呆癥）.

“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.

“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, could be understood as “the beginning of the end.” “That’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”

Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was “no significant difference” between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.

1.The first paragraph is meant to__________.

A. ask some questions

B. introduce the topic

C. satisfy readers’ curiosity

D. describe an academic fact

2.Which of the following is true of James Watson？

A. He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.

B. He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

C. He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease.

D. He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease.

3.According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.

A. advisable not to let him know

B. impossible to hide his disease

C. better to inform him immediately

D. necessary to remove his anxiety

4.The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.

A. break down B. drop out

C. leave off D. turn away

5.The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.

prefer to hear good news

B. tend to find out the truth

C. can accept some bad news

D. have the right to be informed

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.A

5.C

【解析】

試題分析：文章大意：文章討論了人們?cè)覆辉敢庵�道自己得了病。人們認(rèn)為知道可能得什么病，會(huì)有思想負(fù)擔(dān)，但Dr. Green的研究表明人們是可以接受壞消息的。

1.寫(xiě)作意圖題。從第一段可知作者提出了兩個(gè)問(wèn)題，引出話題：人們?cè)覆辉敢庵�道自己得了病。故B正確。

2.2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。從第二段的句子：Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年癡呆癥）. 可知James Watson不想得知得病的機(jī)會(huì)。故D正確。

3.從第三段的句子：“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.”可知如果人們知道可能得什么病，會(huì)有思想負(fù)擔(dān)，所以最好不要告訴他們。故A正確。

4.從前面的句子：It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, 可知得到壞消息的人，會(huì)崩潰。故A正確。

5.推理判斷題。從最后一段的句子：In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.可知 Dr. Green的研究表明人們是可以接受壞消息的。故C正確。

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