单选题
When researchers come up with a new treatment that makes us feel or work better, it's usually not just the truly sick who end up going in for an upgrade. The progress in developing treatments for illnesses that ravage memory and thought raises an important question: might the same tools be used to improve the functioning of minds that by most standards are already running fairly smoothly? We may well be approaching an era of designer brains, in which those of us feeling a little foggy or dull can have our IQ, fast recall, and self-confidence inflated up via the prescription pad. "Some brain-related conditions we think of as ordinary, "says one researcher, "may eventually become disorders, too" —including perhaps less-than-razor-sharp thinking. The notion of a prescription IQ lift is hardly new. According to polls, about one in 20 college students, and higher percentages of professors, already illicitly pop some form of Ritalin or Modafinil—legitimately prescribed for attention-deficit disorder and narcolepsy (嗜睡症), respectively—to augment alertness, concentration, and memory. But these drugs have proved only mildly effective on normal minds, and carry potentially severe side effects ranging from addiction to overstimulation. Scientists had originally hoped that the decoding of the human genome would lead quickly to small groups of genes that control major mental disorders and traits, be they Alzheimer's disease (老年痴呆症), intelligence, or personality. That hasn't been the case; individual genes turn out in most cases to only weakly affect the brain, with most illnesses emerging from the interaction of large, complex networks of hundreds of genes. That challenge hasn't kept researchers from tracking down many of the genes in these networks to chip away at the genetic roots of mental disorders—and to come up with possible treatments based on some of those findings. The result is that medicine may allow us to challenge our genetic inheritance and repair environmental insults to the brain, whether as Alzheimer's sufferers or just moody, forgetful people and hazy thinkers. Techniques undergoing testing now include altering genes within brain cells, or even pushing genes into creating altogether new brain cells. Neurologix in Fort Lee, New Jersey, for example, is developing brain-related gene therapies, which involve injecting harmless viruses that insert custom-built genes into cells. Though other experimental gene therapies have in the past often caused severe and even fatal side effects, Neurologix hopes to avoid them by targeting the viruses only at those cells that need repairing. In Fact, We won't necessarily have to turn to these more radical therapies to sharpen our thinking. The genetic and other new scientific insights into the brain are also helping to point the way to new drugs targeted at brain disorders—drugs that may also end up being taken as smart drugs by many of us without serious disorders.
单选题
What does the first sentence of the passage imply?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[一点即通] 根据题干关键词the first sentence定位到全文第一句：When re-searchers come up with a new treatment that makes us feel or work better，it's usually not just the truly sick who end up going in for an upgrade.当研究人员发现新疗法的时候，不只是生病的人在追求尝试这些新疗法。由此推断，那些没有生病的正常人也经常会去买这些新药来让自己更健康、聪明。这一推断在下文中也得到了验证，故选C)项。 [深度点拨] 第一段主要论述了心智正常的人却买一些帮助病患的药，故A)、B)、D)项均不合文意。
单选题
Which of the following about Ritalin is NOT true?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[一点即通] 根据题干关键词Ritalin定位到原文第二段第二句：...Ritalin or modafinil—legitimately prescribed for attention-deficit disorder and narcolepsy, respectively—to augment alertness，concentration， and memory. 可知Ritalin和Modafinil分别在治疗注意力不集中和嗜睡症时，需凭药方取药，也就是说Ritalin只对注意力缺失紊乱起作用，故C)项不符合原文。 [深度点拨] 根据第二段第一、二句可知，Ritalin这种药物依法需要按处方买药，帮助改善注意力和记忆力，并且存在潜在的上瘾等问题，故A)、B)、D)项均符合原文。
单选题
What can we learn from the Paragraph 3?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[一点即通] 根据题干关键词the third paragraph定位到原文第三段第二句：...most illnesses emerging from the interaction of large, complex networks of hundreds of genes.可知大多数精神和大脑疾病是有几百组大型复杂的基因群相互作用引起的，故B)项符合原文。 [深度点拨] 根据第二段第二句That hasn't been the case...可知，科学家本来预想的事情(基因的破解能迅速引领到控制精神紊乱的基因群的破解)未实现，因此老年痴呆症也为找到解决办法，故A)、C)项排除，原文第一句说，破解major mental disorders的基因未实现，但由常识可知，一些普通的mental diseases可以治疗，第四段第一句话也验证了这一常识，排除D)项。
单选题
From Paragraph 4, we can learn that ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[一点即通] 根据题干关键词the Fourth Paragraph定位到原文第四段段末句：Though other experimental gene therapies have in the past often caused severe and even fatal side effects. Neurologix hopes to avoid them by targeting the viruses only at those cells that need repairing.可知一些基因疗法的尝试有严重甚至致命的副作用，但是有希望将无害病毒只定向地插入那些需要修复的细胞，从而避免副作用，故C)项符合原文。 [深度点拨] 根据第四段第二句：The result is that medicine may allow us to challenge our genetic inheritance and repair environmental insults to the brain.可知，医药技术只是有希望能让我们挑战基因遗传并修复环境造成的损伤，但并非已成为现实，故排除A)、B)项；原文未比较环境和遗传的影响，排除D)项。