单选题 What impact can mobile phones have on their users' health? Many people worry about the supposed ill effects caused by radiation from handsets and base stations, despite the lack of credible evidence of any harm. But evidence for the beneficial effects of mobile phones on health is rather more abundant. Indeed, a systematic review carried out by Rifat Atun and his colleagues at Imperial College, London, rounds up 150 examples of the use of text-messaging in the delivery of health care. These uses fall into three categories: efficiency gains; public-health gains; and direct benefits to patients by incorporating text-messaging into treatment regimes. The study, funded by Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator, was published this week.
Using texting to boost efficiency is not rocket science, but big savings can be achieved. Several trials carried out in England have found that the use of tenet-messaging reminders reduces the number of missed appointments with family doctors by 26—39%, for example, and the number of missed hospital appoint ments by 33—50%. If such schemes were rolled out nationally, this would translate into annual savings of￡256m—364m.
Text messages are also being used to remind patients about blood tests, clinics, scans and dental appointments. Similar schemes in America, Norway and Sweden have had equally satisfying results though the use of text-message reminders in the Netherlands, where non-attendance rates are low, at 40%, had no effect other than to annoy patients.
Text messages can also be a good way to disseminate public-health information, particularly to groups who are hard to reach by other means, such as teenagers, or in developing countries where other means of communication are unavailable. Text messages have been used in India to inform people about the World Health Organisation's strategy to control tuberculosis, for example, and in Kenya, Nigeria and Mall to provide information about HIV and malaria. In Iraq, text messages were used to support a campaign to vaccinate nearly 5m children against polio.
Finally, there are the uses of text-messaging as part of a treatment regime. These involve sending re- minders to patients to take their medicine at the right time, or to encourage compliance with exercise regimes or efforts to stop smoking. The evidence for the effectiveness of such schemes is generally anecdotal, however, notes Dr. Rifat. More quantitative research is needed—which is why his team also published three papers this week looking at the use of mobile phones in health care in more detail. One of these papers, written in conjunction with Victoria Franklin and Stephen Greene of the University of Dundee, in Scotland, reports the results of a trial in which diabetic teenagers' treatment was backed up with text messaging.
Diabetes needs constant management, and requires patients to take an active role in their treatment by measuring blood-sugar levels and administering insulin injections. The most effective form of therapy is an intensive regime in which patients adjust the dose of insulin depending on what they eat. This is more onerous for the patient, but allows for a greater dietary variety. Previous studies have shown that intensive treatment is effective only with close supervision by doctors. Dr. Franklin and her colleagues devised a system called Sweet Talk, which sends patients personalised text messages reminding them of the treatment goals they have set themselves, and allowing them to send questions to doctors. The Sweet Talk system was tested over a period of 18 months with teenage patients receiving both conventional and intensive diabetes treatment. A control group received conventional treatment and no text messages.
The researchers found that the use of text-messaging significantly increased "self-efficacy" (the effectiveness of treatment, measured by questionnaire). More importantly, among patients receiving intensive therapy, the level of haemoglobin HbAlc--an indicator of blood-glucose and hence of glycaemic control--was 14% lower than for those in the control group. Since even a 10% decline in HbAlc level is associated with a reduction in complications such as eye and kidney problems, this is an impressive result. It suggests that texting can cheaply and effectively support intensive therapy among teenagers, who often demonstrate poor compliance.
Despite such promising results, Dr. Rifat notes, many of the medical uses of text-messaging have not yet been subjected to clinical trials, because they are so new. And eyen where the benefits are proven, the technology has not been systematically deployed on a large scale. But when it comes to improving outcomes and reducing costs, text messages would seem to be just what the doctor ordered.

单选题 Which of the following can be concluded from the first paragraph?
[A] That cell phones are harmful to people's health is unconvincing.
[B] Cell phones can bring more benefits to people than harm.
[C] People won't worry about the harm cell phones do any longer.
[D] There are only three types of benefits cell phones bring us.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推断题。由题干可知本题就首段内容提问，第二句提到：许多人担心手机手持装置及通信基站的辐射会对身体有害，不过始终缺乏可靠依据。这说明人们的“手机对人体健康有害”的观点只是一种猜测，缺乏有力的证据，故[A]为答案。第三句提到“关于手机对健康有益的证据却越来越多”，这只能说明手机对健康有好处，虽然“缺乏可靠依据”也不能说明对健康无害，同理，也无法判断是弊多还是利多，[B]为过度推断。倒数第二句提到了“短信的三类用途”，但[D]中的only表示将意思绝对化，排除。首段没有提及人们在知道Rifat Atun的研究结论后反应如何，[C]无依据。
单选题 The phrase "rolled out" in Paragraph 2 probably means
[A] ProPagandized. [B] conceived.
[C] spread. [D] extolled.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】语义理解题。由题干定位至第二段。首句为该段主题句：利用编发短信来提高工作效率并不是多么高深的科学，但是能节省大笔费用。之后的两句是用数据对该句进行说明，显然是支持“节省大笔费用”这个论点的论据。第二句提到“英国有几项试验发现，短信提醒功能将同家庭医生的约会错过率降低了26%到39%，同医院的约会错过率则减少了33%到50%。”，这引出第三句中的结果“相当于每年节省2.56— 3.64亿英镑”。根据逻辑联系可以判断，节省这么多钱的前提是text-messaging reminders能在全国范围内加以应用，[D]“称赞，表扬”与此意相距甚远，排除。conceive意为“构思”，这个应用text-messaging reminders的计划如果只停留在构思阶段，是无法节省钱的，排除[B]。propagandize意为“宣传”，但宣传只是过程，没有涉及到结果。spread意为“推广”，由￡256m—364m这个数字来看，这应该是该项计划得以推广开来的结果，故[C]为答案。
单选题 All the following are the uses of text-messaging EXCEPT
[A] patients' reminder. [B] a therapeutic approach.
[C] a campaign supporter. [D] information transfer.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干中的uses可至首段，看到提到的三种用途：efficiency gains；public-health gains;... treatment regimes，浏览一下接下来的四段，很容易看出这是对三种用途分别展开的说明。第二段和第三段提到了the use of text-messaging reminders和being used to remind patients，[A]符合原文。第四段首句中的a good way to disseminate public-health information(传播公共卫生信息的一个好途径)说明[D]符合原文。[B]与第五段中的part of a treatment regime(治疗方案的一部分)吻合。第四段末句提到了“text messages were used to support a campaign”，但该句是指“短信则被用来声援一项给将近5岁的儿童接种天花疫苗的行动”，[C]是对该部分内容的曲解，与原意不符，故为答案。
单选题 The result of the teenage diabetic patients shows that
[A] those in the control group are more rebellious.
[B] text-messaging can motivate them to supervise themselves.
[C] conventional treatment isn't as effective as intensive treatment.
[D] adult diabetic patients should also try intensive treatment.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推断题。由题干中的teenage patients定位至第六段，前三句对糖尿病的治疗过程进行了说明：糖尿病需要持续性治疗，并要求患者在治疗过程中必须积极主动…最有效的治疗形式就是进行强化治疗，即患者根据饮食调整胰岛素用量。这对患者而言是麻烦，但饮食上可以有多种选择。然后指出intensive treatment在什么时候有效：只有在医生密切监控下，强化治疗才有效。之后介绍了“甜言蜜语”系统及对该系统进行检测的过程。第七段末句指出检测数据说明的问题：它显示短信能够便宜有效地辅助少年患者强化治疗，而这些患者在治疗中往往配合性很差。从上述内容可以看出，短信提醒可以敦促少年糖尿病患者进行自我监控，进行持续性治疗，故[B]为答案。第六段最后两句提到Dr．Franklin把实验对象分成两个组，一组只接受传统治疗方案，没有短信提醒，一种接受传统和强化结合治疗，有短信提醒。虽然后者中的病人检测结果好，但因为两组采用的方法不同，不能说明前者中的病人更叛逆，排除[A]。第六段第二句提到了The most effective form of therapy is an intensive regime，但实验中，一组既接受了传统治疗又有强化治疗，外加短信提醒，另一组只接受了传统治疗，虽然[C]是文章提及的内容，但从实验结果本身无法得出此结论，排除。这里没有提及“成人糖尿病患者”，[D]属于过度推断。
单选题 Which of the following may best Summarize the text?
[A] People shouldn't worry about the supposed ill effects of mobile phones.
[B] Text-messaging should be widely used in all walks of life.
[C] Conventional treatment should be supplanted by new treatments.
[D] The medical uses of mobile phones show the healthy benefits.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】主旨题。本文开篇由问句引出人们有关“手机对人类健康影响”的观点：负面影响缺乏可靠证据；对健康有益的证据越来越多．之后提到Rifat Atun汇总的“150条手机短信用于提供医疗保健服务的事例”。然后指明短信的三种用途，并本别在第二，三段、第四段、第五段对这三种用途进行具体说明。第五段第三句指出“有关这些作用效果的例证一般都是道听途说来的，尚需进一步定量研究——这也正是里法特研究小组本周着眼于阐明手机对卫生保健的作用所发表的3篇论文的出发点”，之后对他们的定量研究进行了具体说明。由此可见，本文结构是总分结构，开篇提出主题，然后分项进行阐述，因此主旨就是首段提到的the beneficial effects of mobile phones on health，后面内容是用“手机短信对健康的作用”来论证该论点的，故 [D]为答案．本文只论证了“手机对健康的好处”，没有说明对健康的负面影响，排除[A]。末段提到“短信的很多医疗用途由于太过新颖，还没有接受临床试验，即便是已被证实的用途，也尚未得到系统性推广”，但本文只是谈到医疗领域，并未涉及其他领域，[D]中的all walks of life(各行各业)为过度推断。此外，conventional treatment是作者在介绍定量研究“少年糖尿病患者的”实验中提到的细节，非主旨，排除[C]。