单选题 Thousands of years ago man used handy rocks for his surgical operations. Later he used sharp bone or horn, metal knives and more recently, rubber and plastic and that was where we stuck, in surgical instrument terms; for many years. In the 1960s a new tool was developed, one which was, first of all, to be of great practical use to the armed forces and industry, but which was also, in time, to revolutionize the art and science of surgery.
The tool is the laser and it is being used by more and more surgeons all over the world, for a very large number of different complaints. The word "laser" means: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. As we all know, light is hot, any source of light — from the sun itself down to a humble match burning — will give warmth. But light is usually spread out over a wide area. The light in a laser beam, however, is concentrated. This means that a light with no more power than that produced by an ordinary electric light bulb becomes intensely strong as it is concentrated to a pinpoint-sized beam.
Experiments with these pinpoint beams showed researchers that different energy sources produce beams that have a particular effect on certain living cells. It is now possible for eye surgeons to operate on the back of the human eye without harming the front of the eye, simply by passing a laser beam right through the eyeball. No knives, no stitches, no unwanted damage — a true surgical wonder. Operations which once left patients exhausted and in need of long period of recovery time now leave them feeling relaxed and comfortable. So much more difficult operations can now be tried.
The rapid development of laser techniques in the past ten years has made it clear that the future is likely to be very exciting. Perhaps some cancers will be treated with laser in a way that makes surgery not only safer but also more effective. Altogether, tomorrow may see more and more information coming to light on the diseases which can be treated medically.

单选题 Which of the following would be appropriate to describe the instruments for surgical operations up until 1960s?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】分析推理题。短文第一段首先简要概述了一下20世纪60年代以前的人类所使用的医疗器具的材料(从石块、橡皮到塑料)，然后在最后一句指出，20世纪60年代开发出了一种新的工具，使得医疗技术和医疗科学发生了革命。由此可知，以前的工具应当属于与revolutionize一词含义对立的traditional(传统的)，而不是其他三项。
单选题 What do we find after the development of the laser in the 1960s?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。答案对应于第一段最后一句: ...revolutionize the art and science of surgery，其中的revolutionize与[D]中的changed greatly同义，而the art and science of surgery与methods in surgery同义。此外，由后文中使用的一些词如a true surgical wonder等及常识也可推知正确答案。
单选题 The reason why the laser beam is very strong is that ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。答案信息对应于第二段最后一句: ...as it is concentrated to a pinpoint-sized beam，即是由于集中而变得强大，选[B]。
单选题 After the use of the laser beam, surgeons can perform operation which ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。答案信息对应于第三段倒数第二、三句：No knives，no stiches，no unwanted damage...relaxed and comfortable，即用激光手术给患者带来的伤害少，不需很长的恢复时间，故选[C]。
单选题 The rapid development of laser techniques has meant that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】分析推理题。最后一段对激光技术的发展给医疗手术带来的前景进行了展望。由第一句中的the future is likely to be very exciting及其余两句的意思综合可知[A]对。其余三项都不合文意。