单选题
U.S. to Start $3.2 Billion Child Health Study in January

A study that will cost $3.2 billion and last more than two decades to track the health of 100,000 U.S. children from before birth to age 21 will be launched in January, U.S. health officials said on Friday.
Officials from the U.S. government"s National Institutes of Health (NIH) said they hope the study, to be conducted at 105 locations throughout the United States, can help identify early-life influences that affect later development, with the goal of learning new ways to treat or prevent illness.
The study will examine hereditary and environmental factors such as exposure to certain chemicals that affect health.
Researchers will collect genetic and biological samples from people in the study as well as samples from the homes of the women and their babies including air, water, dust and materials used to construct their residences, the NIH said.
Officials said more than $200 million has been spent already and the study is projected to cost $3.2 billion.
"We anticipate that in the long term, what we learn from the study will result in a significant savings in the nation"s health care costs," Dr. Duane Alexander, who heads the NIH"s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, told reporters.
The study will begin in January when the University of North Carolina and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York start signing up pregnant women whose babies will then be followed to age 21.
Some of the early findings will be about factors behind pre-term birth, which has become more common in recent years, according to Dr. Peter Scheidt of the NIH, who heads the study.
The people taking part will be from rural, urban and suburban areas, from all income and educational levels and from all racial groups, the NIH said.
单选题 The aim of the study is to find new ways to ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 主旨题。答案参见第二段,此项研究的目的就是learning new ways to treat or prevent illness。
单选题 Researchers will collect all the following EXCEPT ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节考查题。选项A、B、C的内容在第四段均可找到,选项D表述错误,应该是参加研究的妇女及其婴儿家中的空气与水等物质,而不是医院中的空气与水。
单选题 It is expected that through the study the nation"s health care costs ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 细节考查题。答案参见第六段,预计从长远的角度讲,此项研究将有利于节约国家卫生保健费用开支。
单选题 The babies of the participants will be followed ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 细节考查题。答案参见第一段和倒数第三段,这些婴儿将从出生前一直被跟踪到21岁。
单选题 Which is NOT true of the people in the study?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节考查题。选项A、B、C的内容在最后一段均可找到,只有选项D的表述是错误的,研究对象不可能是所有年龄段的人。