阅读理解 Less than a year ago, a new generation of diet pills seemed to offer the long-sought answer to our chronic weight problems. Hundreds of thousands of pound-conscious Americans had discovered that a drug combination known as "fen-phen" could shut off voracious appetites like magic, and the FDA had just approved a new drug, Redux, that did the same with fewer side effects. Redux would attract hundreds of thousands of new pill poppers within a few months. But now the diet-drug revolution is facing a backlash. Some of the nation''s largest HMOs, including Aetna U.S. Healthcare and Prudential Healthcare, have begun cutting back or eliminating reimbursement for both pills. Diet chains like Jenny Craig and Nutri-System are backing away from them too. Several states, meanwhile, have restricted the use of fen-phen, last week the Florida legislature banned new prescriptions entirely and called on doctors to wean current patients from the drug within 30 days; it also put a 90-day limit on Redux prescriptions. Even New Jersey doctor Sheldon Levine, who touted Redux last year on TV and in his book The Redux Revolution, has stopped giving it to all but his most obese patients. The reason for all the retrenchment: potentially lethal side effects. Over the summer, the FDA revealed that 82 patients had developed detects in their heart valves while on fen-phen, and that seven patients had come down with the same condition on Redux. As if that weren’t bad enough, physicians reported that a woman who had been taking fen-phen for less than a month died of primary pulmonary hypertension, a fatal lung condition already associated with Redux. And an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association last month confirmed earlier reports that both fen-phen and Redux can cause brain damage in lab animals. These findings led the New England Journal to publish an editorial admonishing doctors to prescribe the drugs only for patients with severe obesity. Meanwhile, FDA asked drug makers to put more explicit warnings on fen-phen and Redux labels. Since mid-July, prescriptions for fen-phen have dropped 56%, and those for Redux 36%, according to IMS America, a pharmaceutical-market research firm. All that really does, however, is to bring the numbers down to where they should have been all along. Manufacturers said from the start that their pills offered a short-term therapy for the obese, not for people looking to fit into a smaller bathing suit. FDA approved Redux with just such a caveat, and when limited to these patients, the drugs may still make sense-despite the risks-because morbid obesity carries its own dangers, including heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Too often, however, Redux and fen-phen were peddled'' to all comers, almost like candy. The current backlash, says Levine, is a "roller coaster that never should have happened."
单选题 The new pills seemed to be a solution to _______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。从第一段可知：人们一直在寻求解决超重问题的答案，而新一代的减肥药似乎提供了这一答案(Less than a year ago，a new generation of diet pills seemed to offer the long-sought answer to our chronic weight problems．)。因此，选项A是正确答案。
单选题 The statement "diet-drug revolution is facing a backlash" (Para. 2) is supported by the following facts except _______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理判断题。选项D的意义是：“新泽西州的Sheldon Levine医生在电视以及他的书中大肆赞美其中的一种减肥药”，这与该题中的“减肥药的革命正面临着倒退和逆转”的意义相悖，故选项D是正确答案。其他选项内容都支持那个说法。
单选题 The worst case that revealed the fatal dark side of the diet pills is _______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】事实细节题。第三段提到减肥药已导致诸多服用者患心脏疾病，第四段说“可好像还不够糟糕似的，据医生们报道，一位服用fen-phen不足一个月的妇女因患肺压高病而死去(As if that weren''t had enough， physicians reported that a woman who had been taking fen-phen for less than a month died of primary pulmonary hyper- tension)”。可见，这起妇女死亡的病历是文本提到的减肥药之致命副作用的惟一事例。所以选项C是正确答案。
单选题 New England Journal admonished doctors to _______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。根据第五段第一句：These findings led the New England Journal to publish an editorial admonishing doctors to prescribe the drugs only for patients with severe obesity．(这些发现使得《新英格兰杂志》发表了一篇社论，告诫医生们只为严重肥胖者开这些减肥药方)。因此，选项A是正确答案。
单选题 According to the drug manufacturers, the pills _______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。根据第六段第二句：：“减肥药的制造者们说，从一开始，该药就只是为肥胖症患者提供短期的治疗，而并不适用于那些盼望能穿进更加瘦小的泳装的人(Manufacturers said from the start that their pills offered a short-term therapy for the obese，not for people looking to fit into a smaller bathing suit．)”。故选项A是答案。