单选题 Instinctively, the first thing we want to know about a disease is whether it is going to kill us. Twenty-five years ago, this was the only question about AIDS we could answer with any certainty; now, it is the only question we really cannot answer well at all.
By now, those of us in the AIDS business long term have cared for thousands of patients. No one with that kind of personal experience can doubt for a moment the deadly potential of HIV or the life-saving capabilities of the drugs developed against it. But there are also now hundreds of footnotes and exceptions and modifications to those two facts that make the big picture ever murkier (扑朔迷离).
We have patients scattered at every possible point., men and women who cruise on their medications with no problems at all, and those who never become stable on them and die of AIDS; those who refuse them until it is too late, and those who never need them at all; those who leave AIDS far behind only to die from lung cancer or breast cancer or liver failure, and those few who are killed by the medications themselves.
So, when we welcome a new patient into our world, one whose fated place in this world is still unclear, and that patient asks us, as most do, whether this illness is going to kill him or not, it often takes a bit of mental stammering before we hazard an answer.
Now, a complete rundown of all the news from the front would take hours. The statistics change almost hourly as new treatments appear. It is all too cold, too mathematical, too scary to dump on the head of a sick, frightened person. So we simplify. 'We have good treatments now,' we say. 'You should do fine.'
Once, not so long ago, we were working in another universe. Now we have simply rejoined the carnival (嘉年华) of modern medicine, noisy and encouraging, confusing and contradictory, fueled by the eternal balancing of benefits and risks.
You can win big, and why shouldn't you, with the usual fail-safe combination of luck and money. You have our very best hopes, so step right up: we sell big miracles but, offer no guarantees.

单选题 What does the author say about AIDS?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】依据题干中的AIDS和题文同序原则定位到原文第一段。细节辨认题。第一段第二句提到，25年前，关于艾滋病，这是我们唯一可以肯定回答的问题，根据第一句可知，“这”指的是“艾滋病是否致命”，由此可知，25年前，艾滋病肯定是致命的，故答案为A。原文未提及B“病人想知道关于艾滋病的一切事情”，故排除；C“我们现在可以肯定地回答关于艾滋病的一切事情”与原文意思不符，原文第一段末句提到，我们现在没法很好地回答艾滋病是否致命，故排除；D“我们以前回答不好关于艾滋病的问题”与原文意思不符，根据第一段第二句可知，25年前，我们可以肯定地告诉病人艾滋病是致命的，故排除。

单选题 What do we know about the AIDS patients?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】由题干中的AIDS patients和各选项定位到原文第三段。细节辨认题。本题考查艾滋病病人的细节。该题可以使用排除法。A“他们都需要药物的帮助”与原文意思不符，定位段提到，有些人根本不需要药物治疗，故排除；B“他们中的有些人死于不愿接受药物治疗”符合原文意思，原文提到，有到了不可救药的地步才肯服药的人，故为答案；C“他们最终都死于艾滋病”与原文意思不符，原文提到，有些人早已摆脱艾滋病，但到头来却死于肺癌等，故排除；原文未提及D“他们中的有些人死于对艾滋病的恐惧”，故排除。

单选题 The author uses the phrase 'mental stammering' (Paragraph 4) to indicate that ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】由题干中的mental stammering定位到原文第四段。细节辨认题。本题考查mental stammering表明什么。由定位段可知，当作者和他的同事们迎接一个新患者时，对于命运给病人在这个世界里安排了什么位置，他们仍然心中无数。由此可知，当病人问他们自己是否会死于艾滋病时，他们也不能给出肯定答案，故答案为A。由此可排除B“他们犹豫着告诉将死的艾滋病人实情”、C“他们不能告诉病人他们的命运”和D“他们需要编造借口来安慰艾滋病人”。

单选题 A complete count of all the statistics about AIDS ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】由题干中的count of all the statistics about AIDS定位到原文第五段第一、二句。推理判断题。本题考查有关艾滋病数据统计方面的问题。由定位句可知，如果要完全概述这一领域的所有消息，那得花数小时的时间。随着新的治疗方法的出现，这些数据几乎每个小时都在变化。由此可推断，对艾滋病方面的数据统计会受到新出现的治疗方法的影响，故答案为D。A“会促进新治疗方法的出现”和B“会简化医生对艾滋病相关问题的回答”原文均未提及，故排除；C“对医生来说太过冰冷和精确”是对原文的曲解，原文是说这些冰冷、精确的数据会吓坏艾滋病人，故排除。

单选题 What can he inferred from the last two paragraphs?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】由题干定位到原文最后两段。推理判断题。本题考查原文最后两段暗含的意思。原文提到，受对益处和风险不断地进行均衡的驱使，我们又重新加入到了现代医学的狂欢节中。由此可推断，现代医学既给艾滋病人带来了益处，同时也带来了风险，故答案为D。A“不久前，艾滋病人的生命没有保障”和原文意思不符，原文提到现在也没有人能给予艾滋病人肯定答复，故排除；B“在运气和金钱万无一失的双重保险下，艾滋病人会康复”是对原文的曲解。原文的意思是在运气和金钱万无一失的双重保险下，艾滋病人应该大获全胜，这是作者的美好愿望，而不是事实，而且作者在最后一句提到，他们给不了保证，故排除；C“医生应给予艾滋病人最好的希望来鼓励他们”是原文最后一段陈述的事实，并不是作者暗示的内容，故排除。