单选题   When researcher Josh Santarpia stands at the foot of a bed, taking measurements with a device that can detect tiny, invisible particles of saliva (唾液) that come out of someone's mouth and move through the air, he can tell whether the sick person is speaking or not just by looking at the read-out on his instrument.
    'So clearly, the particles which that person is putting out are being breathed in by someone that is five feet away from them, at the foot of their bed,' says Santarpia, who studies biological aerosols (气溶胶) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 'Do they contain vires? I don't know for sure.'
    He and his colleagues are doing their best to find out. Already, using another device that looks like a fancy dust collector, they've sucked up air samples from 11 isolation rooms that housed 13 people who tested positive for COVID-19 infection, all of whom had a variety of mild symptoms.
    In those air samples, researchers found the genetic fingerprint of the virus. 'It was more than half of the samples that we took. It was fairly everywhere,' says Santarpia, 'but the concentrations were really pretty low.'
    Finding the genetic material doesn't necessarily mean that there's living virus that could potentially make someone sick, he cautions. Some primary evidence indicates that this might be the case, but the team wants to do more work 'and try and be as certain as we possibly can whether or not certain samples had infectious virus in them or not.'
    They want to know that with a high degree of confidence because the question of whether or not the coronavirus (冠状病毒) can be transported by the air is extremely controversial right now—and it's a question that has real implications for what people should do to avoid getting infected.
    'I personally think that transmission by breathing in virus in the air is happening,' says Linsey Marr, an aerosol scientist at Virginia Tech. But she says so far, health experts have largely discounted the possibility of transmitting this coronavirus in this way.
单选题       What is Josh Santarpia able to do with his instrument? ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据人名Josh Santarpia和his instrument将答案定位于第一段。文章第一段提到，当研究员乔希·桑塔皮亚站在床脚，用一个设备检测时(该设备可以检测出从某人嘴里喷出来并在空气中传播的微小而无形的唾液颗粒)，他可以仅凭观看仪器上的显示信息就能识别出病人是否在说话。由此可知，桑塔皮亚使用自己的仪器可以确定患者是否在说话，故本题应选C。 [参考译文] 当研究员乔希·桑塔皮亚站在床脚，用—个设备检测时(该设备可以检测从某人嘴里喷出来并在空气中传播的微小而无形的唾液颗粒)，他可以仅凭观看仪器上的显示信息就能识别出病人是否在说话。 在内布拉斯加大学医学中心研究生物气溶胶的桑塔皮亚说：“很明显，那个人喷出的颗粒物正在被距离他们五英尺远，就在他们床脚的人吸入。它们含有病毒吗?我不确定。” 他和他的同事们正在尽最大努力找出答案。他们已经使用了另一种看起来像高级除尘器的设备，从11个隔离室中抽取了空气样本，这些隔离室里住着13个被检测出新冠肺炎感染呈阳性的人，他们都有各种轻微的症状。 在这些空气样本中，研究人员发现了病毒的基因指纹。桑塔皮亚说：“在我们所采集的样本中，有超过一半的样本存在这种病毒的基因指纹。它几乎无处不在，但浓度真的很低。” 他警告说，找到这种遗传物质并不一定意味着存在可能使人患病的活病毒。一些初步证据表明，情况可能是这样，但研究小组希望做更多的工作，“尽可能确定某些样本是否含有传染性病毒”。 他们想高度自信地肯定这一点，因为冠状病毒是否可以通过空气传播这个问题现在还是极具争议的——这个问题对人们应该采取哪些措施以避免感染具有真正的影响。 “我个人认为，由吸入空气中的病毒而造成的传播正在发生，”弗吉尼亚理工大学的气溶胶科学家林赛·马尔说。但她说，到目前为止，健康专家普遍不太相信该冠状病毒通过这种方式传播的可能性。
单选题       What did the research conducted by Santarpia and his colleagues suggest? ______
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】文章第二、三段提到了桑塔皮亚和他的同事们开展的一项气溶胶研究，第四段中，桑塔皮亚指出，在他们所采集的样本中，有超过一半的样本存在这种病毒的基因指纹。它几乎无处不在，但浓度真的很低。选项D中的was not concentrated是原文the concentrations were really pretty low的同义转述，由此可知，本题应选D。
单选题     What does Santarpia warn people? ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】题干的warn是原文第五段第一句中cautions的同义转述，故将答案定位于第五段。文章第五段第一句提到，他警告说，找到这种遗传物质并不一定意味着存在可能使人患病的活病毒。结合前几段的内容可知，这里的“他”即Santarpia(桑塔皮亚)。选项C中的Spotting和may not signify danger是该句Finding和could potentially make someone slck的同义转述，由此可知，本题应选C。其他三项均不是桑塔皮亚警告的内容，故均排除。
单选题     What does Santarpia's research team try to make sure? ______
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】题干中的try to make sure是原文第五段第二句中的try and be as certain as we possibly can的同义转述，故将答案定位于此处。文章第五段第二句提到，一些初步证据表明，情况可能是这样，但研究小组希望做更多的工作，“尽可能确定某些样本是否含有传染性病毒”。由此可知，桑塔皮亚的团队想竭力弄清楚这些空气样本中是否存在冠状病毒，故本题应选D。
单选题     As for COVID-19, what do we learn about Linsey Marr? ______
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】由题干中的人名Linsey Marr可以将答案锁定在文章最后一段。该段引述了Linsey Marr(林赛·马尔)的话，她指出，她个人认为，由吸入空气中的病毒而造成的传播正在发生，但她补充说，到目前为止，健康专家普遍不太相信该冠状病毒通过这种方式传播的可能性。由此可知，林赛·马尔认为，吸入冠状病毒会造成病毒传播，本题应选B，同时可排除A、C两项，D项文中并未提及，也可排除。