单选题 Over the last decade, Dr. Benjamin Van Voorhees has been trying to find the best way to teach coping strategies to adolescents who are at risk of suffering from severe depression. The idea is to help them keep depression at bay so that it doesn"t become a devastating part of their lives. The goal is to identify kids at risk and then use a combination of traditional counseling and Internet-based learning to keep off mental disorders and their accompanying medicines.
Van Voorhees said he wants to change the way doctors, especially pediatricians, deal with mental illness by moving the focus, which is now so heavily trained on treatment, to prevention. He said, "We"re trying to develop a type of behavioral vaccine that functions the same way vaccines work in fighting infections. We hope this approach will be simple, culturally acceptable, universally deployable—and inexpensive." He said that initial depressive episodes tend to strike between the ages of 13 and 17. Once an adolescent develops into severe depression, episodes can recur across his or her lifetime.
Van Voorhees said young people establish patterns of coping in adolescence and young adulthood. "There"s a period of plasticity in the brain during which it"s developing the capacity for learning new coping skills," he said. "You want to make youths elastic against mental disorders, and you try to give them ways to cope so that they don"t fall into substance abuse." His research has been testing the effectiveness of Internet use and other techniques to hone such skills.
Project CATCH-IT is a multimillion-dollar study. CATCH-IT includes an initial motivational interview with a physician to get the young person to understand the importance of the program. It also has a self-contained learning component on the Internet that focuses on changing behavior and improving cognitive thinking and social skills. The website, which has evolved over time, teaches plasticity skills in part by allowing patients to read stories about other teens to learn how they overcame adversity and became more successful in school, their relationships or on the job.
Van Voorhees said the goal is to reach as many young people as possible. They want to develop a model that will be embedded in primary care with pediatricians screening kids who are at risk for mental disorders and trying to prevent them ahead of time. Over the years CATCH-IT has shown some evidence of being effective. But in February a new study, called PATH, was begun to determine whether CATCH-IT does a better job of preventing depression than routine mental health care and health education that teens can find online. "With CATCH-IT alone, we saw depression dropping over the years, but we didn"t have anything to compare it to," said Monika Marko-Holguin, PATH"s project manager.
单选题 The expression "keep depression at bay" probably means ______
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 词组keep at bay原意为prevent (an enemy,pursuers,etc.) from coming near即“不让(敌人、追逐者等)逼近”。在第一段中,对第二句的理解应该结合第三句的意思,因为这两句话说的都是Van Voorhees医生的研究想要达到的目标。因此keep at bay与下一句中的词组keep off意思相近,都有“防止某人或某物靠近”这样的含义,即“不让它发生”或“预防它的发生”。
单选题 The behavioral vaccine differs from traditional vaccines in that it ______
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 第二段中提到的“行为疫苗”实际上是一种比喻,根本不是传统意义上的药物疫苗。从后文的解释可以看出,它根本不是传统意义上预防感染的疫苗,不是一种药物,而是一套确认和预防抑郁症的方法,Van Voorhees医生采用网络和传统的心理咨询方法,教给可能患抑郁症的儿童预防抑郁症的技巧,因为正像他在第二段第一句指出的那样,他的方法侧重预防,而传统方法侧重治疗。这才是他的方法与传统方法的主要区别。
单选题 The main objective of Project CATCH-IT is to ______
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 第三、四段提到了如何应对抑郁症。青少年和成年早期这个年龄段非常重要,因为这是确立应对模式的关键时期,因此应该在这个时期使用网络等手段,来帮助年轻人掌握应对抑郁症的一些技能。第四段提到的CATCH-IT项目就是以此为目的的一个研究项目。
单选题 High-risk young adolescents are interviewed to ______
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 第四段提到的interview是一种initial motivational interview with a physician,这说明,在参加项目的初期,医生要对可能患抑郁症的青少年进行动员,鼓励他们参加这个项目,让他们了解这个项目的重要性,并从中努力学会应对抑郁症的技能。
单选题 Project PATH ______
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] PATH项目与CATCH-IT项目最大的区别在于:后者通过教会年轻人应对技能来达到预防抑郁症的目的,而前者是对后者实施的效果进行评估,看一看CATCH-IT与传统的mental health care和health education相比哪一种更有效。CATCH-IT重在预防抑郁症,即从遗传的角度找出那些将来可能患抑郁症的青少年,教给他们一些应对精神紊乱的技能,以便当抑郁症来袭时,他们知道如何应对,从而不至于develop into severe depression。