第五篇 Tracking Down HIV
In the summer of 1980, a patient had a strange purplish spot removed from below his ear. It was Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare form of skin cancer. This patient also had lymph node swelling and exhaustion. In November 1980, a Los Angeles immunologist examined a young man who had diseases linked to immune system malfunctions. The doctor had a T-cell count taken of the patient’s blood. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that plays a key role1 in immune responses. The patient had no helper T-cells.
By the end of 1980, 55 Americans were diagnosed with infections related to immune system breakdown; four had died. A year later the death toll was 74. Intravenous drug users had T-cell abnormalities. People who had received blood transfusions showed symptoms of immune system breakdown. By July 1982, 471 cases of the disease, now called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), had been reported; 184 people had died.
In April 1984, American virologist Dr. Robert Gallo isolated the pathogen, or disease producer, responsible for2 AIDS. He called it HTLV-III. In Paris, Dr. Luc Montagnier identified a virus he called LAV. An international panel of scientists determined that both men had found the same virus. It became known as Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Blood banks began screening for HTV in 1985, but by then about 29,000 people had been infected through blood transfusions. Some 12,000 hemophiliacs had contracted HIV through blood-clotting products. By 1995, 477,900 Americans had AIDS; 295,500 had died.
In 1996, researchers announced drugs that reduced HIV in infected people. Today scientists are testing vaccines and believe that if HIV can be suppressed, then perhaps it can be eradicated3, but it is still a race against time.
词汇：
spot n. 地点，斑点，斑块，青春痘
lymph n. 淋巴结
sarcoma n. 肿瘤，肉瘤，恶性毒瘤
exhaustion n. 衰竭，耗尽，精疲力竭
immunologist n. 免疫学家
malfunction n. 故障，失灵，疾病
count n. 计数，计算
infection n. 传染病，感染
breakdown n. 故障，衰弱，崩溃
toll n. 代价，死亡人数
intravenous drug n. 静脉注射药物
abnormalities n. (abnormality的复数形式)畸形，异常情况
blood transfusion n. 输血
symptom n. 症状
virologist n. 病毒学家
virus n. 病毒
panel n. 座谈小组，仪表板
hemophiliac n. 血友病患者
vaccine n. 疫苗
注释：
1.play a key role...扮演一个关键角色，有至关重要的作用
2.be responsible for...对……负责，是……的原因
3.can be eradicated可以被根除的
练习：
1.This passage is mainly about ____.
A the spreading of the disease known as HIV
B the work of Dr. Robert Gallo
C infectious diseases
D the symptoms of HIV
2.A T-cell is a ____.
A patient’s blood
B deadly strain of tuberculosis
C white blood cell important in providing immunity to disease
D red blood cell
3.The final paragraph leads the reader to see that scientists ____.
A have no hope in ever finding a cure for HIV
B have hope that a cure for HIV will be found
C have run out of time to find a cure for HIV
D are in a contest against each other to find a cure for HIV
4.The basic pattern used to develop this passage is ____.
A chronological order
B personal narrative
C comparison and contrast
D question and answer
5.The word u eradicated the last paragraph means ____.
A made extreme
B celebrated
C remove by rubbing
D gotten rid of entirely
答案与题解：
1.A 从开篇的病例介绍，到后面感染人数的不断上升可以推断出，这篇文章的主旨是讲艾滋病病毒在美国的传播。从第二段中的最后一句话可以看出，人们最初对艾滋病的冠名是在1982年7月，而那时全美已有病例471起，并有184人死亡了，因此可以推断出是讲该病毒的传播的医学全在.线.提供.。
2.C 第一段的最后一句话里对T细胞进行了定义，即其为白细胞的一种，并在免疫效应中起关键作用，因此答案是选项
3.B 文章最后一段的最后一句话提到了解题线索，即现在科学家正在测试预防艾滋病的疫苗，他们相信，如果该病毒能被抑制，就可能被根治。
4.A 该题为对文章线索总结题，chronological order意思为“按照时间次序”，chronological意思为“时间的”，从该文中的几个时间点来看，人们对于艾滋病的接触、了解、应对、研究，应该是按照不同年份进行的，故答案为选项A。
5.D 本题为词义推断题，eradicate的本义为“根除”，本题的解题线索在最后一段最后一句话的前半句，即“Today scientists are testing vaccines and believe that if HIV can be suppressed”，只要了解suppress的词义，即“抑制”，那么结合后面then(于是，那么)这个关联词就可以推断出后面的动词短语应该和“根治”有关，本题选项中的前三个选项均不含该意思，故答案为选项D。选项A为“成为极端”，选项B为“庆祝”，选项C为“通过摩擦被消除”，和前句大意均不相符。
