PartⅢ Reading Comprehension(40 minutes)

Section A

Directions:In this section,there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.Read the passage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

A rat or pigeon might not be the obvious choice to tend to someone who is sick,but these creatures have some 26 skills that could help the treatment of human diseases.

Pigeons are often seen as dirty birds and an urban 27,but they are just the latest in a long line of animals that have been found to have abilities to help humans.Despite having a brain no bigger than the 28 of your index finger,pigeons have a very impressive 29 memory.Recently it was shown that they could be trained to be as accurate as humans at detecting breast cancer in images.

Rats are often 30 with spreading disease rather than 31 it,but this long-tailed animal is highly 32.Inside a rat's nose are up to 1,000 different types of olfactory receptors(嗅覺感受器),whereas humans only have 100 to 200 types.This gives rats the ability to detect 33 smells.As a result,some rats are being put to work to detect TB(肺結核).When the rats detect the smell,they stop and rub their legs to 34 a sample is infected.

Traditionally,a hundred samples would take lab technicians more than two days to 35,but for a rat it takes less than 20 minutes.This rat detection method doesn't rely on specialist equipment.It is also more accurate—the rats are able to find more TB infections and,therefore,save more lives.

A)associated

B)examine

C)indicate

D)nuisance

E)peak

F)preventing

G)prohibiting

H)sensitive

I)slight

J)specify

K)superior

L)suspicious

M)tip

N)treated

O)visual

【參考答案】

26-35：KDMOA FHICB

【參考譯文】

老鼠或鴿子可能不是照顧生病的人的明顯選擇，但這些生物有26種技能可以幫助治療人類疾病。

鴿子通常被視為骯臟的鳥類和城市27，但它們只是最近發現的一長串有能力幫助人類的動物之一。盡管鴿子的大腦不比食指的28大，但它們的記憶力卻令人印象深刻。最近的研究表明，它們可以被訓練成和人類一樣精確地在圖像中檢測乳腺癌。

老鼠通常是30歲而不是31歲，但這種長尾動物高度32歲。在鼠的鼻子多達1000種不同類型的嗅覺受體(嗅覺感受器),而人類只有100到200種。這使得老鼠能夠識別33種氣味。因此,一些老鼠正在工作檢測結核(肺結核)。當老鼠察覺到這種氣味時，它們就會停下來，揉著腿，直到34個樣本被感染。

傳統上，100個樣本需要實驗室技術人員兩天到35天的時間，但對一只老鼠來說，這需要不到20分鐘的時間。這種老鼠檢測方法不依賴于希賽網設備。它也更準確——老鼠能夠發現更多的結核病感染，從而拯救更多的生命。

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