2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 85

Unit 85

Shortages of flu vaccine are nothing new in America, but this year’s is a whopper. Until last week, it appeared that 100 million Americans would have access to flu shots this fall. Then British authorities, concerned about quality-control problems at a production plant in Liverpool, barred all further shipments by the Chiron Corp. Overnight, the U.S. vaccine supply dwindled by nearly half—and federal health officials found themselves making an unusual plea. Instead of beseeching us all to get vaccinated, they’re now urging most healthy people between the ages of 2 and 64 not to. “This re-emphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,” says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, “and the lack of redundancy in our system.”

Why is such a basic health service so easily knocked out? Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it. To create a single dose of flu vaccine, a manufacturer has to grow live virus in a 2-week-old fertilized chicken egg, then crack the egg, harvest the virus and extract the proteins used to provoke an immune response. Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year’s flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. As a result, the United States now has only two major suppliers （Chiron and Aventis Pasteur）—and when one of them runs into trouble, there isn’t much the other can do about it. “A vaccine maker can’t just call up and order 40 million more fertilized eggs,” says Manon Cox, of Connecticut-based Protein Sciences Corp. “There’s a whole industry that’s scheduled to produce a certain number of eggs at a certain time.”

Sleeker technologies are now in the works, and experts are hoping that this year’s fiasco will speed the pace of innovation. The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures—a medium already used to make most other vaccines. Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way, but several biotech companies are now pursuing this strategy, and one culture-based product（Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ Invivac）has been cleared for marketing in Europe.

For America, the immediate challenge is to make the most of a limited supply. The government estimates that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last week. That’s nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year. In fact, many experts are hoping the shortage will serve as an awareness campaign—encouraging the people who really need a flu shot to get one.

注（1）：本文選自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象：第1~4題分別模仿1997年真題Text 3第1~4題，第5題模仿1997年真題Text 4第4題。

1. Shortages of flue vaccine show that ______.

A) America relies too much on foreign suppliers

B) the demand of flue vaccines is high this year

C) quality problem is a serious problem in flu vaccine production

D) the supply of flu vaccines is rather weak and America has no back-up measures to make it up

2. The word “cleared” （Line 5, Paragraph 3） might mean ______.

A) permitted

B) removed

C) proved

D) produced

3. Private companies have little interest in producing flu vaccines because of ______.

A) complicated process, high cost, low profit and high risk

B) shortages of fertilized chicken eggs

C) difficulty in growing live virus

D) fast changing of flu virus

4. From the last paragraph we can infer that ______.

A) the government hopes to solve the problem by way of volunteer restrictions

B) more than 47 million Americans who are qualified to get flu vaccine shots cannot get them this year

C) America needs not to worry about a limited supply of flu vaccines this year

D) normally only a small percentage of American population gets flu vaccine shots each year

5. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A) All Americans are persuaded not to get vaccinated this year.

B) The big problem in innovating flu vaccine’s producing technique is how to grow virus in a new way.

C) More flu vaccines cannot be produced in a short time because private companies refuse to produce more.

D) Flu vaccines are easier than most vaccines to produce through cell cultures.

篇章剖析

本篇文章探討了美國流感疫苗短缺的原因以及今后的解決辦法。第一段，作者介紹了美國流感疫苗短缺問題以及其直接原因；第二段，作者剖析了其背后的經濟原因；第三段，作者介紹了解決短缺問題的辦法之一——革新疫苗生產技術，將其從雞蛋培育轉移到細胞培養；第四段，作者探討了美國的當務之急：如何利用好有限的疫苗。出路就是號召公民發揚風格，將注射疫苗的機會讓給敏感群體。

詞匯注釋

whopper /?(h)w?p?/ n. 彌天大謊

bar /bɑ?(r)/ v. 禁止

dwindle /?dw?ndl/ v. 縮小

beseech /b??si?t?/ v. 懇求

vaccinate /?v?ks?ne?t/ v. 接種疫苗

fragility /fr??d??l?ti/ n. 脆弱

the National Network for Immunization Information （美國）全國防疫信息網

redundancy /r??d?nd?nsi/ n. 備份

knock out 擊倒

incentive /?n?sent?v/ n. 動機

fertilized chicken egg已受精雞蛋

crack /kr?k/ v. （使）破裂

harvest /?hɑ?v?st/ v. 收獲

extract /?k?str?kt/ v. 提取

immune response 免疫反應

profit margin 利潤率

fickle /?f?kl/ adj. 變化無常的

sleek /sli?k/ adj. 圓滑的；打磨過的

fiasco /f???sk??/ n. 慘敗

innovation /??n???ve???n/ n. 改革，創新

culture /?k?lt??/ n. 細菌培養

biotech /ba????tek/ n. 生物技術

culture-based adj . 基于細菌培養技術的

clear /kl??/ v. 批準，準許

an awareness campaign一場公民道德意識活動

難句突破

“This re-emphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,” says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, “and the lack of redundancy in our system.”

主體句式：Dr. Marin Myers says “This re-emphasizes the fragility... and the lack...”

結構分析：該句的難點在于如何理解本句直接引語中兩個關鍵詞re-emphasize和redundancy的情感內涵。re-emphasize通常表示“再次強調”，但根據其賓語中的關鍵名詞“fragility（脆弱）”和“lack（缺乏）”兩個詞的語義內涵判斷，re-emphasize在本句中應該表示“凸顯出（問題）”。redundancy通常表示“冗余，不必要的重復”，但在本句中表示“為了避免出現問題而采取的應急方案”。由此可見，根據具體語境，才能正確理解詞匯的意思。

句子譯文：“這再次凸顯出我們疫苗供應的脆弱性，”全國免疫信息網的馬丁·邁爾斯醫生說，“此外，我們也沒有必要的補救機制?！?

題目分析

1. D 推理題。第一段最后一句話指出了疫苗短缺所暴露出來的問題?！癟his re-emphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,” says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, “and the lack of redundancy in our system.”“這再次凸顯出我們疫苗供應的脆弱性，”全國免疫信息網的馬丁·邁爾斯醫生說，“此外，我們也沒有必要的補救機制。”這與選項D的說法一致。

2. A 語義題。在第三段最后一句“one culture-based product（Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ Invivac）has been cleared for marketing in Europe ”里出現了cleared一詞。根據下文中“marketing”和藥品上市前應該得到批準的常識，可以判斷出，該詞在本句中的意思是“得到官方的批準”。

3. A 細節題。第二段第二句“Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it.”意思是說私企生產流感疫苗的積極性不高。接下來作者介紹了制作疫苗的復雜工序，由此可以推斷出流感疫苗生產工藝復雜、成本高。第二段第4~5行“Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year’s flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. ”又明確指出了私企不愿意生產流感疫苗的其他原因：利潤率低、需求不穩定，此外由于流感病毒每年都不同，因此生產數量不能過大。由此也可推斷出生產的風險性大，如果生產多了就會損失很大。

4. B 推理題。由第四段第二句“The government estimates that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last week. ”中可以知道有9500萬人有資格注射疫苗。根據第四段第三句“That’s nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year.”和前一句可以推斷出美國現有大約4700萬份流感疫苗庫存，由此可推斷出美國至少還有4700多萬有資格注射疫苗的人無法得到注射。

5. B 細節題。從第一段倒數第二句“Instead of beseeching us all to get vaccinated, they’re now urging most healthy people between the ages of 2 and 64 not to.”可以判斷出美國只呼吁2~64歲的健康人不接種流感疫苗，而不是所有的美國人，因此答案A是錯誤的。從第二段最后一句可以看出疫苗生產廠家無法臨時增加疫苗生產量不是由于他們不愿意，而是由于受精雞蛋的生產已經預先計劃好，無法提供更多的受精雞蛋，由此可見答案C是錯誤的。從第三段第三句“Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way”可以判斷出答案D是錯誤的，因為流感疫苗比別的疫苗更難用細菌培育的方式生產。而由第三段第二句“The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures—a medium already used to make most other vaccines. ”以及上一句可見，改造疫苗生產工藝的關鍵在于革新病毒培育技術，因此答案B是正確的。

參考譯文

流感疫苗短缺在美國不足為奇，但今年的短缺傳聞卻是一個彌天大謊。到上周為止，好像還有1億美國人能在今年秋季接種流感疫苗。緊接著，英國當局因為擔心一家位于利物浦的生產廠的質量控制問題而禁止所有Chiron Corp公司的產品供應。一夜之間，美國的疫苗供應量減少了近一半——而聯邦衛生官員也發現他們正在提出一項不同尋常的請求：不是請求我們去注射疫苗，而是敦促那些年齡在2~64歲之間的絕大多數健康人不去注射疫苗?！斑@再次凸顯出我們疫苗供應的脆弱性，”全國免疫信息網的馬丁·邁爾斯醫生說，“此外，我們也沒有必要的補救機制?！?

為什么這種基本的保健服務會如此不堪一擊呢？主要原因是私人公司生產積極性不高。生產每一份流感疫苗，生產商都要在一枚受精兩星期的雞蛋中培育活病毒，然后打破雞蛋，提取病毒和用來激發免疫反應的蛋白質。利潤率低，需求不穩定，此外由于每年的流感病毒不同，剩余的疫苗只能報廢。因此美國目前只有兩家大的供應商（Chiron Corp和Aventis Pasteur）——當其中一家公司遇到麻煩時，另一家公司也無能為力?！耙呙缟a商根本不可能打個電話多要4000萬個受精雞蛋，”在康涅狄格一家蛋白質科學公司工作的馬農·考克斯說，“整個雞蛋生產都是按計劃進行的。什么時間生產多少雞蛋都是已經預先計劃好的?！?

目前的生產已經采用更好的技術。專家們希望今年的教訓能夠加快技術革新的步伐。最大的挑戰是如何將疫苗生產從雞蛋培育轉向細胞培育——該技術已經廣泛應用于其他大部分疫苗的生產。用細胞培育技術生產流感疫苗比生產其他大部分疫苗難度更大。盡管如此，幾家生物技術公司正在進行這方面的嘗試。索馬爾Invivac醫藥公司研制的一種基于細菌培育技術的產品已經獲準在歐洲銷售。

對美國來說，當務之急是要利用好有限的流感疫苗。政府預計，盡管上周發布了自愿限制公告，仍有9500萬人有資格注射疫苗。這個數字幾乎是醫院臨床流感疫苗庫存量的兩倍。但正常情況下，每年僅有6000萬美國人接種流感疫苗。事實上，許多專家希望這次疫苗短缺問題能成為一次提高公民道德意識的活動——鼓勵那些確實需要注射疫苗的人們去注射。