私醫聯招 英文歷屆試題｜全部題目＋答案＋詳解（第 9 頁）

When people think of the Arctic, they probably imagine a pure and beautiful –  (21)  harsh – environment. So it is an unwelcome surprise, perhaps, that the region's native animals and people are among the most chemically contaminated on Earth.

Recently, various studies were conducted to  (22)  the levels of toxic chemicals in the bodies of Arctic animals, as well as in the native Inuit people. The statistics are alarming. Both the animals, and the Inuit who participated in the studies showed unusually high levels of man-made toxins.

These included older pollutants like dioxins and PCBs which many governments have been trying to  (23)  since the 1970s. Such chemicals are known to  (24)  our hormones and damage the immune system. The studies also found newer compounds – ones that currently have widespread approval for use in flame retardants –  (25)  in the Inuits' bodies at a ratio of five to one compared to levels found in other Canadians.

Languages seem to be  (26)  a smaller number, as languages like English seem to eat up regional ones. The three languages used the most by first language speakers today are Mandarin Chinese, English, and Spanish. English is being used more and more as the main language for business, science, and popular culture.

Evidence  (27)  that the dominant languages are  (28)  out the local tongues of various regions in the world. Linguists estimate that of the approximately 6,500 languages worldwide, about half are endangered or on the  (29)  of extinction. According to some linguists, the estimated rate of language extinction is one lost in the world every two weeks. If this sounds like the world is losing a species,  (30)  a way it is.

For Beethoven, the spring of 1825 would not be a favorable season to him. Not only  (31)  he continuously lose his hearing, but he also felt more isolated from people around him. For example, he complained to his nephew about “you, and my contemptible brother, and the detestable family that I am  (32)  with.” Besides, 1825 even saw Beethoven  (33)  by police for he was taken to be a vagrant due to his shabby appearance.  (34)  still, Beethoven's doctor ordered him to move to the countryside and shy from drinking wine and eating his favorite food, since the composer developed a serious intestinal illness. This trip away, unlike the previous ones, was far less enjoyable because Beethoven feared  (35)  his life. In the end, Beethoven recovered from his illness, and completed Heiliger Dankgesang at that time as well.

Marco Polo undertook the journey to the Far East when he was only 15 years old. He traveled with his father and uncle, and after the trip was over he completed a book about what he had seen. It was full of information about the cultures and geography of the Asian lands he had visited this remote part of the world before, Polo's reports were unparalleled in their level of excitement and detail.

Polo arrived home in Venice in 1295. Then, three years later, he was called to fight in a war between the cities of Venice and Genoa and had the misfortune to be taken and held by the Genoan side. While waiting to be freed, he met a writer named Rustichello da Pisa who greatly admired the stories Polo told him. Rustichello da Pisa wrote them down in the form of a book that was published and called The Description of the World or The Travels of Marco Polo. It became very popular and was much admired by many people. However, some people did not believe it was true and said it should be called The Million Lies. Despite this, the book contributed greatly to an increased interest in the Far East.

Christopher Columbus knew about the travels of Marco Polo when he first sailed westward with the objective of finding a new route to the Eastern lands in 1492. In fact, one writer at the time claimed that Columbus had read and studied the book prior to asking Portugal to finance his voyage. However, he may have got the information through word of mouth. A library in Seville has a copy of Polo's book that was owned by Columbus. It has notes written in it, possibly by Columbus himself. However, these notes appear to have been written only after Columbus's third trip to the Americas, so did he read Polo's book before 1492, or didn't he? It's up to future researchers to try to discover the answer.

With more than 10 billion nerve cells, the human brain is by all odds the most complicated thing in the universe. Scientists still know relatively little about how the brain works. Averagely, the adult human brain weighs about three pounds and bulks the size of a grapefruit. In men the average weight is about 1370g; in women about 1200g.

The brain is the physical organ most associated with mind, a non-technical term used to refer to the functions of the brain like problem-solving and remembering. It is part of the invisible world of thought, including cognitive aspects such as perception and imagination, as well as noncognitive aspects such as emotion. No one knows yet how mind and brain are related. In other words, no one knows much about what happens in the brain when it is functioning.

It is suggested that man ought to do better than he does with his much greater number of nerve cells in that the ant achieves its marvelous community organization with only 250 nerve cells. However, the ants run their society by instinct not by thought. In fact, it seems likely that ants cannot think at all; they use their nerve cells for receiving impressions of the outside world, not for coping with it.

Deep inside man's brain is a core called “old brain,” which dinosaurs possessed millions of years ago. This core plays a part in arousing and satisfying primitive needs like hunger and sexuality. The old brain is covered by the dome of the neocortex, or “new brain,” which enables man to look ahead. It is the brain's analytical computer, processing data and responsible for sensory perception, attention, memory, etc. Of all the forms of life, only man has the ability to plan for his future.

What does a red ribbon mean to you? For different people and at different times, a red ribbon may denote various meanings. One of these meanings is that the red ribbon is the universal symbol of awareness and support for people living with HIV. By wearing a red ribbon, people try to raise awareness on and during the run up to World AIDS Day.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). At the beginning stage of infection, a patient may not have any symptoms or experience influenza-like illness for a short period. AIDS is threatening after the infection progresses, since it makes the function of the immune system decline drastically and that increases the risk of developing other inflections such as tuberculosis.

There are three major ways for people to contract HIV: sexual contact, significant exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. In order to prevent from getting infected with HIV, it is recommended to use condoms consistently. According to the statistics, when a couple uses condoms all the time, the rate of HIV infection is less than 1% per year even though one of them is HIV positive. In comparison with male condoms, some evidence suggests that female condoms may provide an equivalent protection. At the moment, a vaccine for HIV or AIDS is still under development. Currently, the most effective vaccine trial, RV 144, is reported to have a partial reduction in the risk of transmission of roughly 30% and this excites the research teams all over the world with a hope for developing a truly effective vaccine. Bearing this hope in mind, the research community keeps conducting further trials of the RV 144.

One of the negative impacts of HIV/AIDS is the stigma it causes. This stigma is various in form, including ostracism, rejection, discrimination, avoidance of HIV-infected people, and many others. People who are afraid of stigma-oriented violence are unwilling to seek HIV testing, return for their results, or secure treatment. As a result, for these people, a manageable chronic illness may turn into a death and this will perpetuate the further spread of HIV. It is not far-fetched to point out that AIDS stigma often happens in conjunction with other stigmas, such as homosexuality, bisexuality, promiscuity, prostitution, and drug use. It is everyone's responsibility to fight against discrimination in order to bring proper, equal medical treatment to those infected patients.

Apart from stigmas, there are also many misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. The most common three misconceptions are that people will get infected through casual contact, that to have sex with a virgin will cure AIDS, and that only gay and drug users are possible to contract HIV. Ridiculous as they may seem to be, some conspiracy theories have contended that HIV was inadvertently or deliberately created by scientists. For example, a worldwide Soviet active measures operation, Operation INFEKTION, spreads the claim that the United States is behind the creation of such a disease. According to the surveys, some people in fact believe in such a theory.