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Passage Five Most people who develop Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection that’s endemic in parts of the Northeast and Midwest, are easily cured by taking an antibiotic like doxycycline for a couple of weeks. But for years a debate has raged over what to do about patients whose symptoms (fatigue, mental confusion, joint pain) never seem to clear up. One small but vocal group of doctors and patient advocates believes that Lyme’s corkscrew-shaped spirochetes have tunneled deep into their victims’ bodies and can be eradicated only with intensive antibiotic treatment over many months. Another group believes, just as adamantly, that the bacteria are long gone, making further treatment with powerful antibiotics—which can lead to potentially fatal infections or blood clots—positively dangerous. Now comes word of two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine that show that long-term antibiotic treatment is no better than a placebo for folks with chronic Lyme disease. Originally scheduled for publication in July, the research is part of a group of findings made public last week -just in time for the peak Lyme months of June and July. If confirmed by another major study that’s looking at chronic Lyme and antibiotics from a slightly different perspective, the results would seem to settle the question once and for all. Researchers from Boston, New Haven, Conn., and Valhalla, N. Y., followed 129 patients who had previously been treated for well-documented eases of Lyme disease. Sixty-four were given antibiotics directly into their veins for a month, followed by two months of oral antibiotics. The others received dummy medications. A third of the chronic Lyme patients got better while taking the antibiotics. But so did a third of those on the placebo. Indeed, the results were so similar that a monitoring board decided to cut the trials short rather than add more subjects to the test groups. Unfortunately, the debate over chronic Lyme has become so heated that no one expects the controversy to go away. But both sides may take comfort in the other findings that were released by the New England Journal last week. After studying 482 subjects bitten by deer ticks in a part of New York with a lot of Lyme disease, researchers concluded that a singly 200-rug dose of doxycycline dramatically cut the risk of contracting the disease. That good news is tempered somewhat by the fact that 80% of patients who develop the infection don’t remember ever being bitten by a tick. (The bugs inject an anesthetic into the skin to mask the pain and in their nymph stage are so small—about the size of a poppy seed--that they are easily overlooked.) There’s still plenty you can do to protect yourself in a Lyme-infested neighborhood: tuck your pants in your socks, spray DEET on your clothing, check yourself and your kids for ticks. And if you develop a spreading red rash—particularly if it’s accompanied by joint pain, chills or confusion—make sure you see a doctor right away. The tick, as always, is to be vigilant without overreacting. With respect to treating chronic Lyme, ______.

A. even the patients doubt the antibiotic treatment
B. doxycycline has been regarded as the most effective
C. doctors disagree as to the effect of strong antibiotics
D. moderate antibiotics are better than intensive ones

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Passage Four Within hours of appearing on television to announce the end of conscription, President Jacques Chirac moved quickly to prevent any dissent from within the military establishment. Addressing more than 500 military staff officers at the military academy in Paris yesterday, Mr Chirac said clearly that he "expected" their loyalty in the work of rebuilding France’s national defense. He understood their "legitimate concerns, questions and emotions" at the reforms, but added: "You must understand that there is not and never has been any rigid model for French defense. Military service has been compulsory for less than a century. Realism required that our armed forces should now be professional." The President’s decision to abolish conscription over a period of six years removes a rite of passage for young Frenchmen that has existed since the Revolution, even though obligatory national service only became law in 1905. As recently as 1993, an opinion poll showed that more than 60% of French people said they feared the abolition of conscription could endanger national security. A poll conducted this month, however, showed that 70% of those asked favored ending of practice, and on the streets and in offices yesterday, the response to Mr. Chirac’s announcement was generally positive. Among people who completed their 10-month period of national service in the last few years or were contemplating the prospect, there was almost universal approval, tempered by a sense that something hard to define—mixing with people from other backgrounds, a formative experience, a process that encouraged national or social cohesion—might be lost. Patrick, who spent his year in the French city of Valance assigning and collecting uniforms, and is now a computer manager, said he was in tears for his first week, and hated most of his time. He thought it was "useless" as a form of military training— "I only fired a rifle twice" —but, in retrospect, useful for learning how to get on with people and instilling patriotism. As many as 25% of those liable for military service in France somehow avoid it—the percentage is probably much greater in the more educated and higher social classes. According to Geoffroy, a 26-year-old reporter, who spent his time in the navy with the information office in central Paris, the injustice is a good reason for abolishing it. People with money or connections, he said, can get well-paid assignments abroad. "It’s not fair: some do it, some don’t." Several expressed support for the idea of a new socially-oriented voluntary service that would be open to both men and women. But the idea seemed less popular among women. At present, women have the option of voluntary military service and a small number choose to take it. What worries people who have recently completed their military service about the reform

A lack of experience that helps build national morale.
B. The injustice arising from voluntary military service.
C. A shortage of recruit.
D. The weakening of national defense.

Passage Three Forget football. At many high schools, the fiercest competition is between Coke and Pepsi over exclusive "pouring rights" to sell on campus. But last week Jeffrey Dunn, president of Coca-Cola Americas, called a timeout: Coke’s machines will now also stock water, juice, and other healthful options—even rival brands and their facades will feature school scenes and other "noncommercial graphics" instead of Coke’s vivid red logo. "The pendulum needs to swing back" on school-based marketing, said Dunn. Coke’s about-face—particularly the call to end the exclusive deals that bottlers make with school districts—comes amid rising concern over kids’ health. American children are growing ever more obese and developing weight-related diseases usually found in adults. While inactivity and huge helpings factor heavily, a recent study in the Lancet fingered soda pop as a likely culprit. Communities—and legislators—are already on the case. Last year, for instance, parents in Philadelphia detailed a proposed contract with Coca-Cola that would have netted the school system $43 million over 10 years. And in a searing report to Congress last month, the U. S. Department of Agriculture recommended that all snacks sold in schools meet federal nutrition standards (the requirements are loose enough that Snickers bars qualify), Spare change Activists hope Coke’s capitulation will help curb commercialism in schools altogether. From ads on Channel One, which broadcasts current-affairs programs on classroom TVs, to middle-school math texts that cite Nike and other brand-name products in their word problems, to company-sponsored scoreboards on football fields, American pupils are bombarded. But Andrew Hagelshaw, executive director of the Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Commercial-Free Public Education, views Coca-Cola’s policy shift as a "partial victory". Schools sign contracts with local bottlers; the parent company can only urge them to back off. Moreover, Coke’s machines will remain in place, although with healthier options. And don’t expect teenagers to suddenly swear off the stuff—or school districts to give up the revenue. At Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga., where students arrive before 7 a. m. and stay as late as 11 o’clock at night, they rely on the machines. And the $50, 000 in annual vending revenues have enabled Principal Joe Boland to refinish the gym floor, install a new high-jump pit, and pay $7, 000 for two buses. "If someone made an offer to me to take the machines out, I’d consider it," says Boland. "But nobody’s offering me any money." Last week Jeffrey Dunn, president of Coca-Cola Americas, made an important decision to ______.

A. defend its red logo on a still larger scale
B. agree m negotiate with Pepsi over new terms
C. modify its sales engineering at high schools
D. give up its exclusive "pouring rights" on campus

海关对报关员的记分考核管理,从性质上讲是一种教育和管理措施,而不是行政处罚和处分。 ( )

A. 对
B. 错

Passage Two Don’t call him just a college professor. Internet entrepreneur, TV personality, adviser to presidents, and friend to the rich and powerful would be more accurate. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. is better known for his activities outside the academy. This week he sold Africana. com, a website he created with a fellow Harvard University professor, to Time Warner. Terms of the deal weren’t revealed, though the Wall Street Journal pegged the price at more than $10 million, with Gates reaping up to $ I million. Time Warner will incorporate the site, a portal with news and information about people of African descent, into America Online when the two merge as expected. The sense is that Gates got a very good deal. The site is a rich source of scholarship but hardly a rich source of revenue. As recently as the late 1980s Gates, who turns 50 this week, was an obscure professor penning books on literary theory only a graduate student could love. Now he can’t be avoided, He hosted a series about Africa on public television, writes occasional articles for the New Yorker, and even advises the Gore presidential campaign. He counts director Steven Spielberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and President Clinton as friends. "They’re not intimate friends," he insists. Indeed, Gates has evolved into a kind of expert on everything African-American. "He remains the go-to person on the state of African-American affairs," said Perry Steinberg, head of American Program Bureau, a lecture agency. The 30 or so speeches Gates delivers each year are another source of income for the professor. With fame comes controversy. Several other black intellectuals have taken him to task for not being confrontational enough. Gates has heard it before. "Me Critics Oh, what a shock!" But he considers himself more a descendent of historian and educator W. E. B. Du Bois than of Malcolm X. His ultimate goal is to build the field of Afro-American studies. "Fifty years from now I want there to be at least 10 great centers of Afro-American studies," he says. If working as a consultant on Spielberg’s historical film Amistad or giving A1 Gore advice helps, so be it. According to Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. himself, giving advice to President Gore is ______.

A. out of some academic concern
B. for some financial purposes
C. in the interest of Afro-Americans
D. of some political consequence

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