第四部分：阅读理解（共六篇）
第二十五篇
Medicine Award Kicks off Nobel Prize Announcements
Two scientists who have won praise for research into the growth of cancer cells could be candidates for the Nobel Prize in medicine when the 2008 winners are presented on Monday, kicking off six days of Nobel announcements.
Australian-born U. S. citizen Elizabeth Blackburn and American Carol Greider have already won a series of medical honors for their enzyme research and experts say they could be among the front-runners for a Nobel.
Only seven women have won' the medicine prize since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901. The last female winner was U. S. researcher Linda Buck in 2004, who shared the prize with Richard Axel.
Among the pair's possible rivals are Frenchman Pierre Chambon and Americans Ronald Evans and Elwood Jensen, who opened up the field of studying proteins called nuclear hormone receptors.
As usual, the award committee is giving no hints about who is in the running before presenting its decision in a news conference at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute.
Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.
Nobel left few instructions on how to select-winners, but medicine winners are typically
awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.
Hans Jornvall, secretary of the medicine prize committee, said the 10 million kronor (US$1.3 million) prize encourages groundbreaking research but he did not think winning it was the primary goal for scientists.
"Individual researchers probably don't look at themselves as potential Nobel Prize winners when they're at work," Jornvall told The Associated Press. "They get their kicks from their research and their interest in how life functions. "
In 2006, Blackburn, of the University of California, "San Francisco, and Greider, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, shared the Lasker prize for basic medical research with Jack Szostak of Harvard Medical School. Their work set the stage for7 research suggesting that cancer
cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth
词汇:
Enzyme n．酶 krona n. 瑞典克朗
Receptor n．受体 kronor krona的复数形式
Dynamite n．甘油炸药 telomerase n．端粒酶
注释：
1．kicking off：开始(某种)活动
2．handed out：分发
3．nuclear hormone receptors：核激素受体
4．a news conference：记者招待会。
5．a body of：一批
6．The Associated Press：美联社
7．set the stage for：为……打好基础
练习：
1. Who is NOT a likely candidate for this year's Nobel Prize in medicine?
A Elizabeth Blackburn.
B Carol Greider.
C Linda Buck.
D Pierre Chambon.
2. Which is NOT true of Alfred Nobel?
A He was from Sweden.
B He was the inventor of dynamite.
C He established the prizes in his will.
D He gave clear instructions on how to select winners.
3. Which was NOT originally one of the Nobel Prizes?
A The medicine prize.
B The literature prize.
C The peace prize.
D The economics prize.
4. The word "kicks" in line 6 from the bottom probably means _____________.
A excitement.
B income.
C motivation.
D knowledge.
5. The research by Blackburn and Greider helps suggest the role of ____________.
A money in medical research.
B proteins in cancer treatment.
C hormones in the functioning of life.
D telomerase in the growth of cancer cells.
答案与题解：
1．C从短文的头四段可以看出．只有2004年获得诺贝尔医学奖的Linda Buck不在今年的候选人范围内。
2．D短文的第七段说到，对于如何选拔获奖者诺贝尔并没有多少交代。
3．D短文的第六段说到，诺贝尔奖在设立时并没有经济学奖项。
4．A从上下文不难看出，科学家搞研究的主要目的不是为了获奖，他们从其所从事的研究以及生命运行的兴趣中获得很大快感。
5．D短文的最后一句话表明，研究显示癌细胞利用端粒酶来支持其无限增殖，而这几位科学 家的工作为这种研究打下了基础。
