Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day. World Tuberculosis (infections disease in which growths appear on the lungs) Day is on Saturday March 24th.
Tuberculosis was once terribly fashionable. Dying of "consumption" seems to have been a favorite activity of garret-dwelling 19th-century artists, h has, however, been neglected of late. Researchers in the field never tire of pointing out that TB kills a lot of people. According to figures released earlier this week by the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005, compared with about 3m for AIDS and l m for malaria. But it receives only a fraction of the research budget devoted to AIDS. America’s National Institutes of Health, for example, spends 20 times as much on AIDS as on TB. Nevertheless, everyone seems to getting in on the TB-day act this year.
The Global Fund an international organization responsible fur fighting all three diseases but best known for its work on AIDS, has used the occasion to trumpet its tuberculosis projects. The fund claims that its anti-TB activities since it opened for business in 2002 have saved the lives of over 1m people. The World Health Organization has issued a report that contains some good news. Although the number of TB cases is still rising, the rate of illness seems to have stabilized; the caseload, in other words, is growing only because the population itself is going up.
Even drug companies are involved. In the nm-up to the day itself, Eli Lilly announced a $ 50m boost to its MDRTB Global Partnership. MDR stands for multi-drug resistance, and it is one of the reasons why TB is back in the limelight. Careless treatment has caused drug-resistant strains to evolve all over the world. The course of drugs needed to clear the disease completely takes six mouths, anti persuading people lo stay that course once their symptoms have gone is hard. Unfortunately, those infected with MDR have to be treated with less effective, more poisonous and more costly drugs. Naturally, these provoke still more. non-compliance and thus still more evolution.
The other reason TB is back is its relationship to AIDS. The (global Fund’s joint responsibility for the diseases is no coincidence. AIDS does not kill directly. Rather, HIV, the virus that causes it, weakens the body’s immune system and exposes the sufferer to secondary infections. Of these, TB is one of the most serious. It kills 200 000 AIDS patients a year. However, some anti-TB drugs interfere with the effect of some anti-HIV drugs. Conversely, in about 20% of cases where a patient has both diseases, anti-HIV drugs make the tuberculosis worse. The upshot is that 125 years after human beings worked out what caused TB, it is still a serious threat.
Eli Lilly devoted itself to MDR-TB, because （）
A. TB kills more and more AIDS patients
B. TB has something to do with AIDS
C. multi-drug resistance makes Tuberculosis fashionable again
D. Eli Lilly is a member of the MDR-TB Global Partnership
参考答案：C
解析：
[直击题眼] 第四段Even drug companies are involved．In the run-up to the day itself，Eli Lilly announced a $ 50m boost to its MDR-TB Global Partnership.…it is one of the reasons why TB is back in the limelight．Careless treatment has caused drug-resistant strains to evolve all over the world．和第五段开头：The other reason TB is back is its relationship to AIDS．
[深层剖析] 本题从逻辑推理角度考查语句之间的因果关系。从文章结尾两段我们可以得知，人们开始越来越多地关注肺结核病，主要有两个原因：一、抗药性的产生；二、很多艾滋病患者死于肺结核病。而礼来制药公司之所以致力于此研究正是基于这两个原因。[C]恰如其分地表达了这个意思。
[主干扰项分析] [A]完全符合文中的意思，但所问非所答。◆谨记：正确的观点不一定是正确的答案，错误的观点也未必是错误的选项。
[次干扰项分析] [B]中谈到艾滋病与肺结核病有密切关系，这样的选项太泛泛。[D]谈到礼来公司是全球抗多药抗药性结核病合作组织的成员，这只能表明其身份，但不能说具备这种身份的公司一定会研究多药抗药性肺结核病。◆注意：这是一个关手“条件与结果”和“充分性与必要性”的选项，难度较大。