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.
Which of the following best defines the word "upshot" (Line 5, Paragraph 5 )（）
A.Outcome
B.Uphold
C. Achievement
D. Project
参考答案：A
解析：
[直击题眼] 第五段最后三句：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．
[深层剖析] 本题在考查考生词汇知识的同时，也考查大家对全文结尾处语言逻辑关系的理解。全文倒数第三句和前文是转折关系；倒数第二句话和倒数第三句是对比关系；最后一句和其前面两个句子之间的关系恰恰是本题的关键所在。根据句意“然而，一些抗肺结核药物会对某些抗HIV药物的功能产生影响。相反，那些同时患有肺结核病和艾滋病的病人中，有20％的案例是抗HIV药物加剧了肺结核病的病情。从人们发现肺结核病的起因到现在已经有125年了，但这种疾病至今仍严重地威胁着人类的健康。”我们可以判断出最后一句和其前文为因果关系。并且字典中对upshot解释为the final result，所以选[A]Outcome。◆注意：此题虽然看似不难，但此类型题是将两种出题思路结合在一起，换在其他文章中，可能难度会很大，要小心作答。
[主干扰项分析] [C]achievement有两个主要意思，其一为action of achieving“完成，达到”，其二为“成绩，成就”，如scientific achievement科学成就。achievement与outcome相比，常表示一种好的结果。outcome作为一种结果比result要强烈，表示最终结果或原因，作用了较长一段时间以后的结果。
[次干扰项分析] [B]和[D]不合文意，错误。